The Institutional Pillars of China's National College Entrance Exam

TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................ v ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... 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