Children born in July and August: a study on the age regulation in primary school and student’s education access and development

Abstract

This paper discusses at the microlevel the educational inequality resulting from the cutoff birthdate regulation in the current primary school admission system. According to our research, among the students who enroll in school, students born in July and August display a relative disadvantage and adaptive difficulties in the construction of self-identity and study ability when compared with those born in September and October. Students born between November and June in the following year have mid-level performance. Moreover, this effect is accumulative. With regard to acquiring educational resources, students born in July and August show the lowest possibility of getting into the key senior middle schools, 16.7–22.8 % lower than the rest of the student population, while the possibility of being admitted to vocational school is the highest, 54.2–60.8 % higher than the others. This disadvantage is more prominent among male students. Our study also shows that the above effect is very strong and cannot be effectively suppressed by the socioeconomic factors. The “July/August pitfall” appears to be insurmountable.