The source of students is lost, teachers are poached, and the basic conditions are relatively weak
What did the "collapsed county" rely on to rise?
The county-level middle schools that once represented the educational highlands of the county have now encountered many difficulties, and can even be described as "predicament" in many places.
The source of students is being lost, teachers are being poached, the basic conditions are relatively weak, and the quality needs to be improved... Although "a college entrance examination exceeding 10 points is the number one scholar in the county", it represents a general dilemma in the county.
In the face of the "collapse of the county", the relevant departments did not let it go.
In December 2021, the "14th Five-Year Plan" (hereinafter referred to as the "County-level Improvement Plan") issued by 9 departments including the Ministry of Education proposed that by 2025, the overall level of running schools in the county would be significantly improved, and the city's The coordinated development mechanism of ordinary high schools in counties and urban areas within the region is basically sound.
On January 10 this year, the "14th Five-Year" Public Service Plan issued by 21 departments including the National Development and Reform Commission clearly stated that the construction of ordinary high schools in the county should be strengthened.
Study and formulate the development and improvement plan for ordinary high schools in the county, comprehensively strengthen the construction of the county, continue to consolidate and improve the popularization of high school education, and promote the diversified and characteristic development of high school schools.
At the end of the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan", my country has basically universalized high school education.
During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, high school education has entered the post-popularization stage, and the "County Middle School Promotion Plan" is at the right time.
However, what is the reason for the "collapse of the county"?
It is necessary to analyze the cause clearly in order to prescribe the right medicine.
The decline in the birth rate has led to a decrease in the number of people going to school, and the development of urbanization has caused the rural population to migrate to cities and towns. These external reasons exist objectively.
However, under the same external environmental conditions, there is still a consistent quality in the county.
There are not only county-level middle schools unique in the west, but also all county-level middle schools in the entire eastern region.
At the end of last year, Gansu launched an excellent high school construction plan. A total of 17 high schools were included in the plan, of which there were only two county-level middle schools, and Huining No. 1 Middle School was one of them.
When high-quality students and excellent teachers in other counties were lost, this school did not have a similar phenomenon, and the quality of education has always been among the best in Gansu Province.
Zhang Guirong, the principal of Huining No. 1 Middle School, believes that, as a school where the Long March meets teachers, it is born with "red genes". "Three pains and two pleasures" Huining educational spirit is a kind of culture that has been passed down for a long time.
The college entrance examination in Nantong, Jiangsu Province, located in the eastern region, has also been on the road of a virtuous circle of development.
The development of senior middle schools in all counties (cities, districts) is basically balanced.
It can be seen from these standing county-level middle schools that the continuous high quality of education and teaching is an important internal factor. This internal factor is enough to resist the negative impact of the external environment, can continue to attract high-quality students, and also brings teachers a career. sense of honor.
In the administrative management at the city and county levels, city-level middle schools can recruit students from the whole city, and use their own geographical location, educational resources and other advantages to snatch students. The deformed ecology has even turned some county-level middle schools that were originally at the same "educational altitude" into ravines.
Wang Feng, chief expert of the Education Development Research Center of the Ministry of Education, believes that external factors are more important, "Some famous public schools have established private schools, and the local government has given special policies to enroll students across regions. forming a vicious circle."
In 2021, Li County, a county adjacent to Hengshui, Hebei Province, will have a "life source defense war".
In order to curb the outflow of high-scoring students, 400 junior high school students in Li County, Hebei Province were admitted to high school ahead of schedule in April of that year.
This approach was opposed by parents, but the principal had his own difficulties - if the method of "protecting health sources" was not adopted, all the good students would be attracted by Hengshui Middle School.
(See the "Battle to Defend Students' Sources in a County Near Hengshui" published in the first edition of this newspaper on April 7, 2021)
In fact, as early as 2017, the Hebei Provincial Department of Education issued a notice requiring all cities to strictly regulate the cross-city enrollment of private high schools, stipulating that "private ordinary high schools that enroll in cross-city enrollments should, before enrolling students, analyze the school enrollment plan, enrollment method, enrollment time. , enrollment procedures, enrollment brochures, etc. are submitted to the prefecture-level education administrative department where they are located, and they are included in the overall deployment of enrollment and enrollment in the source of students.”
Education departments in Shijiazhuang, Chengde, Langfang, Handan, Xingtai and other places have introduced measures to restrict the enrollment of private high schools in Hengshui.
It is a pity that these regulations have not been really implemented. This kind of "student defense war" is not only unique to Lixian County. A few years ago, Guantao County shouted the slogan of "winning the defense against the outflow of outstanding students".
Therefore, Wang Feng believes that to solve the problem of "collapse in the county", it is the most direct and effective way to control enrollment first.
"During the enrollment process, Nantong City adopts a unified enrollment platform, and it is rare to poach students from other counties and urban areas." Tang Guojun, former director of the Education Bureau of Rudong County, Jiangsu Province, believes that enrollment should be regulated so that There are no super middle schools in the region, and each county develops in a balanced way.
A special study on county-level education released at the end of January this year pointed out that the current county-level education quality evaluation has problems such as unclear conceptual connotation, lack of emphasis on evaluation, and deviations in methods and operations. The development of connotation is transferred to the optimization of education ecology.
The study also proposes that the evaluation of county-level education quality should first focus on optimizing the educational ecology, correct the concept of education evaluation, and clarify that the county-level education quality evaluation should focus on promoting high-quality, balanced and fair development of schools as the core purpose.
The "County Promotion Plan" clearly states that schools in developed areas and urban areas are strictly prohibited from poaching outstanding principals and teachers in weak areas and counties. Those who maliciously snatch talents from county middle schools and schools without the consent of the organization and personnel department and education administrative department shall stop Qualifications for various types of school evaluations.
In this regard, Xiong Bingqi, president of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, believes that the key to solving the problem of "collapse in the county" is to strictly manage education according to the law.
In revitalizing the county, it is impossible to rely on the county's own strength, and there must be a better external environment.
First, super middle schools must be prohibited from illegally grabbing students across regions. If super middle schools can illegally grab students across regions, many counties cannot resist it; second, the treatment of teachers in county schools must be resolved, including the coordination of provincial finance. , to increase the transfer payment to county-level education finance, it is difficult to solve it simply by the strength of the county-level government.
China Youth Daily, China Youth Daily reporter Li Xinling Source: China Youth Daily