The Measurement of Carrying Capacity of Regional Education
China is a large country. Education development differs from region to region. Therefore, the focal point of comprehensive education reform is on the regional level. Considering the realities of regional education, instead of taking the traditional approa
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The Measurement of Carrying Capacity of Regional Education
China is a large country. Education development differs from region to region. Therefore, the focal point of comprehensive education reform is on the regional level. Considering the realities of regional education, instead of taking the traditional approach, i.e., elaborating the reasons for educational reform from the political, economic, cultural and social dimensions, this chapter will adopt a fresh perspective, i.e., the ecological capacity of regional education.
2.1 The Ecological Capacity of Regional Education and the Reasons for Reform 2.1.1 What Is the Ecological Capacity of Regional Education? 1. The Concept of the Ecological Capacity of Regional Education Carrying capacity used to be a concept in mechanics. At the end of eighteenth century, English economist, Thomas R. Malthus gave it a modern connotation, which had a far-reaching impact. At the end of the nineteenth century, this concept was widely used in the ecological field. In 1921, Robert E. Park and Ernest W. Burgess used it in Introduction to the Science of Society and defined it as “the maximum population size of a given species in a given circumstance.” (Guo Xiurui 2000) Therefore, carrying capacity is essentially a reflection of the mutually restricted contradiction between the internal development and the external environment of the ecological system. 2. The Concept of Regional Education Most educational researchers in China categorize education by the administrative divisions, such as Education in Zhabei District in Shanghai and Education in Linxia City in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. The nature, content, means, methods and © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. and Educational Science Publishing House 2020 G. Liu and X. Wang, Comprehensive Regional Reform, Research in Chinese Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6914-2_2
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2 The Measurement of Carrying Capacity of Regional Education
external supporting system of education within a region are characterized by their connectivity and unity and bear a distinctive regional feature. To divide regional education by this standard is consistent with China’s realities. “Regional education, in a broad sense, refers to the education of a certain administrative division or a combination of several administrative divisions which share distinctive common features.” (The Working Group on “The Study of the Sustainable development of Regional Education” 2000) In 1994, the Central Commission of the Communist Party of China and the State Council held the second national conference on educational work since the reform and opening up. The conference decided to divide China into three major areas according to the level of economic development and educational basis, i.e., Area One, Area Two and Area Three. The three areas were given separate guidance in education development, and they later developed into Eastern Region, Middle Region and Western Region (Xu Mei 2008). The region with better economic development and educational basis incl
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