The death of dreams

I see many Chinese middle school children here on expensive holidays, the point of which is to study English. No child from a rural family would ever be able to dream of such an opportunity, in fact it is not likely that studying English will be a priority for them in the first place.

In China people always say "knowledge can change your fate". I will leave the last poignant quote on education to young Mr. Xiong who said "It is not definite that knowledge can change a person's fate, but it is definite that without knowledge a person cannot their fate". Rural students are making different choices now, instead of allowing their families to sacrifice all for an uncertain return, they are choosing to forgo a university education and start work early instead. These students have given up hope that knowledge can change their fate - they simply do not have access to it.