But even so, a gaping chasm exists between urban and rural education. Stanford’s Rural Education in Action Program states that over 70% of urban students are admitted to college, compared to less than 5% of rural students. While urban classrooms allow students to use innovative technology and learn from qualified teachers; rural classrooms have students eating and sleeping in cramped dormitories, learning from under-resourced and underpaid teachers. While all mainland Chinese students are required to receive nine years of education, high school’s financial responsibility falls on the shoulders of the student’s family. This financial barrier causes 60% of rural students to drop out before high school, pursuing a job to support their families and further widening the gap between rural and urban students. In addition, students from rural areas often are raised away from their parents, who migrate to other cities to find work - according to the South China Morning Post, there’s an estimate of over 61 million children in China who live without one/both parents. Typically raised by their grandparents, they’ll need to take on more responsibilities when their guardians become unable to do so. This can mean that they’ll have to drop out of school as soon as possible to help tend crops and plow fields - or in Xiaohusai’s case, help with tea farming. Without access to equal and quality education, rural students are not able to receive the same opportunities that urban students experience. As urban students ourselves, we have been taught to recognize the importance of education in someone’s life. With the establishment of our enterprise, we hope to decrease this education gap as much as possible, one cup of tea at a time. Bibliography (APA Style):
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