First, it is holistic and universal, and all classes are anxious: the middle class is anxious, the high-income earners are also anxious, and ordinary people are also anxious. The second feature is particularly bad: anxiety begins when children are very young-mainly in primary school, and then sinks into kindergarten. In fact, it corresponds to the school selection competition between "young to small" and "young to small". This competition for choosing schools has a long history in China. If it is said in the 1980s, it is still relatively simple-at that time, our popular vocabulary or terminology was called "one-sided pursuit of enrollment rate", or "chasing films" for short; The main task in the field of education is to prevent the tendency of "movie chasing". However, the phenomenon of "chasing films" has developed into the educational anxiety of the whole people today, with a lower level and stronger competition. Zheng Yefu, a sociologist in Peking University, used a more appropriate word to describe the current educational reality in China. He called it "the arms race of academic qualifications", which explained the essence of the matter more accurately than the general "school choice", "anxiety" and "chicken baby".
We have to consider, why is there such a serious educational anxiety, school selection competition or academic qualification arms race in China? Many people inside and outside the education circle have made many explanations on this issue, and I don't think they are particularly perfect.
Everyone can think of, such as the college entrance examination system: because of the existence of the college entrance examination system and the shortage of high-quality educational resources, competition is inevitable and increasingly fierce. Does this statement make sense? Personally, it doesn't make sense. As you can see, in the early 1990s, the admission rate of colleges and universities was very low. However, all the friends who experienced the post-70s and post-80s of that era know that primary schools were still normal at that time, and there was not so much make-up classes and pressure in primary schools. Children can play and rest in winter and summer vacations and holidays. At present, the admission rate of fresh graduates in most provinces has exceeded 90%; Why do educational opportunities increase and competition become more intense? This statement is not reasonable because of the college entrance examination.
Another popular saying is "shortage of quality education resources": because of the shortage of quality education resources, everyone should compete and enjoy the best resources. This statement is also specious. Let's think about it. In the past twenty or thirty years, or even in the last ten years, have quality education resources increased or decreased? There is no doubt that it has increased. With the popularization and development of compulsory education and the development of higher education, the resources of high-quality education are increasing, but the competition for admission is still more intense.