On the Nexus of Local and Global

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On the Nexus of Local and Global

• Chinese college students in the era of global
  economic restructuring

Yan Zhao Ciupak, PhD yanciupak_at_gmail.com
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Todays Talk
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Ciupaks Research

• Education of Immigrant Children
• Ciupak, Y.(Forthcoming). Education of
  immigrants' children. in Some Pierre(Eds.)
  Re-defining America The new wave of minority
  students and immigrants of color. Charlotte
  Information Age Publishing.
• Weis, L., Ciupak, Y., Meyers, M. (2011).
  Sociology of Education in the United States. In
  S.Tozer, B.Gallegos A.Henry (Eds.) Handbook of
  Research in the Social Foundations of Education.
  New York Routledge.
• Globalization, Chinese Edu Society
• Ciupak, Y. (In Press). The changing educational
  opportunity structure in China Positioning for
  access to higher education. In L. Weis N. Dolby
  (Eds.) Social Class and Education Global
  Perspectives. New York Routledge.
• Ciupak, Y. (Forthcoming). On the nexus of local
  and global Chinese higher education and college
  students in the era of globalization. New York
  AMC Press

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Using Immigrant Theories in Studying
International Students?

• John Ogbu's immigrant theories (culturalecologica
  l theory ) John Ogbu's neglection of Asian
  Americans in his studies
• Traditional assimilation theories-gt "segmented
  assimilation (Portes and Zhou (1993)
• "selective acculturation (Portes Rumbaut, 2001)
  
• Transculturation "developmental process that
  portrays children of immigrants as actors of
  merging and converging cultures in
  multidirectional and synchronous ways (Oh Cooc,
  2011, p.401)
• The framework of multiple capitals--
  intellectual, financial, social, and cultural
  (Bourdieu)

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My Research on Chinese Students (in China)

• The purpose Study structural changes through key
  actors lived experiences and policy analysis.
• To be more specific, this project explores how
  college students educational- and occupational
  related choices and experiences connect to the
  local and global change, and in relation to the
  students family and institutional backgrounds.

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Major Methods

• Policy analysis and interview data from 75
  students enrolled in 21 institutions in developed
  and less developed regions in ChinaBeijing,
  Shanghai, Taiyuan, Xinzhou, Shandong
• The participants 66 undergraduate students from
  15 colleges of three tiers
• 9 graduate students from 6 institutions.
• 6 administrators/ teachers were interviewed to
  supplement information on university policies,
  expectations, graduate job placements, etc.
• 6 parents

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On the Nexus of Local and Global
Glocal
Global the market, the virtual community
(internet), western commercialism
Local the state power (Hukou system), the
rural/urban divide, regional disparity,
traditional culture
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China and the Global Economic Restructuring

• China and the new global economic map
• Chinas higher education in the innovation shift
  debate

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Chinas Economic Reform and Institutional Change
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Chinese Higher Education Admission Policy
Practice

• centrally controlled system
• The annual standardized test NCEE is practically
  the only selection criteria.
• Quota policy based on provinces plays a central
  role.
• Regional inequality
• --Favorable admission policies for the
  municipalities directly under the Central
  Government (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai,etc. )
• --The uneven distribution of education
  resources
• -- The residence registration system hukou

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Social Class and Education Choice in Globalizing
China

• Anxiety of Competition Chinese Urban Middle
  Class on the Rise
• Anxiety of being Left Behind
• Chinese Rural Peasant Families

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The Middle Class Anxiety of Competition

• Trendy Majors
• The Chinese middle class parents are anxious
  to frame their childrens choices around trendy
  majors related to the new global capital economy
  and institutions that provide ample global
  culture and experience.
• Western Credential
• Maximally maintained nequality(Gamaron)
  occurs with a classed spatial strategy,
  facilitated and encouraged by the educational
  markets on a world stage. Those who possess
  economic and cultural capitals begin to
  accumulate more valuable capitals and consolidate
  class by permeating national borders.

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The Allure of a Western Credential

• International education in Asian middle class
  familys seeking to access and accumulate
  economic, social, and cultural capitals (Mitchell
  1997 Ong Nonini 1997 Ong 1999).
• Abroad experience embodies cultural capital,
  reflects better English skill, more modern
  attitude and characters, etc.
• A more valuable form of institutionalized
  cultural capital, hence a preferred qualification
  in employment screening in Asian countries.
• Returning as an integral spatial strategy

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The Peasants Anxiety of Being Left Behind

• a middle class disposition/admiration for western
  culture and education.
• Decision making is characterized by
  ill-information, conservatism, and arbitrariness.
  

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Classed Spatial Strategies and Place-making in
the Global Modernity

• outside (wai4 mian)
• Middle class major city, western countries
• Rural Peasants leaving the rural area
• YC What are your parents expectations?
• Bei They expect me to get good social status,
  get out of our small city, go to a big city, and
  try to study abroad. My Dad thought that only in
  this way would my life be meaningful. Since
  junior high, my Dad had been suggesting that
  Beijing is a key city where I could broaden
  myself and get exposed to some international
  culture. They wanted me to go to Beijing. But I
  actually always liked Wuhan University. My
  interest is actually in engineering, not
  international trade.
• (Bei, F. Beijing
  University of Aeronautics and Astronautics)
• YC What do you think your parents expect of you?
  
• Shan-feng I'm all their hope. They want me to
  grow up well and find a good job.
• YC What is a good job according to your
  parents?
• Shan-feng A secure job outside.
• YC where does outside refer to?
• Shan-feng Fairly big cities, not in the
  countryside, away from the suffering land. The
  parents generation has been struggling and
  suffering their whole lives, therefore they hope
  I could leave the village for better
  opportunities.
• YC Xinzhou city belongs to outside? (All the
  interviewees laughed).
• Shan-feng (also laughing) Not really outside,
  but compared to a village, it's outside.
• 
  (Shan-feng, M, Xinzhou Teachers College)

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Is the World Flat?

• Both groups show aspiration and admiration for
  global culture, urbanity, and modernity
• Urban middle class students think and act
  locally and globally
• Rural peasant students are dreaming globally,
  planning locally.

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Thank You !