Well if you're interested, the video description itself timestamps the section on education in rural China at 9:46 and the person interviewed puts the number even higher at 60%. What's the definition of a dropout? Is that meant to be rhetorical? Unless you have your own definition I would say its as simple as someone who can't complete the school's necessary courses, can't get their diploma, and thus leaves.
As I said in my OP, perhaps due to COVID its hard to find the latest up to date statistic on just how many rural Chinese youths are able to graduate from high school. This is a more concrete study from the World Bank that puts the number at 47% on page 3, back in 2019.
Hence 50% was simply the middleground number I came up with. If you think its disingenuous, I apologize for it.
In any event the most up to date article I could find on the issue from SCMP, even if it doesn't have a statistic, does show that however high or low it is, be it on or off paper, it is generally acknowledged there is still a tacit difference in China today between the quality of education that rural youngsters and urban youngsters receive. No doubt its being worked on, but as the latest HDI report shows, China is still a developing nation and so it shouldn't hurt to bring up core issues that need addressing in order for it to become fully developed.
