Meritocracy has long been discussed by social scientists, yet school meritocracy, which operates within educational settings and emphasizes diligence, will, and academic performance, has received relatively less attention. To fill this gap, this paper investigates how students' high school experiences shape their initial levels of school meritocratic belief upon entering college, and how subsequent college experiences influence these beliefs over time. Drawing on the Beijing College Students Panel Survey, a four-wave longitudinal survey following 5,100 undergraduates enrolled in 54 universities in Beijing from 2009 to 2012, this study uses OLS regression and two-level mixed-effects models to examine both between-student differences at college entry and within-student changes across college. The findings suggest that students who participated in a wider range of non-test-oriented activities in high school and those who attended less selective key high schools tend to enter college with stronger beliefs in school meritocracy, whereas students who attended high schools in provincial capitals tend to hold weaker beliefs. However, the influence of high school experiences diminishes over time in college. Instead, college experiences, including receiving rewards, stronger academic performance, and greater participation in student clubs and leadership roles, become more strongly associated with beliefs in school meritocracy. These findings provide valuable insights into how beliefs in school meritocracy change during the transition from high school to college, highlighting how past experiences may shape students' school meritocratic beliefs, and how such beliefs are continuously reshaped through students' interactions with changing educational contexts.
Qingru Xu (Mon,) studied this question.
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