Alex Thomas

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High Expectations

May 1, 2023

For my last research blog post I want to write about the high expectations that I found to be placed on the students during my research of the Croft School. It is important to note the different types of expectations that the Croft School puts on their students, whether it be academically, socially, or even parental. And the aspect of language in the school is another expectation for the students, and how the English language plays an essential role to class and the expectations put on the students to speak English instead of their native language of Spanish. All of these aspects combined come together to create the role of standards within and around the Croft School that helps the school to stay elite.

First, academic expectations are pretty obvious at a school like Croft. The students are expected to get good grades always and never slack on anything. One student explained a school day as this, “it’s not that motivating but I go because I have to, it is my duty. It is not an option to not go to school.” This student calls school their ‘duty’ and throughout my research this devotion to Croft and academics became a major theme. Another aspect of the expectations at Croft around academics is to be a student that is good at everything, or as they call it an ‘all-rounder’. One student described this concept as, “an all-rounder is like someone who is good at everything but he doesn’t have to be great. He is just able to do everything. So he has to be someone who is a rugby player, has good notes, has good behavior, you know, like all around.” The students at Croft are just expected to be elite at just about everything to further their elite status and the eliteness of the school itself. This furthers the divisions between Croft and its community, while also adding to the privilege bubble of the Croft School.

Next, social and parental expectations are also a big part of the students’ lives at the Croft School. Students are expected to be a role model and pillar in the community, while also being a good student, good at athletics, and just good at everything. Students are supposed to not flaunt their eliteness but still in a way show their superiority by helping those less fortunate. Parents expect their children who attend Croft to recognize mistakes, fix them, and continue to thrive until they go to college and become very successful. Sounds easy and fun right? Parents teach their children about their high class and their eliteness, as to explain why they have such high expectations.

Finally, the part that the English language plays into the eliteness of the Croft School is a big part of the expectations placed upon students. The Croft School is an English school placed in a Spanish-speaking country, and the school only teaches in English. Students are expected to speak only English and not speak Spanish like everyone else in Chile. The expectations and eliteness start young with these students, “my mother always put me in English speaking daycares. And my school in Spain, also we spoke English so since I’ve gone to school, we speak English.” But when did English become an expectation and such a pillar of eliteness and privilege? The English language has quickly become the tongue of high class and eliteness, and further creates the bubble of the Croft School and pushes the divisions wider between Croft and its community. All of these expectations create elite students and high standards that pushes the privilege bubble to be bigger and helps Croft to maintain their elite status.

All About Public Image

Alex Thomas / Globally Elite /

April 23, 2023

At the Croft School they pride themselves on four pillars: sports, academics, arts, and service. Although I could do a deep dive into each one of these, I want to focus on service. Having these four pillars as the public face of the school is an interesting choice, but the service pillar is one that is particularly puzzling. The school says that it prides itself on doing work for the community to better it, as well as wants to help with leadership development. The school also states that it wants to support various institutions and many different initiatives. That was all I could find from the school itself, but after reading student transcripts and researching the school more, I found what the real truth is about this service pillar.

The first student transcript I read caught my attention immediately. This student was asked about the community service aspect of their school and how it is implemented. This student got right to the point and stated that, “For being like one of the pillars of the Grange, social service, it’s really poor. It’s really basic. Like you build houses like 3 times a year and then I mean the last times I haven’t gone because it’s like, they don’t need me. You need a small amount of people and it’s just too much so it’s like overdone.” In other words, the service that the Croft School does is repetitive and doesn’t tackle big problems, just accessible ones that are convenient for the school. Then, the same student made a point about her friend that shocked me, “Like I have a friend who’s on the school council and she wanted to do a campaign, or she wanted for us to go every Saturday for us to go help this foundation or something like that and they put so much trouble like no you can’t go on Saturdays without school uniforms cause you’re representing the school, there’s always like barriers. It’s hard.” Essentially, the school doesn’t allow students to do community service outside of school days and hours because they aren’t in uniform and won’t be representing the school. The school basically wants attention to the school and recognition for doing good, without actually doing anything.

Other students explained that although the service values of the school “have been lost a lot,” the school does organize some other activities that are rare alternatives to the house building. Some kids go to other schools that are in bad conditions and teach there. The school emphasizes to their students that since they have a higher education that there is a responsibility to pass their education to others that aren’t as fortunate. While sounding good on paper, I find this statement and way of thinking to be sort of condescending. It feels like another way the school is showing its privilege and holding its power over others. It all goes back to the privilege bubble and the division of class.

The last overarching thought I had about this service pillar, other than just a sense of it feeling wrong, is that the school could be using this as another opportunity to push kids to even a higher level of the privilege bubble. Community service is a way of projecting a public image to the community and the world, and it is also about legitimizing their elite status. In an article by Jane Kenway and Johannah Fahey, they describe this validating that elite’s do with service as a way to make them feel better about themselves. “Lavish giving indicates superior wealth. Prestige accrues in proportion to the comparative value of the goods given away. Such conspicuous philanthropy also involves the capacity to ‘waste’ money on glittering and high-profile events; money that could otherwise be used by those in need” (Kenway & Fahey 108). They also touch on the fact that elite schools are infamous for their part in this superiors’ lavish giving, “There is an increasingly popular notion that it is the responsibility of the privileged to address the big problems of the world. Implicit in the transnational practices we have discussed is the view that elite schools are a training ground for the individuals who will eventually do this” (Kenway & Fahey 107).

The last snippet of evidence I want to include from this article is the fact that they actually mention that these elite schools make it seem like the students are the best option for bettering our world, and this can start with building things. Like houses. Like a student mentioned the Croft School doing repeatedly earlier in this blog post. “The implication is that it is these students who are the best equipped to decide which global issues are worth addressing. And that an elite global class is the only class that has the power to solve global problems, even if such global problem-solving starts small; with the building of infrastructure in remote villages, for instance” (Kenway & Fahey 107). It is a sad reality if the community service pillar of the Croft School is a fad, and with all of this evidence it does seem to look that way, but the choice is up to you whether or not to believe that an elite school would care so much about a community that they believe they are above and a community that they exclude themselves from.

Jane Kenway & Johannah Fahey (2015) The gift economy of elite schooling:

the changing contours and contradictions of privileged benefaction, British Journal of Sociology of

Education, 36:1, 95-115, DOI: 10.1080/01425692.2014.970268

One Big Happy Social Bubble

Alex Thomas / Globally Elite /

March 27, 2023

Throughout my research on the Croft School in Chile, there has been one common theme that keeps recurring: the bubble. This ‘social bubble’ has affected individuals in the school, the school as a whole, and the community as a whole. Social classes in this community – the Croft School and its surrounding areas – are deeply rooted within this bubble, and it creates social divisions and many socioeconomic barriers.

The students themselves have acknowledged the bubble they live in and have realized that they don’t often engage with those who are not in their social class or at their high status. The student who I researched from Croft explained how the only interaction he has had with those outside of his bubble has been through community service, “…we go to a poblaciones that are like, umm people believe in good conditions so we can build houses and things like that. We also go to other schools that are not in good condition and we teach there.” Service is a pillar at the Croft School and is important to the prestige of the school. This social service that Croft requires in one way is yes a way for the students to go outside of the bubble and join the community, but on the other hand, it puts the students in positions of power and authority, furthering their elitism that was already established. This also widens the gap between social classes and builds more divides in the community of the Croft school and its surroundings.

Another aspect to the bubble is ‘bubbles within the bubble’, which for many students means they stick with their ‘clans’ or friend groups. A few of the students from Croft explained how they really only hang out or speak with their clan at school, and don’t socialize often with people outside of it. This is really interesting to me because there aren’t only barriers with Croft and the community, but within the school as a whole. I think the bubble also plays a big role in the reproduction of elitism, which I wrote about in my previous blog. These barriers and divides between socioeconomic classes, social classes, and statuses keep the circuit of elitism running and keep the powerful stay in power.

Recently as a class we have been discussing Bourdieu’s book, The State of Nobility, where he speaks often about social, symbolic, and cultural capital. Symbolic capital, for example, goes directly with the bubble because symbolic capital is when an individual stays and plays by rules of others to benefit by others’ capital by being in their network, basically by associating with a group you are elevated. Essentially, if you are in one’s bubble that is in high society, your class and social standing will heighten just by association.

The bubble plays a giant role in elite society and at the Croft School as well. The bubble at Croft is one example of exclusivity that is apparent in schools and communities around the world. The socioeconomic divide and social class barriers will continue to affect communities and the gap will continue to widen, as the bubble maintains its grasp on elite schooling and elitism as a whole.

Bourdieu, Pierre, 1930-2002. The State Nobility : Elite Schools in the Field of Power. Stanford, Calif :Stanford University Press, 1996.

The Elite Circuit Is More Common Than We Think

Alex Thomas / Globally Elite /

March 8, 2023

How does the ‘elite circuit’ really take action within a country? The reproduction of elitism – going from one elite school to the next, to elite higher education, and finally on to positions of power and leadership – has been an outstanding focus in our discussions this semester. This concept can be seen in countries and schools all over the world, and even here at Colby. Exploring this concept of the reproduction of elitism is important in researching elite schools around the world and understanding what it really means to be ‘elite’.

At the Croft School in Chile there are definitely examples that show the reproduction of elitism. When reading interviews with students of the school it became apparent that they lived in a bubble and that the ‘elite circuit’ is very present in their lives. One of the students explained how he knows other kids at other schools aren’t treated the same as the Croft kids, as well as how it is apparent where in the social class ranking you fall based on appearance alone. They know how privileged and advantaged they are. They also have immense pressure from their teachers, their school, and even their families for a successful future. Or in relation to this concept of reproduction of elitism, for these individuals to keep the elite circuit alive.

This led me to think about if the ‘elite circuit’ is apparent in my life and those around me. If the Croft School is seen as this bubble, is Colby a bubble too? After doing some research I came across an article by the New York Times from 2017 titled “Some Colleges Have More Students From The Top 1 Percent Than The Bottom 60. Find Yours.” In this article Colby ranked number 4 for having more students from the top 1 percent than the bottom 60 percent. 20.4% of students come from the top 1 percent ($630K+ annual household income) whereas 11.1% of students come from the bottom 60 percent (<$65K annual household income). Although I wanted to be shocked, I wasn’t. It is fairly apparent that many kids at Colby, including myself, are well off.

Considering the information regarding both the Croft School and Colby, it made me realize that we are both in an ‘elite circuit’ and both in a bubble. At the Croft School it is extremely difficult to attend without a familial or community connection, it is basically impossible to enroll without some type of connection. It is pretty similar here at Colby, although not as intense and strict, you need to have a good background and a connection to get in here, and it is really competitive. Also, this connection in elite schooling sets individuals up for successful roles in the future, thus continuing the cycle and reproduction of elitism. This research involving the Croft School is just the beginning and I look forward to learning more about how the reproduction of elitism really plays a pivotal role in Chile, the United States, and countries all over the world.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/01/18/upshot/some-colleges-have-more-students-from-the-top-1-percent-than-the-bottom-60.html