Abstract:

By analyzing interview data from 22 rural students who have been admitted to undergraduate institutions in three county high schools, an indicator system of influencing factors of rural students’ pursuit of higher education was constructed based on the grounded theory, which analyzed factors, influencing students’ study decision-making, from six aspects, including family upbringing,individual consciousness,school education,peer effects,media influence,and elder counseling. The research results indicated that family upbringing played a foundational role in the process of rural students’ education, individual consciousness played a subjective role, school education and peer effects played guiding roles,while media influence and elder counseling played information supporting roles. It can be seen the embeddedness of modern educational concepts into rural traditional beliefs is a deep-rooted issue affecting the rural students’ pursuit of education. To further promote the integration of rural traditional beliefs and modern educational concepts,appropriate cultural and social policy interventions should be provided to rural students and their parents,helping them increase their knowledge about higher education and establish correct views on family education.

Key words: rural students, pursuit of higher education, grounded theory, modern educational concepts, traditional beliefs