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After four emails, Sebastian finally responded and we scheduled the interviews on 3 consecutive days. On the day of the first interview, I received a  Skype message expressing that he felt uncomfortable using video cam for his interview. I quickly texted Sophie for advice and we decided to let the interviewee set the terms in this case. Reflecting back on this moment, I am glad I didn’t press for the video option. Sebastian quickly opened up over Skype, with our interviews averaging at one hour each (Sorry transcriber Skyler). I doubt the interviews with Sebastian would have yielded as much success if we use video chat because he may have not been as comfortable with me.

Mean Girls is an early 2000’s movie that showcases divisions and corresponding hierarchy among high schoolers. I used this movie to engage Sebastian in conversation and, in return, he provided me an insider’s peek at the social divisions at The Croft, where students group under social categories such as unpopular, average and popular. He informed me that he considers himself an average student. Additionally, he described the popular students as sporty, and he would have to devote more time to sports to be considered popular. Rugby is the top sport at the cross but Sebastian said their team is good but beatable and describes their biggest rival as an institution that values sports over academics. At The  Croft, people look down on those values, as academics always come before extracurricular activities; this rules goes unstated but remains in everyone’s mind. The popular kids are jocks who excel in sports while nonathletes at The Croft are seen as unpopular.

Despite initial setbacks, the process of interviewing Sebastian felt rewarding. Saying goodbye at the closing of the third interview gave me a weird feeling- I built a connection with someone I will never meet or hear from again.

On the brighter side of things-  I found that I love interviewing people. This weekend, my roommate’s friend Sam came over and I interviewed him about his schooling experience. Sam transferred to Unity college after attending Landmark College. Landmark College, in Vermont, exclusively serves students with specific learning disabilities. Sam stated disability-based discrimination rarely occurs among the student body and that the professors always acted as great resources. However, Sam looks back on his experience with distaste – he, almost forcibly, dropped out due to the institution’s high tuition. Tuition at Landmark is $65,430 and Sam claims that the majority of students either pay full tuition or fall into student debt. The average income earned with a Landmark degree, $22,000, only further plunges the students into debt. The institution breaks through the barriers of disability but not without the creation of a financial barrier.

On Thursdays I spend my afternoon at Winslow High School splitting my time between a career prep class and a Sophomore English class where I spend my time tutoring individuals or small groups. This week I spent my time working with a sophomore, who I will call Jaz. Jaz and I have worked together a few times, establishing trust and a friendly relationship. This week she worked on finishing a slideshow for career prep class, where she researched The Art Institute of Philadelphia.  As she practiced her presentation for me, I found some of the college’s statistics troubling. The Art Institute of Philadelphia is a for-profit college with a 37% graduation rate, alumni who complain about the worthlessness of their degree, and little financial aid offered for their $25,000 yearly schooling fee. Jaz loves art and hopes to creativity in her future career, but her research left her upset. This lead to her asking me how schools like The Art Institute of Philadelphia are allowed to exist. I tried using ideas from the Hunger Games, a book she just read for a Book Talk in English class, in order to answer her question.

For those unfamiliar with the book series, The Hunger Games is set in a dystopian future. After a series of natural disasters and war, the United States and Canada merged into Panem. Divided into twelve districts and the Capitol, the class divisions in Panem are blatant. The twelve districts represent the laboring class with the vast majority of citizens living in third world country conditions are constantly subjected to poverty, famine, and illness. The elite of society resides in the Capitol, where they indulge in luxurious food, clothes, and entertainment. Additionally, the Capitol’s residents have total control of production, goods, and profits. We had previously discussed the inequalities present in the book and talked about how close it mirrors reality- one’s class location is not about individual choice or effort , but actually a reflection of one’s access to power, privilege, and opportunity. People in the Capitol have the most access, while others are left without. The book portrays of the extreme gap between rich and poor in the most black-and-white way, with no allowance that the rich might have earned their wealth.  She joked about her bad luck, saying “the odds are never in my favor”- referencing the book’s famous quote, “may the odds be ever in your favor She did seem hopefully about other colleges, and has added  MECA – The Maine College of Art  to her perspective school list. Through this conversation, Jaz also knows how to check college accreditation and  promises to include that in her future college research.

We knew from Jaz’s research that approximately eighty-one percent of freshman at The Art Institute of Philadelphia are first generation college students. I found myself thinking of our student from The Chilean School (still yet to interview- he says he is busy with school) and how his college search would never include a school with shaky accreditation. An individual’s social class definitely affects the college application process.

I continued to think about Jaz on my car ride home. She had chosen this college based on a T.V commercial. Websites such as Youtube as well as TV  college advertisements are all colleges that offer degrees with limited value. I am happy that Jaz and her classmates have started their college search early and have the support of their teachers, though I worry still about deceptive institutions who prey on first generation college students by offering false promises broadcasted to their prospective students.

School rules are present in both elite and non-elite schools. They aim to establish and promote good behavior and ensure that the school community is a safe place to learn. This week, I found myself curious about the differences that exist between The Chilean School rules and my own public school experience.

The Chilean School rulebook opens “Pupils of the school must obey the following rules based on The Chilean Schools philosophy, and the general standards of behavior expected. When followed carefully they will enable the school to run smoothly, which is in the common interest of both pupils and their parents/guardians to support. We hope that infractions will be few and far between.”  This seems pretty straightforward to me and matches up to other public and private school codes of conduct. The rule book is a relatively short document when compared to my own school’s rule book, which was handed out on the first day of schools and printed in the planners given to each student. I expected The Chilean school’s rules to  be fancy and elaborate.

Instead, I find the document focusing more on individual students self-regulation and the school expects students to hold themselves accountable for their actions. This idea of personal responsibility is one I have previously discussed in education classes here at Colby. Elite schooling institutions often give their students more personal responsibility and choice as opposed to other schools, where rules are specific and listed out.

Dress Code

 In my high school experience, the school’s dress code was pretty tame. We could not have holes in our jeans and the bottoms we wore had to extend past the length of one’s finger tip. Some days students would be able to get away with almost anything, while other days the rules were enforced. The Chilean School, however, adheres to a strict uniform policy that communicates their eliteness by marking them as members of a school community.

Tardiness

The rule book of my school claimed to have a strict policy on unexcused absences. I arrived ATLEAST three minutes late every day, and only received a small handful of  detentions as a result. The Chilean school also has a no tolerance policy on lateness. The rule book states that students who have an unexcused tardy must go in front of the school’s administration to explain their lateness before they can return to class. I am curious to see if this rule is enforced as strictly as their policy claims it is.

Water Balloons

One of the highlights of reading the rule book was the lengthy section on the banning of water ballons. Other than the water balloon ban, rules don’t go into explicit detail and are left to the interpretation of the reader. This interest me, and makes me question how big a problem water balloons where to deserve a special section in the rule book.

Coming to Colby was a culture shock – I didn’t think private schools were a real thing. I knew that boarding school and religious schools were private schools, but I didn’t make a connection between private schools and “eliteness”.

I grew up in Milbridge –  a small town in Washington County, Maine and attended public school in MSAD37. As a coastal town, many of the members of my community rely on lobster fishing to support their families. Statistically, Washington County is one of the poorest counties in the nation. My parents are both educators who encouraged me to do my personal best academically.  In grammar school, we (public school) kids thought private schools were always about religion or bad kids being sent away. When I misbehaved, my parents would actually threaten to send me to Dana Hall School. I pictured it as a military boot camp version of school, where there was no fun and no friends- nothing I wanted to be a part of.

In high school, my opinions changed because I watched Gossip Girl. Their life at private school seemed pretty fun, and the people were all ridiculously good looking.  I can remember discussing this with my mother, a Colby alumna, who graduated in the same class as Cecily von Ziegesar, the author of of Gossip Girl. I asked her if people like Serena and Blair actually existed, and her reply was a vague, “It is a different world.” This didn’t have any meaning to me until after I had experienced life at Colby.

Initially, I thought the laundry service was fake. I can remember information on the laundry service coming along with my first year student packet, and I threw it in the trash. I didn’t think about it until freshman move in day when my grandfather said people who use the laundry service are lazy and don’t have life skills. He said this in front of my freshman year roommate, who did in fact use the laundry service.

Freshman year resembled being thrown into a game that you were only given some of the rules to. Actually, I feel more confused about what middle class means since I’ve come to Colby.  I would be considered “upper middle class” for rural Maine, but in Colby’s perspective, I am not. Occasionally, I found myself envious of peers who didn’t have to work and could eat at a restaurant every meal. How was it fair that during my winter break I worked double shifts at a nursing home, while others vacationed, completely carefree? My opinion changed and, now, I feel more confident navigating life at Colby. I find just as much happiness in my life as peers who have been better educated. I talked with peers who received elite education, and they often say that they expected to go to an Ivy League school. This makes me wonder if internally they are disappointed. Are their parents disappointed? I hope not because college is stressful enough without feeling guilt.

Colby brings together an array of people from different backgrounds, but a high majority of students received an elite education. Looking around in some of my classes, I wonder about divides exists between “smart” and “well educated”.