A New Implication for China’s Rural Education Reform: Organizational Learning Theory

After more than two decades of extraordinarily rapid policy-induced development, rural China is now faced with the challenge of transferring to a science- and technology-induced development. For such historical development to come about, China needs a cadre of wellqualified workers and managers in strategic rural locations. Paradoxically China is well known for a rural education policy that produces millions “who can neither apply their learning to scientific and technological industry nor develop new technology for agricultural and rural development.” Although numerous reforms have been attempted to ameliorate these conditions, very little progress has been realized. This paper credits past reform failures to single-loop learning and explores potential new “organizational learning” directions for China’s rural educational system.