Practices and Lessons Learned from the Troubleshooting and Development of County High Schools

It is of practical significance to explore the local experiences of county high schools in getting out of the predicament of becoming "collapsed high schools" in order to promote the revitalization of China’s county high schools more effectively. The article summarizes the commonalities and differences in the experiences of typical county high schools in China that have successfully avoided becoming "collapsed high schools", and outlines three ways for county high schools to avoid "lagging behind": the policy incentive type, which is typified by policy assistance, system reform and financial support; the people-centered type, which is typified by high-quality teacher training and attention to students' needs; and the exchange and empowerment type, which is typified by articulation between universities and county high schools, and strengthening inter-school cooperation. Drawing on practical experience, some insights have been gained: to get out of the "collapsed high school" predicament, it is necessary to pay attention to the implementation of policies fostering the development of county high schools and help county high schools conduct management reform; focus on the humanistic care of teachers and enhance the sense of belonging to teaching; change the concept of teaching in county high schools and make more efforts to improve the quality of education; strengthening the construction of schools with special characteristics and improving the attractiveness of county high schools.