Unequal Learning

Despite a nominal commitment to creating a classless society, the People's Republic of China is a deeply unequal one. And the reproduction of inequality begins early in the life cycle: schools. In Unequal Learning, Xin Xiang analyzes the different kinds of learning that goes on in four very different schools in locales ranging from an impoverished rural region to a prosperous city. As she shows, the different learning opportunities available in these four communities contribute to the widening gulf between the rising metropolitan middle class and China's working classes. This will be essential reading not just for scholars of China, but anyone interested in how education systems reproduce inequality.