Education authorities 
within China have told elite universities in the country to save spots for 50,000 rural students. These 50,000 spots are to be saved for promising students from disadvantaged rural areas across China. This is part of China’s efforts to “ensure fair education across the country. The 50,000 places will be held for students form 832 poor counties and another 10 provinces with low college entrance rates such as Henan and Gansu, the Ministry of Education announced on Friday.” This quota of 50,000 places is the same that was instated last year and that was up from a 30,000 quota in 2013. This creation of quotas gives many students the choice of a life path that was previously unavailable. It is a great opportunity for them.
This is quota system for rural students is also a smart move for China as a whole. Previously, the minds of thousands of potentially brilliant rural students had gone unnoticed from year to year. Now, students that have been enrolled in local high schools for three consecutive years and judged to be at the appropriate level for top universities will have the chance receive higher education. “[Chinese leaders] promised that every child rill receive an equal and high – quality education so as to arrest the spread of poverty though the generations.”
This sounds like a good continuation of a strong step forward for China. In many of the texts we have read for this class, it was apparent that there are some strong barriers between the rural and urban areas. These barriers restricted things such as healthcare and education. This quota system ensures that some of these rural citizens are able to be something more than just a poor farmer. Now these students will be able to make something of themselves and help increase the quality of life for their families back home through their education.
Source:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2015-04/03/c_134123709.htm
While this push for equal education in China does reflect a positive change towards increasing equality between the rural and urban populations, it seems to demonstrate a lack of the full-fledged reform to the hukou system that Miller calls for in his book. While China will be unlocking some of the unused human capital from the rural population, it is still leaving enormous amounts of human capital untapped. Not to mention the gross inequalities that come as a result of the hukou system that the Chinese political leadership refuses to adequately reform as it remains one of the few “true” Communist policies left in place.
On the flip side, given the highly competitive nature of urban education systems, I wonder if there is any advantage for an urban student in returning to live with rural grandparents when applying for university. I imagine it depends in part on the difference in quality between urban and rural education.