With the acceleration of urbanization in China at the end of last century and the beginning of this century, a large number of rural surplus labor force gathered in cities. However, influenced by various social factors, it is difficult for most migrant workers to realize their dream of family migration from rural areas to cities in a short time. In the dilemma of family livelihood and children’s growth, many migrant farmers choose to leave their children in rural areas, and rural left-behind children begin to emerge in large numbers.
With the passage of time, a large number of left-behind children in rural areas born at the end of last century and the beginning of this century have grown up. Some of them continue to go out to work and become "new generation migrant workers", some choose to start businesses to benefit their hometown and society, and some of them have successfully passed the university exam, even the "key universities" in China in 211 and 985 with their own efforts and family support, and successfully achieved the counterattack of children from poor rural areas.
As the "poor elite" who grew up in the rural left-behind children group, college students who have left-behind experience in rural areas (hereinafter referred to as rural left-behind college students) undoubtedly have the most excellent qualities in the rural left-behind children group. The development of rural left-behind college students is not only related to the success or failure of the existing practical path to solve the problem of rural left-behind children, but also related to the direction of the national policy for rural left-behind children.
What is the development status of rural left-behind college students in universities? Will the influence of the experience of staying behind in rural areas disappear naturally with the passage of time? Therefore, the research team of the School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences, Wuhan University of Technology (hereinafter referred to as the research team), based on a questionnaire survey of 4,596 full-time undergraduate students from four 211 engineering universities (key universities) and four ordinary universities in China, selected 1,147 students who had left-behind experience in rural areas (referring to the rural living conditions in which one or both parents went out to work for more than six months under the age of 16 — — The author’s note) undergraduates have made a retrospective investigation and research on their development.
There is no difference in academic performance with other groups.
In order to understand the overall academic level of rural left-behind college students, the research team compared with other college students from three aspects: academic performance, ability development and self-concept development, and found that the academic achievements of rural left-behind children were both surprising and insufficient.
Considering the comparability of academic performance in different classes and disciplines, the research team first understands the current situation of academic performance of college students through their relative grades in the class. The research team found that 52.6% of the rural left-behind college students ranked in the top 30% of the total sample, and less than 20% of the samples ranked in the bottom 30% of the class. According to the 5-point scoring system, after the conversion of class scores, the academic scores of rural left-behind college students in the class are all worth scoring 3.52, which is in the upper-middle level as a whole, while the scores of non-rural left-behind college students are 3.53, and there is no significant difference in academic scores between the two groups.
In the case of the same school education environment, academic performance mainly reflects the difference of individual efforts and course learning ability. The research team believes that rural left-behind college students can successfully enter the university, which shows that their previous study efforts and course learning ability are not bad. They can improve their course learning performance and eliminate the differences with other college students through their own efforts.
Low ability development but good at cooperation.
After data comparison and statistical analysis, the research team found that the scores of academic ability development of rural left-behind college students were relatively low.
It is found that the average score of comprehensive ability of rural left-behind college students is 3.55, which is at the upper-middle level on the whole; The average comprehensive ability score of non-left-behind college students is 3.66, and the average comprehensive ability score of non-left-behind college students in rural household registration is 3.63. The comprehensive ability score of rural left-behind college students is not only significantly lower than that of other non-left-behind college students, but also significantly lower than that of non-left-behind college students with rural household registration.
The research team further investigated the sub-item ability of 1147 rural left-behind college students, and found that the average score of effective cooperation ability of this group was the highest, reaching 3.82, and the average score of organizational leadership ability was the lowest, with an average of 3.36. The average scores of other abilities were from high to low, followed by problem solving ability, communication and coordination ability and information technology application ability. The research team believes that the left-behind college students in rural areas need to be strengthened in organizational leadership, information technology application, communication and coordination, and problem solving.
The level of self-concept development is weak.
As a cognitive system, self-concept is a reflection of the "subjective self" that individuals perceive and recognize. It usually consists of three parts: reflection evaluation, social comparison and self-feeling. Self-concept is based on the objective self, and its development level represents the individual’s self-evaluation and orientation, and plays a role in self-guidance, explanation and attribution of his own behavior. When individuals experience relatively many setbacks, the development of self-concept will be relatively weak.
After statistical analysis, the research team found that the average self-concept score of rural left-behind college students was 3.82, which was significantly lower than the average of 3.92 for non-left-behind college students and 3.93 for rural registered non-left-behind college students.
After concrete analysis, it is found that the left-behind college students in rural areas have the highest self-evaluation score of ideology and morality, with an average of 4.10, the average self-evaluation score of mental health is 3.9, the score of facing up to themselves is 3.83, and the satisfaction score of study and life status is the lowest, with an average of 3.46. The overall development level of self-concept of rural left-behind college students is relatively weak, especially in the evaluation of mental health and satisfaction with the status quo.
The chances of left-behind boys receiving higher education are low.
According to the classification of key universities and ordinary universities, there are 339 rural left-behind college students in key universities in this survey, accounting for 21.3% of the sample of 1593 key college students; There are 808 rural left-behind college students in non-key universities, accounting for 26.9% of the sample of non-key college students. In the survey of the research team, the distribution rate of rural left-behind college students in key universities is lower than that in non-key universities.
The research team also found that the gender distribution of rural left-behind college students is quite different. Among the 339 rural left-behind college students in key universities, there are 198 boys and 141 girls, accounting for 58.4% and 41.6% respectively. Among the 808 rural left-behind college students in ordinary universities, there are 196 boys and 612 girls, accounting for 24.3% and 75.7% respectively, and the proportion of boys is significantly lower than that of girls.
According to the investigation of the research team, the chances of rural left-behind boys entering ordinary universities are obviously worse than those of girls, and the overall success rate is low compared with girls.
Have difficulty in role identification
When asked, "Can you identify yourself as a left-behind child in adolescence?", among 1,147 rural left-behind college students, 934 chose to identify themselves as a left-behind child, while 213 chose not to. It can be seen that a considerable number of left-behind college students still find it difficult to accept their status as left-behind children.
Left-behind in rural areas is a helpless choice made by parents in the dilemma of family survival and children’s development. In the face of the living arrangements imposed on them by their parents, can adult rural left-behind college students understand their parents’ helplessness? Among the 1,147 rural left-behind college students, 815 chose to understand their parents all the time, 7 clearly expressed their hatred for their parents, while 148 and 177 said "I can understand now, but I’m still upset" and "I didn’t understand beforehand, but now I’m slowly letting go" respectively.
The research team concluded that nearly 30% of the rural left-behind college students in the sample could not fully accept their parents’ arrangement to stay in the countryside. This reflects the contradictory state that rural left-behind college students can understand rationally but cannot fully accept the experience of staying in rural areas emotionally. They still have difficulties in role identification, and the trauma and shadow brought by the experience of staying behind in rural areas have not disappeared or been smoothed away automatically with the growth of age and the successful acquisition of university education opportunities.
Early stay-at-home experience has both positive and negative effects on school and life.
As an unfavorable environment for growth, the left-behind experience in rural areas tends to describe its adverse effects. However, the research team found that the experience of staying in rural areas has brought both positive and negative effects on the study and life of rural left-behind college students.
The 1147 rural left-behind college students surveyed by the research team believe that the left-behind experience in rural areas has brought them many positive effects, which include, in descending order: independent and strong life, mature and sensible, knowing how to cherish gratitude, diligence and thrift, clearer learning motivation, easy to meet open-mindedness, loving and empathetic, etc. Among them, more than 50% of the samples choose to live independently, be mature and sensible, and know how to cherish gratitude, and rank among the top three in the positive influence of left-behind experience.
However, there are quite a few students who think that the experience of staying behind has not only brought positive effects on their studies and life, but also brought negative effects, mainly in personality characteristics and psychological status. Among them, 32.3% of the students said that the experience of staying in rural areas made their personality insecure and very sensitive; 20.5% students think that this experience makes their personality pessimistic and easy to feel inferior; 18.2% of the students answered that the experience made them cautious and timid; 17.9% of the students stressed that the experience made them have low requirements for life and low self-expectation; 16.5% students made it clear that they were often in a state of loneliness and anxiety; There are also 9.2%, 7.4% and 6.7% students who confirm that they are easy to compromise, paranoid and willful. Among the above negative effects, pessimism, easy inferiority, paranoid thinking, compromise and willful rebellion are all common personality factors that easily induce mental health problems, while loneliness, anxiety, insecurity and sensitivity are common manifestations of mental health obstacles.
The further comparative analysis of the research team found that the mental health of the rural left-behind college students was still negatively affected by the early rural left-behind experience: their loneliness, timidity and lack of affection were significantly higher than those of the non-left-behind college students.
Left-behind college students in rural areas urgently need care and help.
The research team believes that left-behind children in rural areas have lived in a split family life environment for a long time, and they lack complete and timely care and support from their parents during their growth and development. In such a relatively unfavorable development situation, it is not easy for them to successfully enter the university by their own efforts. As children of poor families in rural areas, the left-behind college students in rural areas obviously have to pay more hardships and efforts than other college students along the way. Therefore, they are worthy of the title of "poor elite".
However, getting the opportunity of university education is only the first step to change their own destiny. After winning the temporary academic success, the negative impact of the early experience of staying in rural areas on them did not disappear completely because children became adults, and the previous experience of staying in rural areas still quietly affected their life and development in universities.
Although the adversity experienced by rural left-behind college students makes them strong and independent, and their academic performance is not inferior to other students because of their own efforts, the realistic development problems they face can not be ignored: the lack of family support has caused their one-sided academic development, resulting in their relatively low comprehensive ability and weak self-concept development; The lack of affection in childhood leads to some lingering shadows in their psychology, forming personality defects in their personality development and increasing the risk of mental health problems.
Although left-behind college students in rural areas belong to the elite among teenagers who have left-behind experience in rural areas, they are a special group with relatively unfavorable development situation and the largest scale in the whole group of college students. The research team believes that the aura of college students can easily cover up the existing problems in the development of rural left-behind college students, and the identity of adults also makes them lose the policy care and social concern that only rural left-behind children can have. If the development problems of rural left-behind college students in universities are not actively concerned and effectively solved, all kinds of negative problems caused by left-behind experience will inevitably continue to deteriorate in their adulthood, and the best healing environment and opportunities will be lost, and their studies and lives will be immeasurably negatively affected.
The research team believes that from the social responsibility of "helping the weak" and the educational concept of "educational fairness", the left-behind college students in rural areas belong to the disadvantaged groups with poor origins and difficulties in development, and should be fully cared for and helped; Judging from the potential value of elite students’ contribution to the future of society and the efficiency of social assistance, their excellent quality of self-reliance and self-improvement is more worthy of social care.
Of course, although the left-behind college students in rural areas are special, they are by no means problem college students. Their existing problems are still developing problems, and as adults, they already have a relatively sound mind and independent ability. In the relatively superior university environment, most of them can achieve reconciliation with their left-behind experience with the help of university teachers and students and their own efforts, and then gradually eliminate their negative effects.
Fortunately, some colleges and universities have realized this problem and taken corresponding measures to help these left-behind children. The research team suggested that relevant departments and more colleges and universities should learn from these colleges and universities: when dealing with rural left-behind college students, they should neither let themselves go, ignore them, ignore them, nor label them indiscriminately, and treat them as problem students in a simple and rude way. They should give them necessary care and help according to different problems of different students in their natural study and living conditions, so as to promote their independent development and vigorous growth during their college years.
(Associate Professor, Wuhan University of Technology, Jia Yonghong)
