Oh Captain, my captain
Dead Poets Society has been one of my favorite movies since it was introduced to me sophomore year of high school by my english teacher after we read The Catcher in the Rye. At the time, I simply appreciated Robin William’s brilliant portrayal of Mr. Keating, the pleasing aesthetics of poetry, and the mid twentieth-century, but didn’t think much beyond the sentiments of carpe diem and the power of words (not to mention the iconic “oh captain, my captain” finale).
Sophomore year of college, Mark Tappan showed my class scenes from the film in Teaching for Social Justice, with a more critical lens focusing on Mr. Keating’s teaching style (if you were wondering, it is progressive). While this second time viewing Dead Poets Society in an educational setting made me think about the film in an educational context, it wasn’t until last week that I began to think about it in terms of elite schooling. As I was browsing the websites of elite private schools, many images reminded me of scenes from Dead Poets Society, with young boys in uniforms and beautiful campuses with fallen leaves scattering the unnaturally green grass. Welton Academy, the elite boys prep school in Dead Poets Society, boats four pillars: “tradition, honor, discipline, and excellency.” I could see traces of these four stereotypical “pillars” through different schools’ mission statements, information, and pictures.
Looking back, I think elite schools have always interested me (re: Dead Poets Society and my fondness with Zoey 101, Gilmore Girls, and John Greene’s Looking for Alaska). However, for some reason, I previously assumed that educational studies in college would focus on schools in poverty. The subject of studying elite schooling was something I had never considered before taking Adam’s course, Schools and Society; when we began to study Colby and how privilege plays into schooling, I was intrigued.
I think this stems from my own educational experiences. While I did not go to a private school, home is a wealthy Maine town whose school system is consistently named one of the top five in the state. My high school is only 15 years old and sits on a beautiful campus. Academically, to 73% of students take AP courses, and my graduating year, to be in the top 10% of the class, you needed to achieve a GPA of at least 98.2%. (Over 93% of students are white and fewer than 5% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch, but that could be a whole other discussion.) We also boast many state championships in sports, arts, and academics, which has made our school’s nickname “Titletown.” Additionally, our mascot is Yachtie the Yachtsman. Yes, a yachtsman, the embodiment of a person who owns a type of boat that is synonymous with wealth and the upper class.
I’m not trying to boast about my high school with these qualifications, but portray its status as an elite school (despite not being a private school). Sometimes I’m almost ashamed of coming from such a privileged place because of my town’s reputation, both in neighboring communities and even to some extent at Colby, as being full of spoiled rich kids; I feel this shame because I don’t identify as fitting this stereotype. Don’t get me wrong, I’m extremely thankful for the amazing education I received there, but especially since coming to Colby I am much more aware of the role privilege has played in my life. This school system led me to Colby and made my transition here that much easier, as socioeconomically and academically, Colby wasn’t that different from home.
While my transition was relatively easy, it must have been even smoother for students coming from private schools, whose culture and climate are even closer to Colby’s than my public high school’s. Living in a dorm and having this much independence was new to me, but many of my peers who attended private schools spent their high school years in a dorm; their elite private institutions have prepared them to jump right into college without having the shock of a completely new living and social situation, and they are thus better prepared than many public school students to focus on academics and social life right away.
Students at Croft School graduate and enter some of the top universities in the world, and are thus very well prepared for college. In beginning my research on Croft School, the Headmaster’s message contained the following elite “buzzwords”:
- tradition
- discipline
- commitment
- all-rounder (mental, physical, social, moral growth)
- excellence
- quality
- future leaders
Like Welton Academy in Dead Poets Society, Croft’s core values surround the advancement of their students in all areas while keeping a focus on the tradition of the institution that separates it from other schools (often, its very eliteness and the emphasis on quality and excellence).
As the research process continues, it will be interesting to see how eliteness manifests in the Croft School, especially in terms of socioeconomic background, as this is the topic my group is exploring. I also am curious to see how my views and understandings about elite schools in relation to public schools, whether privileged or not, change over the course of the semester. Although I may not have had an “oh captain, my captain” moment in high school, I was still a yachtsman- about as close to a private school as a public school can get.