Abstract: The authors’ field research in a public school for migrant workers’ children reveals that among the underachiever children with little chance of entering a higher school, a survival logic of counter-school characterized by recreation and resistance is taking shape. This logic is based on the partial perception of education under the marginalized and disadvantaged life situation. The children finally choose to enter the secondary labor market, hence the stratum reproduction. However, the strategic selection by the children in specific contexts should be taken into account to further explore the relationship between education and reproduction. When there is no strong in-group consciousness among the migrant workers’ children, the dynamic in counter-school survival logic does not have the potential to transform the fate of social stratum.

Key words: migrant workers&rsquo, children丨partial perception丨counter-school survival丨reproduction