After attending the first “intensive-days” in week 3, I gradually adapted my studying in the UOE. I really want to write down all new ideas and thoughts every time I got them.
Basically, I want to propose the idea of “preferential education policies in different countries” for my assessment in the course “the future of learning organization”. The reason why I came up with this idea was totally based on my own experience. Considering ethnic minorities face immense barriers to receiving a high-quality education, China government adds extra five points for our gaokao scores is regarded as a preferential treatment to mitigate educational inequities. However, lowering the admission threshold has received backlash and criticism. Once in college, ethnic minorities need to face mental and emotional pressures that come with the perception that we do not deserve to be here and we are studying here only by virtue of the policy. There is no denying that students without good basic education whose confidence and ability could not easily be complemented by extra exam points.
So what I want to know is that
- Are there preferential policies applied in other countries?
- How can they make sure the rationality and feasibility of the policies?
- Are there any other side effects?
- Whose interests do we need to consider?
- Can they promote educational equity?
- What other suggestions can be used in China?
This week I also talk about my idea with James, and he thinks it is a good one if I can go on for it. I need to collect as more information as I can, to talk with my classmates, to compare the similarity and difference between countries, to analyze and predicate the trends of preferential education policies in the future. That is what I need to do now.
Kyra Fong
10/12/2023 — 09:22
Hi Ke Ke! Thank you for sharing your experience.
It sounds like the preferential policies in China are akin to processes of affirmative action in the United States. Affirmative action was also used as a treatment to mitigate educational inequalities — by giving special consideration to racial minorities and women. But it’s been heavily contested as a policy (mostly by white Americans and Asian-Americans) and was recently ruled as unconstitutional by the (conservative-dominant) US Supreme Court.
Here are a few articles about the history of affirmative action in the US & the recent Supreme Court decision. I hope they’re helpful! If you ever want to chat about this, I’d love to learn more about the preferential policies in China.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/31/us/politics/affirmative-action-history.html
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2023/jun/29/us-supreme-court-affirmative-action-harvard-unc-ruling
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02206-3
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/13/affirmative-action-asian-americans-us-universities
Ke Ke
10/13/2023 — 09:58
Thank you so much for sharing information in the the United States. This is very useful information and I’d like to talk with you! Maybe we can grab a coffee together sometime (perhaps after I have a deeper understanding or new ideas of the topic:)
Rue (Jinru Yu
10/13/2023 — 10:18
This is a precious topic. And Ke, you are at the centre of the issue, which means you can achieve empathy better. I’ll be tracking your research!
Tom Webster
10/13/2023 — 10:32
This could be a great project! There’s loads of scope when comparing international policies