Elite ONLY

The first time I checked out the school website for the Chilean School was during my biochemistry class. Being accustomed to seeing my school’s chemistry page and even my high school homepage, I was ready for information about the school. So when the school’s website popped up onto my screen, I was already expecting the classic large photo showing off the school’s aesthetic. What I was not expecting, was for their homepage to have so little information. In fact, the headmaster’s message was a sentence and most of the information pertaining to the school including the admissions info and policy documents of the Chilean School were in Spanish. 

I went back to see my high school webpage and it felt like I had been hit with a truckload of info…

I gathered two things from this. The first, was that in order to be elite, it had to involve the limitation of information in some shape or form. This seemed linked to methods of communication and demonstrated the hidden languages of the social classes. In this way, the elite implicitly conveyed their eliteness through exclusive “language.” Although the idea of elite is one of limitless possibilities as portrayed through the photos, in particular of the buildings and architecture, it demonstrates the lack of integration.  The second, is the difference in target audience and from this the competition. Although it is hard to say, as the admissions information for the Chilean School was in Spanish, the school seemed to be appealing to an international elite. By “international elite,” the focus seems heavy on those whose eliteness is transnational and almost transferable from one country to another, such as those who can speak English. In short, the Chilean School seemed to appeal to a global audience on an individual scale as people who wanted to attend were competing with one another for entry. On the contrary, my high school’s website seemed to be appealing to students from NYC, while simultaneously competing with the other Specialized High Schools in NYC. In fact, the high school I attended seemed more concerned with it’s public image and reputation. One thing in particular that struck out was the section of my high school’s website titled “In the News.” This section was dedicated to news articles on the school and notable students and alum entirely to promote the school image. In this way, my high school’s website appealed more to a local audience, such as NYC or the NYC Board of Education, which ultimately rates and ranks this school.