Fragile Elite: The Dilemmas of China's Top University Students

Anthropology of Policy

by Susanne Bregnbaek

China's One Child Policy and its rigorous national focus on educational testing are well known. But what happens to those "lucky" few at the very top of the elite university students in China who grew up under the One Child Policy and now attend the nation's most prestigious universities? How do they feel about having made it to the top of an extremely competitive educational system—as their parents' only child? What pressures do they face, and how do they cope with the expectations associated with being the best?

Fragile Elite explores the contradictions and perplexities of being an elite student through immersive ethnographic research conducted at two top universities in China. Susanne Bregnbæk uncovers the intimate psychological strains students suffer under the pressure imposed on them by parents and state, where the state acts as a parent and the parents reinforce the state. Fragile Elite offers fascinating insights into the intergenerational tensions at work in relation to the ongoing shift in educational policy and definition of what a "quality" student, child, and citizen is in contemporary China.

Genres: Education

186 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 9, 2016

Reviews

[Phoebe · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is a mandatory read for my cultural anthropology class but I was very excited to delve into it! The first chapter alone made me want to cry for Jing Jing. The internal conflict she felt and choosing between Shuzhi jiaoyu and xiao was something completely foreign to me yet I couldn't help but feel sympathy for her. The several stories depicted in this book were interesting yet harrowing. It's crazy to think that this is just the way some people live. I deeply resonate with the concepts of filial piety and the Oedipus project. In a way I can empathize with these students, since my personal experiences are not too different. Struggling between choosing yourself or meeting the expectations of your family is scary. The pressure put onto these students was much greater than my own, and I think that the fact that we'll never be able to escape our parent's and their expectations for us will haunt me forever.