TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................ v
ABSTRACT
... [Show More] ....................................................................................................................... vi
PREFACE ......................................................................................................................... vii
LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ xx
CHAPTER
1. THE NATIONAL COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAM: ROOTS AND REFORMS ........ 1
1.1 Summary ................................................................................................................... 1
1.2 Introduction: The NCEE ........................................................................................... 1
1.2.1 Changing Times, Changing Values .................................................................... 4
1.3 Theoretical Issues: Institutional Theory .................................................................... 7
1.3.1 The Issue of Rules and the Regulatory Pillar – the case of China ...................... 8
1.3.2 Inhabited Institutionalism ................................................................................... 9
1.3.3 On Culture ........................................................................................................ 10
1.4 Perceptions of the NCEE: Beliefs and Values ........................................................ 12
1.4.1 Structure and Hierarchy .................................................................................... 12
1.4.2 Hard Work, or “Eating bitter” .......................................................................... 13
1.4.3 The Perspective of Urban Students .................................................................. 16
1.4.4 The Only Child and the Pressure to Achieve ................................................... 18
1.4.5 Fairness ............................................................................................................. 19
1.4.6 Fairness for Whom? .......................................................................................... 20
1.4.6.1 Quotas and Residency ................................................................................ 21
1.4.7 Guanxi: Contrast or Counterpoint? ................................................................... 22
1.5 Stunted Reforms for Change: Suzhi (quality) Education ........................................ 25
1.5.1 The NCEE and Suzhi: Resistance and Support ................................................ 28
1.6 NCEE Reform: Innovation, “Harmonious Society” and the “China Dream” ......... 31
1.6.1 Reforms and the State: Legitimacy through National Development ................ 31
1.6.1.1 The State View on Development and Diversity ........................................ 33
1.6.2 Diversity in Higher Education .......................................................................... 35
xii
1.7 Relevant Policies ..................................................................................................... 36
1.7.1 The Outline: Education for harmony and national development ..................... 38
1.7.2 The Decision: The Ending of Subject Streams ................................................. 39
1.7.3 The Deepening: Giving form to quality education ........................................... 41
1.7.4 The Opinions: Measurement through a transparent framework ....................... 43
1.8 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 45
2. INSTITUTIONAL THEORY ....................................................................................... 47
2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 47
2.2 The Importance of Legitimacy ................................................................................ 49
2.2.1 Weber: Authority and Compliance ................................................................... 50
2.3 A different kind of “rational” legitimacy ................................................................ 53
2.4 Old vs New Institutionalism .................................................................................... 54
2.5 Culture and Cognition ............................................................................................. 57
2.5.1 Emphasizing the Taken for Granted ................................................................. 58
2.6 The Three Pillars of Institutions: The Regulative, the Normative, and the Cultural- cognitive ................................................................................................................. 61
2.7 Effects of the Institutional Environment: Isomorphism, Decoupling, and Loose Coupling ................................................................................................................. 65
2.7.1 Isomorphism – a theory of homogenization and legitimacy ............................ 66
2.7.2 Decoupling in Education: The Technical and the Institutional ........................ 68
2.7.3 Normative Credentials, Control, and Isomorphism .......................................... 72
2.7.4 Loose Coupling................................................................................................. 75
2.8 The Changing State of Schools ............................................................................... 76
2.8.1 The Impact of the Market ................................................................................. 77
2.8.2 Inhabited Institutionalism ................................................................................. 79
2.8.3 Recoupling – Challenges from Changing Times .............................................. 80
2.9 The Institutional Environment in China .................................................................. 81
2.10 Institutional Studies on China ............................................................................... 82
2.10.1 A Technical and Institutional Structure of High School Education ............... 82
2.10.2 “Surface” Mimetism for Survival ................................................................... 84
2.10.3 Coercive Pressure and Regulations ................................................................ 87
2.10.4 State Legitimacy ............................................................................................. 89
2.10.5 The Role of Legitimacy in Organizational Structure ..................................... 90
2.10.6 The State and Legitimacy in Legal Education ................................................ 92 [Show Less]