megiles

To begin, I would like to say that my overall experience of being a part of this larger research project, while also creating our own paper for our own project, has been a very interesting and rewarding experience. Through working with a team to conduct an interview, transcribe the interview, and ultimately analyze that interview in the context of our larger focus on the reproduction of elites I learned a great deal about the process of research and also about myself in terms of my own eliteness.

In terms of the interview process, I was in charge of transcribing the three interviews once they were conducted and recorded. Prior to the actual transcribing, everyone said it would take between two and three times the length of the interview to transcribe the interview, to which I somewhat laughed, thinking I could OBVIOUSLY do it faster than that. Wrong. A solid 6 hours of my life was inevitably surrendered to typing out every “umm,” “like,” and “uhh” uttered in the two hours worth of interviews. And that excludes the time sacrificed to my poor attentional skills spent checking snap chat, chatting to friends, and eating a snack whilst transcribing. Despite my inability to live up to my own expectations at being an efficient transcriber, I actually really enjoyed transcribing. It allowed me to listen in on the interview after the fact and really grasp the ideas Kostas was getting at in his answers and their connections to themes of privilege and social class we’ve discussed in class. The process of writing out the words I was hearing really committed Kostas’ answers to mind, and made the process of writing the student case study much smoother and easier. So I guess what I’m getting at is that the seemingly tedious time spent transcribing ultimately benefited my understanding of the interview, and thus deepened my understanding of it’s connection to our broader research focus.

In terms of being a part of a larger research project, it made the subject material much more intriguing, since it was focused on a real life phenomenon that is extremely prevalent to our surroundings. Researching elites with the intention of analyzing the ways in which they contribute to the inequity definitely made me question my own intentions in attending such an elite institution.  We, as Colby students, embody and represent much of what we have looked at over the course of this semester, and that is not necessarily a good thing.  Accepting this, coming to terms with the status that accompanies Colby, as well as thinking critically about the choices I made to get to Colby College has been a very self informative experience.  At various times throughout this process I have felt as though everything I stand for is wrong; my complacency with the eliteness that I have strived for, up until now subconsciously, became a source of embarrassment at times.  Though it was distressing sometimes, this project opened my eyes to critically think about my role in all of this.

Additionally, the relevance to real life and current issues of inequity led to a much more invested analysis of the interview. Previous research projects I have been apart of, mostly in the psychology department, are obviously interesting to me, but the topics are always self proposed and only for the purpose of a grade, tainting my natural curiosity on the subject matter. The fact that it is real and will be published was really motivating and made the research feel more worthwhile. Further, because it is an ongoing, much larger, research project meant that we had access to others work in different countries, but on the same material. This aspect was very helpful in guiding the direction of our focus and individual project.

In the past week our readings were more concentrated on elite schools in Chile, and our group completed the interview/transcribing phase of our research.  (Side note: transcribing sucks.)  Through all of the conversations with the Kostas, the homogeneity (as many have noticed) was extremely apparent in a few ways.  Kostas, a few times, referred to the general opinion of the school in regard to current events.  He spoke his opinion on behalf of the school as a whole.  Additionally, he articulated a favoritism by the teachers for students who mirror their opinions and values on various topics discussed in and out of class.  In this way, I would imagine that students are subtly encouraged to express their similarities to the teachers/administration, and discouraged from dissenting, in attempt to receive certain benefits from teachers and the school.

Eduardo Cavieres Fernandez’s article, Rethinking the Role of Elite Private Schools in a Neoliberal Era: an example from Chile explains the way in which the neoliberalism has lead to an increase in the privatization of schools across Chile, consequently causing public schools to fall behind.  While this is all going on, he also discusses the recent increase in income per capita in Chile.  However, this point is only relevant if you also look at the fact that wealth has become increasingly more concentrated, meaning that while there may an increase income per capita overall, there is a greater divide between the elite social class and the lower working classes.  Then, when you take into consideration that some of the private schools, including the Croft School we are studying, do not grant financial aid to students, attending the increasing number of private schools in Chile becomes a privilege that not many can afford.

So there is this massive gap in the availability of these elite schools, which was also articulated by Kostas we interviewed who essentially told us that, in connection with the lack of financial aid at his school, most families in Chile send their children to the best school that they can afford.  This concept turns the educational system into a stratification of wealth in and of itself.

Kostas acknowledged this homogeneity of the socioeconomic status of the students attending his school and extended ideas of homogeneity to the broader sense of ideals and opinions across the faculty and student body.  Through conversations with him, it became clear that disagreeing with opinions of faculty are discouraged, resulting in discomfort, or resistance, in voicing disagreeing opinions in conversation.  Further, there appeared to be some sort of favoritism by the faculty in regard to students who share their same ideals, and voice this in class or through outside conversations with teachers.  In general, there was a strong sense of the school encouraging its students to think and value the same things.

Obviously brain washing is extreme, but the idea behind it is that these schools are creating and reproducing the elite class through the luring of students to their school with high entrance fees and elite status, and then spitting them out with all the same values and ideals.  They have streamlined their students to follow the same path, get the same jobs, and reproduce the same thing that they have embodied – Elite.

My research group chose to focus on the way in which extra curricular activities impact all aspects of the Croft School’s educational experience, including academics, social structure, as well at the culture of the extra curricular activities themselves.  Through this research, I have come across various perspectives on the purpose and significance of incorporating extra curricular activities into schools.

Previous studies have looked at the effect of involvement in extracurricular activities on adolescents’ positive youth development.  Typically, these studies look at adolescents’ self worth evaluation and self concept.  Generally, there is a positive relationship between involvement in extra curricula’s and a students general self worth and concept (Blomfield & Barber, 2011).  A study focusing that focused on whether or not this phenomenon has different effects in schools with a low socioeconomic status found that there was a greater positive relationship between extra curricular activities and the positive effects on an adolescents development among schools with children from a predominantly low socioeconomic status household (Blomfield & Barber, 2011).  This finding emphasizes the importance of providing students with activities, clubs, and sports outside of the classroom in order to promote they development in a positive way.

A different study focused on the ways in which extra curricular activities enhance a persons human capital, which, in this article, was used to essentially refer to a persons ability to succeed in and graduate from  the various levels of schooling.  (So many forms of capital, so little time).  Assuming the premise that extra curricular activities allow students to develop important skills outside of the classroom is true, these researchers found that involvement in these extra curricular activities correlates to a “1.5 to 2 percent improvement in test scores and a 5 percent improvement in Bachelors degree attainment” (Lipscomb, 2007).

I then looked at the HMC, which stands for “the Headmasters and Headmistresses Conference,” which the Croft school is apart of.  From what I gather off of their website,the HMC is an association that supports independent institutions. Through supporting these institutions the HMC is also able to instill its values and opinions on the academic process.  It’s like another step in the process of being, and maintaining your status as, elite.  If you click on over to the page where the extra curricular opportunities are discussed (it can be found as a link stemming from the “why a HMC School?”) you will find the organizations proud declaration that HMC schools, “provide unrivaled co-curricular opportunities enabling children to develop a wide range of talents, skills and abilities” (HMC website).  So, the HMC also believes that these activities outside of the classroom enhance one’s potential for success academically and potentially in life in general, as the website claims that “exceptional co-curricular programmes ensures that HMC independent schools are successful and outstanding” (HMC Website).  The programs provided are described  as “exceptional” and “unrivaled”, as if to suggest that the students success in and out of school will transitively be “exceptional” and “unraveled”.  The HMC’s site also mentions the potential for students to develop into professional athletes, even Olympic medalists through their programs and facilities.  Differing from that first article I read, in which these sports and clubs were for the purpose of positively supporting an adolescents development, the HMC school would like to put that on steroids in order to foster the eliteness of their clubs and sports.

I figured if I want to potentially analyze a Croft students involvement in extra curricular sports or activities, it would only be fair to do so on myself as well.  I like to keep things fair.  So, my primary involvement in extra curricular activities, at Colby and also in middle and high school, is sports. Specifically, I run track (read: cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track cause its never ending fun) for Colby, as I did for my high school.  In thinking about the ways in which track supported my development (thinking back to high school here when I believe most of my maturing took place) I do think that sports, I am referencing track specifically, allowed me to develop positively, specifically as it increased my self confidence, ability to manage stress, and work collaboratively with a team or authority figure (i.e. my coach) with one goal in mind.  As silly as it may seem, relentless training to merely chop off some seconds on the time it takes me run around an oval provided me with confidence in my ability to achieve.  In this way, and others, I do see the importance of extra curricular activities as an important factor in a school’s success.  Looking at the way in which it boosts my potential human capital, I think the only benefits are from the skills acquired through my participation.  Colby College has beautiful facilities and a wonderful coaching staff, and yet we do not emphasize the perfecting of sports, rather the effort and hard work of sports.  As a Division 3 school, the focus simply cannot be on being the best. We are not. I am not. How does Colby instill its institutional values, then, into the athletics department?  I think that, at Colby, the benefits that come with extra curricular sports and clubs come from the community of that particular activity, and the pride in working towards something you choose in addition to academics.  In this way, I can see how Colby’s values are reinforced through athletics.

References:

Blomfield, C.J. & Barber, B.L. J Youth Adolescence (2011) 40: 582. doi:10.1007/s10964-010-9563-0

Lipscomb, S. (2007, August). Secondary school extracurricular involvement and academic achievement: A fixed effects approach. Economics of Education Review, 26(4), 463-474. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2006.02.006

http://www.hmc.org.uk/about-hmc/why-choose-a-hmc-school/co-curricular-opportunities/

I will note, however, that the public school’s I attended in Concord are apart of a well respected school system.  So, while I would consider Concord Carlisle High School elite, it did hold some values that I presume are the same at elite institutions.  For example, my high school heavily encouraged students to become involved in extra curricular activities.  Flyers and school-wide announcements were constantly reminding us that a certain club had a meeting after school at 2:30 in the auditorium. The difference in this sentiment between my public high school  and a more elite high school is that my classmates did not hold the same feelings towards these clubs and extra curricula’s as the administration.  Despite the flyers, the announcements, and the teacher encouragement, students were tentative, if not antagonist towards, partaking in the kind of “well rounded” education our principal certainly wanted.