Abstract:

In recent years, due to widespread misunderstandings regarding the academic and vocational streaming, educational anxiety has continued to grow and spread in society. Based on a factual and characteristic description of the academic and vocational streaming, this article reexamines the societal criticisms of this streaming. Over the past two decades, the academic to vocational education ratio in China’s senior high school education has experienced roller-coaster-like fluctuations but has consistently remained greater than 1∶1. Currently, at least sixty to seventy percent of students attend regular high schools, with some provinces nearing eighty percent. Micro-level data reveals that while family background plays a significant role in the streaming, academic performance is the predominant factor. Families in major cities and those with multiple children face greater pressures within this streaming, and boys tend to underperform compared to girls. Subsequently, this article provides minority supportive and majority contradictory evidence surrounding mainstream criticisms of the academic and vocational streaming. Finally, grounded in empirical analysis of this streaming, the article explores potential pathways for future harmonization of academic and vocational education in China.

Key words: academic-vocational streaming, education anxiety, tracking system, manufacturing industry