1. This article examines trends in educational stratification during China’s Great Transformation, focusing on the changing role of parents’ education, household registration and political capital.
2. The study compares cohorts that completed their schooling during different stages of the market transition process, including the most recent graduates, and addresses all relevant transitions within an integrated framework.
3. It looks at both relative and absolute trends in inequality of educational opportunity, in order to address some of the shortcomings of the classic educational transition model.
The article is generally reliable and trustworthy as it provides a comprehensive overview of educational stratification in China during its Great Transformation period. The author has used a large and nationally representative dataset which contains highly detailed measures of respondents’ social origin to support their claims. Furthermore, they have compared cohorts that completed their schooling during different stages of the market transition process to provide a more comprehensive picture of trends in educational stratification than previous studies.
However, there are some potential biases present in the article which should be noted. Firstly, the author has limited themselves to discussing only the Reform Era (1978-present), meaning that variations in educational opportunities under state socialism (1949–1977) are not discussed or explored further. Secondly, while the author does discuss potential explanations for observed patterns of inequality, they do not explore any counterarguments or alternative explanations for these patterns. Finally, while the article does provide an overview of historical trends in educational stratification in China, it does not discuss any potential risks associated with these trends or how they may affect future generations.