The Role of Parents in Maintaining Elite Status

Parents play a significant role in perpetuating privilege and social divisions by placing their children in elite institutions among other things that will ensure their children remain at an advantage. More often than not, parents of students at elite schools come from an affluent background and have access to these elite spaces. Families that are able to afford elite schools, especially those that offer no financial aid, have a certain amount of economic capital in which they are able to invest in education in order to give their children the means to acquire cultural capital. However, not only are these institutions chosen by these parents to provide their child with tools for a successful future, but having their children attend elite schools is a way to maintain their own elite status in society. These parents have shown that they will stop at nothing to make sure their class and status continues to grow. 

Access to elite education does not come easily to just anyone. In order to even be considered to enter these elite spaces, individuals must have the means to do so. Parents who are able to afford these high costs to attend these elite schools are most likely doing it to secure a solid future for their children. However, along with securing their child’s future comes maintaining their own status in society. In “Cosmopolitan Learning, Making Merit, and Reproducing Privilege in Indian Schools,” Gilbertson discusses this notion that the reason parents send their children to these elite schools is because they want to “improve their class status” (p. 298). This decision made by the parents contributes to preserving their privilege and social hierarchies as Gilbertson alludes to when explaining this concept of “cosmopolitan learning” (p. 297). Elite schools in India use cosmopolitan learning environments that have been manipulated to reinforce social hierarchies and divisions. So, parents choosing to place their children in these types of elite spaces is only furthering the divide to keep themselves at the top and allow them to continue to create distinctions socially and economically. 

Due to the parents of these children in these elite environments wanting to maintain their status to a great extent, they put a lot of pressure on not only their own children but the institutions themselves. Parents “put tremendous efforts into ensuring their child accesses a particular elite school,” so they have high expectations for how these schools plan to provide their children with sufficient tools for the future (Howard & Maxwell 2021). With that in mind, elite parents employ high demand for growing their children’s knowledge through rigorous academics. By disagreeing with the school if the academics are not setting up their child for success, from their perspective, they are demonstrating first hand their power and capital. Nonetheless, these elite schools often play into this because they want elite families to be happy so that these individuals continue to attend these elite schools, provide financial help, and eventually grow the elite school’s image. With that being said, parents apply extreme pressure so that their power, as well as the schools, continues to expand and reproduce. 

The amount of parents with a privileged background that see elite institutions as one of the main contributors in maintaining elite status makes it seem like the cycle of reproducing elites through elite education will never end. Not only that, but parents have a significant amount of influence on their children’s decisions and it makes me question even more if these elite parents are truly doing it for their children’s future or more so for their own appearance. Ultimately, families with enough capital and connections that choose to send their children to these elite schools will continue to do so if the understanding of what an elite institution can provide their children and themselves remains