Shifting Fields and Shifting Perspectives
What happens when students shift between public schools and elite institutions? This is a question that has been at the forefront of my mind throughout this research. Will students adapt to the change and welcome their new status or will they feel lost in a seemingly unnavigable field? What happens when the student returns to their point of origin, or old institution – will they easily slide back into their old lifestyle or will their perspective have changed?
While reading through my assigned interview, the student, Layla, expressed an inability to connect with friends from her old public school. The Olive Grove Academy encourages students to participate in educated debates and share their discoveries with the people around them. However, Layla expressed an inability to do this with friends from her old school because she felt they were not able to understand her new “elite” viewpoint. She stated, “my thoughts, about who I am—it might isolate me from where I used to be, or the other people, but I think when I go outside or meet other people I think I’m going to need mentalities that are similar to mine.” Through her absorption of the elite principles taught at the Olive Grove Academy, she felt set apart from her old lifestyle. Regardless, Layla still felt it was important to engage in discussion with her old friends in order to challenge their stereotypes or misconceptions. She felt she was better equipped to discuss other cultures and peoples because of her civic engagement experiences and “global citizen” mindset.
Pierre Bourdieu would argue that the student’s position in the field, or environment, was a result of that specific field’s norms, the student’s habitus, and the student’s capital.1 When the student changes between fields, such as from a public school to an elite one, the norms have changed. The student must then attempt to adjust their habitus, or the way that they perceive the social world around them and react to it, in order to fit the new norms. However, aspects of the old field will still be inherent to the individual and may prevent the student from fully adjusting to their new field. When this occurs, it is likely that the student will feel depressed or inadequate by their inability to fit in. Likewise, as the student adopts the new norms of the elite institution they are gaining social and cultural capital, and when/if they return to the old field, their position will have changed. The student may not see their old peers the same way, as Layla did, and it is likely that the peers no longer view her in the same way either.
- Bourdieu, Pierre. The State Nobility: Elite Schools in the Field of Power. Translated by Lauretta C. Clough, Cambridge, Polity Press, 1996.