The emerging of top-notch creative talents in natural sciences is the main topic in China today. Whether its philosophical foundation and key points can be revealed is related to the transformation of educational concepts and the orientation of educational practice. This thesis also concerns the essence of the “Double Reduction” policy that has not yet been grasped. In “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions” and Kuhn’s series of discourses, the relationship between paradigm, teaching and learning is the essence of science education in the normal science era. Inappropriate teaching and learning form a paradigm trap in the mind of students. The paradigm trap, as a metaphor, is highly similar to Heidegger’s “covering-up” metaphor, although different, but awakening each other. Textbooks in teaching and learning use “true” text and language to form a covering up which is similar to a “trap” in the sense of being buried over. The covering up itself in the sense of distortion makes anomaly difficult to “see” and discover, and the difficulty of conversion highlights the characteristic of paradigm traps as “traps”. In Heidegger’s view, the essence of truth reveals itself as freedom, that is, freedom that is not covered up by old paradigms, or freedom that is not trapped in paradigm. “Double Reduction” as the English translation of 双减 reveals the subtle light and lichtung that were once hidden in the concept of 双减. The metaphor opposite to the covering up is lichtung. It is the philosophical foundation to lighten the quantity of structured learning/the required credit units for graduation and the “Double Reduction” policy. Lichtung and freedom are the philosophical foundation and the key point to the emerging of truth and creative talents in the field of natural sciences. The whole nation must always regard the lichtung and freedom that students possess in the (old) paradigm and in the constantly growing knowledge and technology as treasures. This article is an attempt to connect Kuhn and Heidegger.

The “Double Reduction” policy proposes the goal of “reducing the burden of off-campus tutoring expenditures on the families of students in the compulsory education stage.” However, there is currently a lack of research to evaluate the degree of achievement of this policy goal. This study uses a large sample survey data of families of students in the compulsory education stage sampled nationwide, applying the difference-in-differences model (DID) to analyze the impact of the “Double Reduction” policy on the participation and expenditure of students’ families on off-campus tutoring. The study found that (1) the “Double Reduction” policy has significantly reduced the participation and expenditure of students’ families on “disciplinary” off-campus tutoring. The effect remain robust after applied PSM-DID model. (2) the “Double Reduction” policy has a significant reduction effect on student families’ participation in various “disciplinary” off-campus tutoring in “mid-semester, winter and summer vacations”, “online and offline”. The conclusion remain robust after applied PSM-DID model. (3) The “Double Reduction” policy has a significantly increasing effect on the participation and expenditure of students’ families in “non-disciplinary” off-campus tutoring, and the findings does not pass the PSM-DID robustness test. (4) Heterogeneity analysis found that the “double reduction” policy significantly reduced the participation and expenditure of “disciplinary” off-campus tutoring for families of students with middle and low socioeconomic backgrounds, but had no significant impact on families of students with high socioeconomic backgrounds. The research findings of this article provide evidence that the “Double Reduction” policy goal has been achieved. The government should strengthen the supervision of “disciplinary” off-campus tutoring, further strengthen the supervision of “non-disciplinary” off-campus tutoring, intensify efforts to manage the “invisible variation” problem of “non-disciplinary” off-campus tutoring.

The rectification of off-campus tutoring institutions is one of the important aspects of the “Double Reduction” reform. This article empirically examines the impact of the reduction in disciplinary off-campus tutoring institutions on students’ time spent in school. Using data from the shop information of disciplinary tutoring institutions on Dianping.com, combined with geographic coding and search POI application interface from Gaode Map, as well as a nationwide survey on the usage of information technology in primary and secondary education, the study empirically tests the effects. The research findings are as follows. (1) During the “Double Reduction” period, the nationwide reduction rate of disciplinary off-campus tutoring institutions was approximately 88%. (2) The higher the reduction level of disciplinary off-campus tutoring institutions around schools, the more time students spend in school daily, indicating a certain degree of substitution between in-school and off-campus education. This substitution effect is more pronounced among disadvantaged groups. While this phenomenon is not significant in the first-tier cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, it can be observed in many other second and third-tier cities. (3) The higher the reduction level of disciplinary off-campus tutoring institutions around schools, the higher the probability of students completing homework in school, while the probability of completing homework in off-campus tutoring institutions is lower. However, the reduction of tutoring institutions does not affect the total time students spend on homework.

The college orientation programs serve as a crucial bridge to help first-year students adjust to the college environment, develop self-cognition and social cognition, and integrate into college life. Considering the prevalent academic and social adjustment barriers among Chinese freshmen, and based on the international comparison of the orientation programs, the study evaluates the impact of the orientation programs on first-year students’ adjustment using a nationwide survey data. The study demonstrates that implementing long-term orientation programs, which deliver discipline-based introduction, study skills courses, and mental health services, has positive impact on both academic and social adjustment. However, due to the lack of support for disadvantaged freshmen, the compensatory impact of orientation programs is supposed to strengthen. The findings provide scientific insights for improving orientation programs to ensure the quality of talent cultivation.

As an important part of the regional innovation system in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, research universities should play a key supporting role in promoting regional innovation. However, the current situation is that the dominant forces of the regional innovation system are still enterprises and governments, and the role of research universities in it needs to be further enhanced. Based on the triple helix and regional innovation ecosystem theories and the qualitative analysis of the interview materials, this paper analyses the main components of the innovation system of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, focuses on the positioning and role of research universities, and then analyses the factors that hinder the roles of research universities in the Greater Bay Area innovation system in terms of the production of knowledge, the transformation and diffusion of research and development, and the construction of human capital. Finally, it is proposed to strengthen the important role of research universities in the development of the innovation region of the Greater Bay Area by improving the talent evaluation and incentive system, bridging the talent flow between universities and enterprises, and innovating the mode of talent cultivation.

This paper presents a comprehensive theoretical exploration of the relationship between sibling number and adolescent development, and utilizes data from the 2010—2018 Chinese Family Panel Survey (CFPS) to provide micro-level evidence for identifying the impact of siblings on adolescents’ cognitive ability and subjective well-being. The results indicate that having a sibling has a positive effect on adolescents’ subjective well-being, which increases with age and remains stable in adulthood. Having siblings may have a negative effect on adolescents’ cognitive ability in mathematics, but this effect is mainly seen in the young age sample and gradually disappears with the increase of grades and age. This paper provides information to support more effective cost-benefit analyses when parents make fertility decisions, as well as policy implications for alleviating parenting anxiety, improving fertility policies, and promoting sustainable population development.

Moral emotion is a motivating factor for character realizations, which is a key point to examine the unity of children’s cognition and behavior. Based on a large-scale overall dynamic dataset on the moral development of Chinese children in 2016, 2019, and 2022 (sample sizes: 77,953, 77,367, and 79,914), using Sharp Index decomposition and logistic regression analysis, we have got the the following findings. Firstly, the types of Chinese children's moral emotion development are not balanced, with insufficient expression of sympathy. Secondly, the level of moral emotions initially increases and subsequently declines as age increases. The age of ten is a critical developmental milestone for moral emotions. Thirdly, structural differences in moral emotions among Chinese children exist based on gender and geographical region. Fourthly, there is a unique ecosystem logic by the intensity of the influence of the factors, in descending order of “individual-school-social support-family”. Life satisfaction, people who know the child, and the psychological environment of the school and the family are the high-impact factors. And there are differences in the influence of the different factors on the development of the moral-emotional development of the children of different genders and school segments.From the above findings, it is proposed that the cultivation of moral emotions in Chinese children should pay attention to the developmental imbalance of the types of moral emotions, the differences in the development of the group and the key influencing factors, optimize the ecosystem of children’s moral emotion development, seize the critical period of development, further clarify the focus of education, and enhance the relevance and timeliness.

The Special Program of colleges and universities is a compensatory policy for admission opportunities to promote the high-quality educational equity and solve the difficulty of rural students to go to good universities. Descriptive statistical methods were used to track the enrollment of two elite universities under the Special Program from 2018 to 2023. Judging from the overall scale and tendency of the number of students who passed the “initial review”, got the “score reduction” and achived the “final admission”, the Special Program have been strengthened in recent years, more and more students from poor families have entered elite universities. At the same time, the actual enrollment of the Special Program in elite universities showed a distinct feature of “uneven compensation and excessive selection”. Rural students and schools in economically and educationally underdeveloped provinces were not compensated for more high-quality admission opportunities in the Special Program. An important reason is that they were at a disadvantage in the independent selection of elite universities and the selection of college entrance examination. In the next step, to promote the “substantive educational equity”, we should adjust the enrollment methods and related policies of the Special Program, establish the value orientation of “compensation first while taking into account selection” and put it into practice.