Abstract:

The subject selection system is one of the core contents of the new college entrance examination reform. To investigate the effect of family background on high school students' willingness to choose subjects and academic achievement, descriptive statistics, factor analysis, crossover analysis, and binary logistic regression analyses were conducted based on the data from a sample of Zhejiang Province’s 2017-2020 New College Entrance Examination graduates. Results show that, first, the more advantageous the family background, the more likely the student will achieve high academic achievement. Second, family background has a significant influence on subject choice, mainly in terms of family economic capital positively influencing the choice of subjects with high learning costs, family philosophy of mathematics and chemistry positively influencing the choice of science-oriented subjects, and family cultural atmosphere positively influencing the choice of literature-oriented subjects. Finally, personal factors such as gender and subject performance are still the key factors influencing the willingness to choose subjects, mainly reflected in male and high-performing students preferring science subjects. Policies need to be in place to promote all-round development of students and rational subject choices to further promote equity in educational opportunities.

Key words: new college entrance examination reform, subject selection, academic achievement, family background