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The Importance of Schooling in School

April 15, 2025

Olive Grove Academy creates an environment of fast, grade focused learning, which, according to Bourdieu, is a means of preparing students for elite careers, of which category democratic leadership would fall into. Ahmad, a junior at Olive Grove, continually mentions grades as a motivator and focus within his interviews. He specifically discusses how grades could impact his ability to do what he wants in life, and how he feels his grades are not to where they could be and the unhappiness this causes him. Another student, Sara, works extremely hard to achieve academic excellence in terms of grades to ensure that opportunities for various high powered career paths remain open. Both students make it clear that grades and academic achievement are important, and that the workload to support that importance is a huge factor in their daily lives. Olive Grove Academy thus is a preparatory school that, like many others, has a strong commitment to hard work and grade motivation. Ahmad makes his feelings on being in the middle of the pack quite evident, emphasizing the burden of the competition for grades at his school. Both students are passionate about academic topics, but strive above all for good grades.

Bourdieu (1985) has researched French preparatory schools that appear to emulate a similar formula as Olive Grove Academy in Part Two of The State Nobility. He observed that many of these schools, and specifically, their teachers, focus on learning how to succeed in school rather than on what they are learning. This presents itself through gaining the skills needed to quickly and effectively complete assignments, as well as an exposure to knowledge at a fast pace without an influx of information. Bourdieu argues that this allows students to be prepared for executive level jobs where they must quickly process information and deliver results that appease others and live up to required standards.

As we are researching how Olive Grove prepares its students for democratic leadership, we must consider what democratic leadership means in the job sense. It often presents itself as a high- powered, executive job even if the ultimate goal is to lead citizens and work for their benefit. These leaders are required to also think on their feet, know how to work the system to get what they (and their constituents) want, and especially to process information and disregard the irrelevant in order to do their job as effectively as possible. With Bourdieu’s framework in mind, we must thus assume that Olive Grove Academy creates an academic environment that prepares students for how to effectively do a job as a democratic leader, beyond just getting the job. Democratic leaders do not always get their start in politics, but are often successful as executives in the business world and other high powered positions, and this is a way of preparing for and ensuring success. They have to be able to present information and answer questions based only on what they know. Getting sidetracked in a university setting may be considered an intellectual pursuit, but a democratic leader must be precise and concise, just as assignments are made to be within Olive Grove. Ahmad and Sara understand the importance of good grades in order to reach the next level, whether that be school or a career, demonstrating that Olive Grove has cultivated an environment where students are prepared for the day to day work of democratic leadership.

As we research, it is always important to keep focus on our research question. Bourdieu’s theory allows me to understand a key component of the school, the academics, in a framework that applies to our question. Often, school and teachers are thought of as deliverers of content, but I had to consider, how does the delivery of content and the role of the student in receiving the content play into their status of becoming democratic leaders? It is easy to forget in research such as this that school is first and foremost meant for learning, but there is a purpose beyond the content. There is a reason Olive Grove is not relaxed and solely intellectual in nature like the universities Bourdieu mentions, and that relates directly to our research question.

References

Bourdieu, P. (1998). The state nobility : elite schools in the field of power. Polity Press.

The U.S. University Pipeline

jkrubi27 / Globally Elite /

March 30, 2025

The U.S. University Pipeline

An interesting facet of elite education at Olive Grove Academy in Jordan is the fact that many students attend American colleges and universities following graduation. This fact enables the students to appreciate a liberal arts education as they enter their (designed) journey to becoming democratic leaders. As we are investigating how this school produces students that become democratic leaders, it’s important to understand what Olive Grove Academy values about American, democratic education and how they send students to these schools. For example, one of the students interviewed is a junior named Karim who plans to apply to Amherst College, as well as other liberal arts colleges in the U.S. He states that Olive Grove Academy has a liberal view on academics and that he enjoys the autonomy he is given within selecting subjects, which makes him feel as though a liberal arts school will allow him to continue on an enjoyable path of academics. Many of his classes are AP classes, which are selected based on prior achievement and mastery of subjects, rather than a track-based curriculum. This allows students to choose courses based on what they feel comfortable and happy with, a key tenet of democratic principles. The fact that the Academy models their curriculum and course selection like an American, liberal arts college, which is quite different from the rest of the world’s universities, demonstrates a desire to encourage students to appreciate a liberal arts education.

A study from Lafi Ibrahim Jaafari (1973) looks at the migration of Jordanian students to the United States and explores the motivations behind this. Many described their reasons for studying in the United States as either better schooling, or more opportunity in terms of admission restrictions or degree offerings. Essentially, Middle Eastern schools do not offer the same types and amounts of classes as many U.S. schools do. This would of course be the case in liberal arts schools, which are famous for the variety of classes and the goal of students to explore said variety. However, the highest percentage of students answered “more benefit to my country” as their reason for seeking further education abroad. If we are considering how Olive Grove Academy, and in general, elite schools in Jordan are preparing their students to be democratic leaders in Jordan, we could assume from this survey answer that the teachers and faculty are encouraging attending American universities as a means of coming back to Jordan and being prepared to help their country. In addition, it could be because they can become experts or knowledgeable in different and new fields than the typical Jordanian university students, which would suggest a growth mindset. Keeping an open mind regarding what can improve the country and guiding students to do just that represents a democratic mindset.

Karim stated that both at school and at home, there was an implicit expectation that he attend college like his three brothers did before him. He describes the atmosphere at school as competitive in a friendly way, with most feeling the same expectation to attend higher education. With that in mind, we must consider another reason that Jordanian elite students tend to attend American schools: there are only 39 recognized universities in Jordan, with a handful of those being considered “good” schools. Thus, there are far more options in the U.S., especially because all of the Jordanian universities are considered to be more of a research university with liberal arts programs offered, rather than exclusively liberal arts schools like Amherst or many others in the U.S. If Olive Grove Academy offers a liberal arts minded curriculum, students will be motivated and inclined to seek out a similar one if they find success at Kings Academy.

Liberal arts schools are democratic in nature. They promote choice and opportunity, key democratic principles. They also encourage critical thinking, and opportunity. Students with those qualities will then come back to Jordan with a hopefully positive view of their experience, and possibly, in the minds of Kings Academy, attempt to make a way of life similar to that in their home country. As such, it seems that sending students to liberal arts American schools is a way of importing democratic principles back into Jordan. This is an important facet of the Olive Grove experience to consider, as we are researching how the school produces democratic leaders. This happens not only at the school, but also how they influence life in the time period between attending Olive Grove Academy and becoming said democratic leaders of Jordan. Many students take the path of higher education, and to understand where they go for higher education and what it consists of is vital to how they become democratic leaders. They do not pick these experiences of their own accord. They are guided and influenced by their school, and as such we must learn and consider why in order to understand a key facet of the journey.

References

Jaafari, L. I. (1973). The Brain Drain to the United States: The Migration of Jordanian and Palestinian Professionals and Students. Journal of Palestine Studies, 3(1), 119–131. https://doi.org/10.2307/2535531

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The Importance of Schooling in School

The U.S. University Pipeline