The God of Learning: A Firsthand Observation of Elite Education in China

Study Gods: How the New Chinese Elite Prepare for Global Competition

Only by understanding how China selects its elites can we understand the true contemporary China!
The first ethnography of elite education in China, focusing on China's Sharp Power Education

"Points are like money. People with more money are always more respected."
——Elite Chinese high school students

Welcome to the elite high school arena in Beijing. China's elite high schools are the most competitive arena in the world! Only students with excellent family political and economic conditions and top academic performance can enter Beijing's most elite high schools. Within Beijing's elite high schools, a unique social class system exists! Students divide themselves into four major classes:

. Weak student: the worst in grades and lowest in status. Bad student: poor in grades but relaxed in attitude, higher in status than weak student. Top student: extremely hardworking and excellent in grades, but lower in status than god. God of study: effortlessly ahead of the crowd, with a god-like status

Author Jiang Yilin conducted seven years of ethnographic research on elite high schools in Beijing. She discovered that these four hierarchies are a common understanding among students at these elite schools. Everyone belongs to a certain class, and they expect each other to play roles appropriate to their own class, each taking their place and remaining in their proper place. The campus status system, headed by "scholars," constantly reinforces the worship of "genius" and the contempt for "weak" students with poor academic performance. These elite high school students, even as they study, have already begun playing the class game!

◆Chinese version of "Sky Castle", how do high school students learn the hierarchy game?
Why do high schools form hierarchies based on "grades"? China is one of the countries with the largest wealth disparity in the world. This environment means that the winner takes all, and the loser struggles to recover. Therefore, elite parents invest heavily in their children's education to maintain their elite status and even sponsor their children to study abroad to compete for a position among the global elite. Living in a competitive battlefield has led to the formation of a unique campus class culture in Beijing's elite high schools:

What strategies do high school students adopt to succeed in the school hierarchy?
What kind of person becomes a "god," and how does a "god" interact with mortals?
How do high school students from different social classes work together to maintain the system's operation?
What abilities does surviving this campus status hierarchy develop for high school students? And how will it affect their future?

How China Builds Educational Strength in the Era of Globalization: Author Jiang Yilin spent seven years tracking and interviewing 28 elite high school students, from their middle school years to university and even their careers. Her profile includes both academic geniuses and top students, as well as underachievers and underachievers. She captures and depicts the unequal dynamics within Beijing's elite high schools—discrimination against the weak, reverence for the strong, and the maintenance of hierarchy. These dynamics are deeply ingrained in each elite student from their early years, honing their ability to navigate status hierarchies.

China's most elite high school students develop a taste for class culture and master the status hierarchy while still in school. What impact will this have when they go on to attend world-class universities, work for global companies, or even enter China's power centers?

Numerous books have explored various aspects of China's strength. This is the first to delve into the realities of elite education. As China's elite compete with the global elite and enter various industries, we should pay close attention and understand the implications of this phenomenon.

Celebrity recommendations

Wu Xiaole, author of "Your Children Are Not Your Children"; Guo Junwu, secretary-general of the Taiwan Parent-Child Co-education Promotion Association; Huang Zhebin, journalist; Lan Peijia, professor of sociology at National Taiwan University; author of "Striving for Parenting"

Good reviews and recommendations

The brilliant writing and vivid details make it hard to put down the book. "The Scholar" takes us into a Chinese middle school, revealing a world built on exams, full of competition and elimination, where high-achieving students enjoy a high status. Author Jiang Yilin spent years tracking and observing these young people, witnessing them enter Ivy League universities and obtain high-level positions in Europe and the United States. Highly recommended! —Annette Lareau, author of "Unequal Childhoods"

"The Scholar God" is a profoundly meaningful book. The author spent a long time observing a group of elite Chinese students and witnessing their growth process. The author's writing is meticulous and the content is approachable and easy to read. It combines interdisciplinary literature from sociology, education, and anthropology. I recommend it to readers who care about China's rise. - Yingyi Ma, author of "Ambitious and Anxious"

Author Jiang Yilin presents a clear concept and rigorous analysis to show us how the children of elite Chinese parents navigate this education system, how they achieve academic success, and how they have a chance to win in the global competition. Jiang Yilin also dispels the myth of the "tiger mother" and shows the crucial importance of social class in shaping values, norms, daily practices, and socioeconomic status. - Min Zhou, co-author of "The Asian American Achievement Paradox"

The author writes with exquisite and moving prose, presenting the life, perspectives, and experiences of this "scholar god." Through long-term and comprehensive observation, Jiang Yilin allows us to deeply understand this group of Chinese students with superior socioeconomic status and excellent academic performance. —Vanessa Fong, Amherst College

This book, "The God of Learning," shows us how the belief that "everything is inferior except for education" has, under the catalyst of various conditions in China, evolved into a brutal competitive environment that is several times more severe than that in Taiwan. I also deeply realized that the two words "involution" and "lying flat" became popular in China first, which is definitely not accidental and has its own sad factors. - Wu Xiaole, writer, author of "Your Children Are Not Your Children"

Imagine a society where there are only one percent winners in education, while the other ninety-nine percent are frustrated in learning. The negative emotions, anger, resentment, and dissatisfaction caused by the relative sense of deprivation generated by the entire collective will become a time bomb for the entire society. The book "The God of Learning" tells us how this bomb is made. "Education" In democratic countries, the learning paradigm is slowly moving from "pursuit of excellence" to "self-realization". This is because once education becomes the alchemy of class replication; the more stable the class and the more difficult it is to move, the less likely it is that people can live and work in peace and contentment. - Guo Junwu, Secretary-General of the Taiwan Parent-Child Co-learning Education Promotion Association

2023-08-30

衛城出版

464

9786267052907