兴趣与成绩:中学生文理倾向的阶层养成

Preferences and Performance:Family Environment and Adolescents’Humanity/Science Orientation in Urban China

研究使用布迪厄的文化资本理论和惯习概念,探讨家庭阶层背景对中学生文理科兴趣和成绩的影响,并借此透视我国中等教育中的阶层差异固定化状况。基于对全国城市地区初二学生的抽样调查数据,以学生的文理科兴趣和学习成绩为因变量,以其家庭阶层背景和文化资本为自变量建立模型分析。结果发现,首先,在学习兴趣方面,来自较高社会阶层家庭的中学生对文科的兴趣明显高于低社会阶层家庭的学生,阶层对文科兴趣的影响主要通过家庭文化资本起作用;而在理科兴趣上,不同阶层学生间的差异并不明显,在控制家庭文化资本后可见较低社会阶层的学生对理科兴趣更强。其次,从学习成绩看,无论文科还是理科,低社会阶层家庭背景的学生都显著不如较高阶层家庭背景的学生。再次,作为一种“惯习”的学习兴趣对不同阶层学生的成绩差异有影响,但阶层差异并非主要通过兴趣影响成绩。最后,“家庭藏书量”和“父母教育水平”等文化资本对文理科兴趣和成绩的阶层差异影响非常显著,而阶层差异也主要通过家庭文化资本影响学生的学科兴趣和成绩。这些结果可能喻示着我国中等教育中已出现阶层差异固定化趋势,但阶层间教育获得的不平等仍主要源自物质资源而非内在态度和性情的差异。

Based on Bourdieu’s concepts of cultural capital and habitus,this study examined the impacts of family background on middle school students’interests and academic performance of humanity and science subjects.Based on the analyses of a national survey on students of grade 8 in urban China,four main findings were found.First,in terms of students’interest in subjects,the class differences in humanity were larger than that in science subjects.Second,students from lower-class backgrounds performed worse in both humanity and science subjects.Third,interests as an indicator of habitus explained little class differences in performance.Finally,the household book quantity as an indicator of objectified cultural capital explained significant parts of class differences in subject interest and performance.The conclusion is that class inequality is quite significant in Chinese middle school education nowadays.Nevertheless,by now the“class crystallization”did not proceed into the habitus level,as inequality was primarily stemmed from material resources and capitals,rather than internal temperament.