How Does Elite Schooling Influence Career Choice?

Through this research, I have found myself emerged in the study of elite schooling. Elite educational institutions have limited accessibility and benefit students who possess large amounts of economic, social, and cultural forms of capital. Elite institutions provide arenas where students who come from elite backgrounds flourish with the opportunity to utilize their capitals and advantages, especially in the workforce. Elite schools influence career choice in three ways. The first is that schools want to maintain a prestigious image of their school based on job placement, so they encourage students to enter into prestigious fields such as banking, consulting, or law firms (Rivera, 2012). This exemplifies how elite schools push students in certain directions to a perceived ‘high status’. Secondly, elite schools and parents hold high expectations for their students and kids academically and socially, which encourage career choices such as engineering or medical schools. Third, culturally, kids are crafted to enter these elite spaces. Rivera posed an example of this where she said, “elite professional service firms are a fertile ground for analyzing cultural similarities in hiring”. (Rivera, 2012). Elite institutions not only create an environment that allows elite students to flourish but also an environment that encourages certain career paths over others through cultural connections and networks. 

In my research, one student talked extensively about expectations placed on her as well as how this translated into what she is expected to do for her career. She discussed the expectations that she and her parents have when it comes to her grades and furthermore, the types of career choices they wish upon her. For context, her parents graduated from top universities and currently hold prestigious jobs, causing them to be in the top 1% of income in Chile. The student said, “I want to still have really high standards and do my best without stressing myself out very badly”. She called herself a perfectionist and highly motivated. She also said that her parents are very supportive of her but at the same time they encourage her to go into medicine or an engineering career. Another student said that most students will “probably work for their father’s company”, which is oftentimes a prestigious position. These students express how their visions are molded by their parents and educational environments. 

Bourdieu’s State Nobility describes this phenomenon. He uses examples of what classifies as elite disciplines versus non-elite disciplines. He uses words like “intelligent” versus “narrow-minded” characteristics when comparing the different disciplines. He also said, “disciplines choose their students as much as students choose their disciplines” (Bourdieu, 2010). This can be used to describe how elite students enter specific areas of study that lead to elite professions post-school, like at the Croft school. Additionally, he called elite schools “training grounds for executives”, demonstrating why elites enter into prestigious positions. He also explained how students oftentimes will enter into positions their family is in, especially in business firms. Lastly, he bases his work on how elites use their power to gain advantages and headway into elite occupations through the use of their capital, as shown through this research and outside sources. 

The concepts that Bourdieu and Rivera discuss, as well as how they are experienced at the Croft strongly correlate with Colby. Colby is considered an “elite school” that possesses a certain level of prestige, like the Croft school. At Colby, regardless of what you study, you are encouraged to enter into what are considered prestigious occupations like investment banking, consulting, medical professions, or law firms. The school pushes these fields so they can get the credit for sending them to elite occupations. Not only does the school influence career choice but so do family backgrounds students are coming from. Commonly at Colby, a majority of students enter into professions that their parents are already in. This was also experienced at the Croft school where the students said kids will work for their father’s business. Overall, elite institutions such as education and familial structures strongly influence elite student’s career paths, ultimately reproducing elites in our society. 

Sources:

Bourdieu, Pierre, et al. The State Nobility: Elite Schools in the Field of Power. Stanford University Press, 2010. 

Hiring as cultural matching (moodle) Rivera , Lauren. “Hiring as Cultural Matching: The Case of Elite Professional Service Firms .” Sage , 2012, doi:10.1177/0003122412463213.