Jake MacDonald

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Hard Work or Hardly Working for Global Experiences at Elite Schools?

May 7, 2023

It wouldn’t be elite school research if the idea of being a global citizen wasn’t brought up. The idea of being global leaders is a very common theme among elite schools. But what does it really mean to be a “global leader/citizen”? Being a global leader/citizen is being able to apply the skills that have been taught at school to the global market. For the students at Olive Grove, global citizenship was said to be, as student Fatima puts it, “about…keeping the humanity” and “acknowledg[ing]…biases [we] have against each other.”.

The ways that elite schools promote this idea is through community service. In our research one student claimed that almost everyone does community service during their time at Olive Grove Academy. Tariq states, “It’s not like required, required, no. But they encourage you a lot,” showing that these schools make sure to push their students towards community engagement. Many elite schools do this so their students get hands-on work with current issues of the country (Koh & Kenway, 2012). One of the major community service opportunities that was offered at Olive Grove is Roundsquare. This is where students have the opportunity to travel to a different country and experience what life is like in that country. One alum of Olive Grove said it allowed him to become a better global citizen because it exposed him to a different culture and community than what he grew up in.

I am not trying to argue that doing community service is a bad thing but more of the motives behind it at elite schools. This can be related back to the college admissions process and how colleges value certain student experiences. These elite schools know that and that’s why they put emphasis on community service. These ideologies are reflected in Olive Grove’s purpose of being not only a Jordanian school, but a “school of the world.”

Now to dig deeper into the title of my blog post this week. As we have discussed in class many of these students have grown up in elite families their whole lives. With this comes some very special privileges. When attending these elite schools many of them offer amazing opportunities to get involved with a certain community or country. With these opportunities gifted to these students, how hard are they really working to expand their global mind? How well does it actually prepare students for future success in the western world by participating in community service? Finding the proper balance between having a quality community service commitment and how prepared it gets the students is massive. That way the students are still working hard during their time doing community service.

When you add the factors of the elite schools and the opportunities that they offer to their students it makes the college admissions process easier for their students. It makes it very hard to compete with these students because of the opportunities that they have that not many people have. That’s where the “Hardly Working” aspect of the title comes into play. Many of these students are given admission to some very elite colleges because of the prior opportunities that were handed to them.

Hard working or hardly working is a question that will always remain unanswered because we will never be able to get the feel story of the private ways of the elites.

Work Cited

Koh, A., & Kenway, J. (2012). Cultivating national leaders in an elite school: Deploying the transnational in the national interest. International Studies in Sociology of Education, 22(4), 333–351. https://doi.org/10.1080/09620214.2012.745342

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Jake MacDonald / Globally Elite /

April 23, 2023

Doing research on a school that is in a different country is very hard because you can’t truly understand what the country is like and how the school really looks. Luckily we live in a world of technology that allows us access to pictures of these schools and countries. During our research we have had the opportunity to look at pictures of the schools and the land that is surrounding them.

One of the biggest things that I was able to take away from looking at these pictures of the school was that this school has many resources that others in the country don’t. To put it into perspective, imagine that you are going to travel to Canada and you have to cross the border as a security checkpoint that is what the main entrance to the Olive Grove Academy looks like. This shows me a lot about the school and how it wants the people from the outside to view them as a school. Many of these elite schools have very fancy entrances to welcome you into the elite spaces that are just beyond the gates.

Another picture that says a lot about the school is one that shows a massive wall that surrounds the campus. The power of a wall is something that is used to show separation between two things and there tends to be a good side and a bad side. The wall surrounding Olive Grove doesn’t allow the outsiders to view what the school truly looks like and this creates that very private feel and that only those who are worthy can get inside those walls.Fortunately we were able to gain access to the grounds within the wall and were able to see what the school really looks like.

Why are all these pictures important in our research? Seeing these pictures allows us to see what our interviewees are talking about and what they are seeing. Creating this common ground allows us to understand the themes deeper than we would have been able to without the pictures.

Having done some research last semester regarding US elite schools these pictures are very insightful because it shows me whether or not these schools are trying to mimic the United States model. One of our biggest themes in our research is how these schools are teaching in such a way that allows its students to be westernized and have a smoother transition to US higher education. There is a school in the United States that is an elite boarding school that shares many of the same features as the Olive Grove Academy. This helps us understand that not only in the school curriculum they’re trying to prepare their students for the US higher education system but they are trying to prepare them for the living styles of Americans.

Overall, being able to have access to pictures of the Olive Grove Academy allows us as researchers to get a deeper understanding of this school, preparing their students to pursue a western education after their time in high school. It also allows us to understand what our interviewees are talking about when they are discussing events that happen on campus and where they spend their time. Therefore, in our research you can say that these pictures are worth more than a thousand words. More like a twenty page research paper that allows us to understand what the goals of these elite schools are.

Eminem is an English Teacher?

Jake MacDonald / Globally Elite /

March 27, 2023

Doing research has introduced me to many different ideas and topics that I would have never thought about before. While reading through the transcripts for my school a question was asked about how this student first learned English. To my surprise he responded with the American rapper Eminem. Never would I have thought of someone being able to learn English through rap. As I kept reading the transcripts it became clear that he would start talking in slang and abbreviate certain words to make himself have the cadence of a rapper.

This was a big part of his personality; he would always refer back to himself as a rapper and that’s also what his friends would call him. He would express his passion for music in every interview. This has made me think of the ways in which the English language is being taught and understood throughout the world. What type of impact does this truly have on those who aren’t native English speakers? . It wouldn’t be fair of me to raise the point that he spoke in slang as a rapper instead of using proper English without acknowledging that English is a very hard language to learn and speak.

This led me to look deeper into the way that certain schools are teaching the English language and what is the best way to teach it. The school that this student attends follows the AP curriculum for all of their courses which means they follow a fairly strict curriculum. This means that their way of teaching English is very strict and looks at the very complex structures of the language. I haven’t personally taken an AP English class but I have taken an IB English class and that was very fundamental and looked at the structures with great detail. It made me question my understanding of English. Which makes me wonder how these students feel about the language and how strict the rules are.

Personally I feel as though I never talk in the proper way that these classes demand. So it makes me think that maybe music is a good way for learning the true style of language that is spoken. I wonder if there is a way to harvest what students learn through music and social media about a language and help build off that knowledge and information. I believe that it would make learning the language more engaging and enjoyable because you can see how it is actually used.

I know from my Colby experience in foreign language we would look at music and how certain songs used different parts of speech to convey certain messages. How can we acknowledge that this language is often spoken but it does have some grammatical flaws and sometimes isn’t the best way to communicate? I think that introducing small increments of the music and that style of language is helpful because you get the real world application but it also allows you to have fun while learning the language. Personally, my friend who speaks fluent French told me that he hardly speaks the true proper language because that’s not what you would do when you are out and about.

Overall, doing this research has made me wonder how we teach certain languages and how they are actually used out in the real world. So to answer my title question, yes Eminem can be considered a teacher of the English language to some people. However, he might not teach the best English for writing your English paper.

Eminem-peace GIFs - Get the best GIF on GIPHY

(https://giphy.com/explore/eminem-peace)

How Does Student and Teacher Relationships impact motivation in the classroom?

Jake MacDonald / Globally Elite /

March 7, 2023

One thing that I would like to acknowledge right off the bat is the fact that many of these elite schools have the ability to have a great student-to-teacher ratio that allows students to become close with their teachers. At the Olive Grove Academy, a boarding school in Jordan, many of the students feel that being able to connect with their teachers on a deeper level allows them to excel in the classroom. For instance, during my research it was stated that if this one particular student didn’t have such a tight bond with his teacher he would have dropped the class because he was struggling. The teacher that he had was able to support him throughout the class and give him extra attention which allowed him to get his grade from a C/D to an A.

(https://kpfun.tumblr.com/post/121049152851)

Fostering a learning space like this would allow for students to get out of their comfort zone because teachers won’t be as critical of their students’ work and instead they will help when the student is struggling. The idea of having a bond with your teachers is something that might be hard to produce just due to the class size and school size but if the teacher is willing to build these relationships it would allow for students to learn in a stress free environment because they will be more willing to take risks. In my own experience going to a school similar to Olive Grove Academy, the reason for my success was the ability to connect with the teacher in and out of the classroom. They want to see you have success in your academic career and they are willing to go the extra mile to support you in any way possible.

On the other hand, this could be seen as a risky way to run a classroom because if students know that the teacher will help them on every assignment that they need help then we would have to ask the question of whether or not the students’ motivation will persist through the year. How can we find the balance between wanting to learn aka student engagement but also providing enough support to help the students who are struggling with certain material? From personal experience I have had teachers that really want to help me do better in their class but when I went for “help” it seemed more like them feeding me the answers which was helpful in the moment but it didn’t allow for any personal growth in the class. My grade improved but that wasn’t because I was really understanding the material better but I was just getting assistance from my teachers. Finding that balance is something that is really important that way the student actually understands the material.

Time to get back to thinking about the elite schooling structure and how that allows for students to create fantastic bonds with their teachers. I think you are more likely to find teachers that are more willing to create those relationships with their students. However, it makes me question if that is because of the pressure from their administrators because these schools are very expensive and they need to make sure the families are happy. There is a business side of all these schools that I feel gets overlooked by many. Similar to college they are in the business of making money and they will do anything to make that happen. I am sure that some teachers do create relationships out of the kindness of their hearts but some might be doing it just to make sure the school is happy with them.