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There have been ongoing discussions about the most recent curriculum reform in China. The new curriculum aims at a more quality-oriented (suzhi) education and producing more well-rounded citizens to meet the challenges of global competition. However, it is questioned how suzhi education is possible with entrance examination still being the sole sorting mechanism. A semester-long ethnography in a rural middle school in northwest China reveals how rural students face many challenges with the new curriculum. Based on interviews, analyses of textbooks, and observations of classroom teaching, the study examines how rural students question the relevance of their curriculum and further the meaning of formal schooling. In addition to the dichotomy between an exam-oriented and quality-oriented curriculum, students are also troubled by the dichotomy between general/academic education and relevant/practical education. The study raises concerns about the urban-centered curriculum and how the rural community's absence in the picture has led to rural students' increasing disengagement in schooling and even dropout. It also reveals how the substance of suzhi education and the new curriculum have further reduced rural students' chance to move upward socially. The article concludes by pushing for discussions on how formal schooling can better serve rural children and youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on an ethnographic study in a rural middle school in Northwest China, the author explores how the transition of the rural countryside, specifically townization, has challenged the urban–rural dichotomy being reproduced in and by formal schooling. Rural students express criticism of the chaos, pollution, and corruption they have experienced during townization, which also penetrate the school walls and become part of their daily schooling experience. Students’ resistance to townization corresponds to their resistance to schooling. The author analyzes three groups of rural youth (conformists, reformers, and rebels), and how their resistance is limiting and even self-defeating, yet also has potential for being liberating. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]