Y(E)ee!-Exclusive Elite Education

For a long period of time, people always believed that elite education was mysterious and noble. So people would wonder, to what extent is elite education exclusive from other educational systems. This question has been researched by educational workers, but there are significant controversies among different opinions and a general conclusion is not easy to be generated eventually. It seems that the word “elite” is highly exclusive since people regard it as a special social class, but it is not always the case because of the shifts among different social classes.

Well, the term “elite education” certainly corresponds with the term elite, so it’s important to define it! For most sociologists, elites will be defined as a group that “has power over others” or “uses forces to affect the actions of others”. The role of the groups can be represented by the purposes of elite education as well, which aims to  provide education for the upper class and prepare for political and economical positions. Elite education only focuses on a certain class or specific people who are able to become leaders in administration, economy and culture aspects within the society and the content within the curriculum is training the target students to become the information analysts and decision makers. However, elite education also gives some opportunities for the other social class members to participate in modern society. For example, as France established its unique elite schooling system after the French Revolution, though some of them only target the upper class and aristocracies, a large portion of the system pays more attention to the cultivation of “technical intelligentsia”. This shows that considering the basic definition and purpose of elite and elite education, even though the relationship between the specific social class and its schooling is point to point. Not all elite education is exclusive since it has diversity of focus on the field of research and curriculum. 

The enrolling system of elite education is interesting as well. The United States and Britain have their own standardized admission exams such as SAT and IGCSE. The results from these exams can partially determine the competitiveness of a student. Some other large countries, such as Russia and China, also have their nation-based standardized exams that determine the students’ enrollment in higher education. With the development of the economy and the consolidation of standardized selection processes, The participation of higher education has increased up to around 10% in countries like China and Japan. However, higher education like universities are not all elite ones. The admission of these schools are particular and are designed by different institutions. Although nowadays the schools are no longer focusing on assimilating students and embracing the diversity of enrollment, the secondary school’s quality, the investment and resources of parents are still important factors to consider. In France and China, although familial and schooling backgrounds are not the primary things to consider, the similar exclusiveness of admission can be represented in different areas based on the examination results throughout the country. It seems that even though certain norms aim to undermine the exclusiveness that has been implemented in the admission process, the disparity of students’ social background and access to educational resources still keeps the privilege of enrollment.

The transfer among different social classes nowadays is another factor to consider when considering the exclusiveness of elite education. In the introduction of Friedman, the example of British class structure and flow has been explained. The chart that shows the flexibility among social class reveals that although there is certain social mobility within the middle class, the change of social class for the next generation in the top 10% of elite class and the lowest percentage of the working class population rarely takes place. The care and focus from family, the cultural influence and the participation of students, especially for the working class, inevitably create obstacles for them to access the elite schools. However, as experts like Brown and Aston stated, the term “knowledge capitalism” is shaping the social class in developed countries differently. As China and India are fast-growing countries, their educational systems are developing their own elite education that can compete with the traditional elite schools in the west. Also, due to the impact of massive immigrants from these countries in the US or Canada, the children of the middle class or expertized immigrants have outstanding performance in their school. With the financial support from their family, it is possible for them to enter the university and it leads to a competition between the higher middle class students and the traditional elite families while entering the elite schools. So instead of remaining a rigid enrollment system serving traditional elite families, the new immigrants can also enter the system which makes it less exclusive to some degree.

Although the elite schools are highly connected to the elite families to some extent, the admission system varies from nation to nation. Even though the inequity and inequality still exist among different social classes and regions, the elite education system is not as exclusive as people think because of the different focus in distinctive elite schools, establishment of standardized exams, and the more frequent social class changes and immigration. These factors will contribute to the undermining of exclusiveness in elite schools. 

So, in short, even though our destiny can determine where we are born, it doesn’t shut all the doors for us to access the upper classes. The crucial thing is, we need to work hard, play hard, make friends, and try our best to get in touch with the elites, and become one of them if possible!