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Elite schools often receive backlash for creating such difficult barriers to entry into their institutions. In more cases than not, individuals must be connected to the school in some way and at the same time have enough economic capital to afford the demanding costs. Without having either of those facets, it makes access to these schools merely impossible and further emphasizes the need to be elite in order to attend elite institutions. However, elite schools tend to claim certain values and virtues to mitigate their “eliteness” and seem more connected with those outside the school. The virtue that several elite schools choose to partake in is the service virtue. Due to the negative connotations surrounding the concept of “elitism,” elite institutions claim that they are serving those who are less fortunate “via charitable community-service activities” in order to maintain a positive image of themselves (Kenway and Lazarus 2017 p.270). By claiming certain values and virtues that make elite schools appear more virtuous, these institutions believe that they take on a greater responsibility than being elite. In spite of that, even though these schools have virtues attached to service, it doesn’t necessarily mean that their practices align with it. 

One of the pillars of the Croft school in Chile is service. It is explained as being a “fundamental part of the development” of the students at the school. Through community service, it is said that these individuals that attend the Croft school will develop a better understanding of “kindness, respect and empathy” and a “social sense of service to the community.” Having said that, throughout my time reading the transcripts of the students at the Croft school, there were numerous instances where the students brought up community service and their experiences when participating in it. Although I didn’t think much of it while I was reading, it quickly became clear that students were participating in this service, but their understanding of service didn’t quite line up with that of the school. As one student states: 

For being like one of the pillars of the Croft, social service, it’s really poor. It’s like 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 like small amount of people and it’s just too much so it’s like overdone.

This student’s response clearly shows that the practice of community service doesn’t quite line up with the virtue of service at the Croft school. So, as much as elite institutions want to use service to deflect individuals from the fact that they are elite, actions always speak louder than words. Elite schools can claim all they want that they are serving those who are less fortunate, but how often their students actually engage with those on the outside is something that can easily be manipulated to make elite schools look better. 

Overall, the Croft school is just one example of an elite school claiming a specific virtue to distract individuals from the school’s elite status. Elite institutions firmly believe that if they implement certain practices like service that they are teaching their students an important lesson while also making things more diverse and less exclusive. Nonetheless, these institutions are really using these virtues to mask their advantages in society by saying they are helping others. In the end, elite institutions like the Croft school are still creating elites and maintaining their elite status all while participating in the “virtue” of service. 

Parents play a significant role in perpetuating privilege and social divisions by placing their children in elite institutions among other things that will ensure their children remain at an advantage. More often than not, parents of students at elite schools come from an affluent background and have access to these elite spaces. Families that are able to afford elite schools, especially those that offer no financial aid, have a certain amount of economic capital in which they are able to invest in education in order to give their children the means to acquire cultural capital. However, not only are these institutions chosen by these parents to provide their child with tools for a successful future, but having their children attend elite schools is a way to maintain their own elite status in society. These parents have shown that they will stop at nothing to make sure their class and status continues to grow. 

Access to elite education does not come easily to just anyone. In order to even be considered to enter these elite spaces, individuals must have the means to do so. Parents who are able to afford these high costs to attend these elite schools are most likely doing it to secure a solid future for their children. However, along with securing their child’s future comes maintaining their own status in society. In “Cosmopolitan Learning, Making Merit, and Reproducing Privilege in Indian Schools,” Gilbertson discusses this notion that the reason parents send their children to these elite schools is because they want to “improve their class status” (p. 298). This decision made by the parents contributes to preserving their privilege and social hierarchies as Gilbertson alludes to when explaining this concept of “cosmopolitan learning” (p. 297). Elite schools in India use cosmopolitan learning environments that have been manipulated to reinforce social hierarchies and divisions. So, parents choosing to place their children in these types of elite spaces is only furthering the divide to keep themselves at the top and allow them to continue to create distinctions socially and economically. 

Due to the parents of these children in these elite environments wanting to maintain their status to a great extent, they put a lot of pressure on not only their own children but the institutions themselves. Parents “put tremendous efforts into ensuring their child accesses a particular elite school,” so they have high expectations for how these schools plan to provide their children with sufficient tools for the future (Howard & Maxwell 2021). With that in mind, elite parents employ high demand for growing their children’s knowledge through rigorous academics. By disagreeing with the school if the academics are not setting up their child for success, from their perspective, they are demonstrating first hand their power and capital. Nonetheless, these elite schools often play into this because they want elite families to be happy so that these individuals continue to attend these elite schools, provide financial help, and eventually grow the elite school’s image. With that being said, parents apply extreme pressure so that their power, as well as the schools, continues to expand and reproduce. 

The amount of parents with a privileged background that see elite institutions as one of the main contributors in maintaining elite status makes it seem like the cycle of reproducing elites through elite education will never end. Not only that, but parents have a significant amount of influence on their children’s decisions and it makes me question even more if these elite parents are truly doing it for their children’s future or more so for their own appearance. Ultimately, families with enough capital and connections that choose to send their children to these elite schools will continue to do so if the understanding of what an elite institution can provide their children and themselves remains

Elite institutions focus on maintaining and protecting their status of being elite. These institutions do this through implementing specific practices and frameworks into the curriculum and school structure in order to continue to have power and to create leaders. Elite schools are known for and pride themselves in preparing their students with specific skills that will allow them to thrive in leadership positions after graduation. However, not everyone who is a part of these elite spaces is meant to be a leader nor wants to be a leader. When reading over the transcripts again from students at the Croft school in Chile, I started to wonder how these students, who don’t have similar desires as the school, feel about being immersed in this elite education system. Through my research, I found that it can be very difficult for these students to feel a sense of belonging when they don’t have the same plans for themselves as these elite institutions have for them.  

The pressure that elite schools put on their students is very significant. Through the curriculum, classroom experience, and community service, teachers push their students to be “great” and to be “doing their best work.” Teachers make it known to their students in these elite schools that they are among the best students and in the best institutions in the world. So in turn, these students feel obligated to prove themselves all the time because not just anyone can be a part of these elite spaces. By encouraging their students to become leaders, it demonstrates how important it is to these schools to keep creating eliteness through leadership. However, I found that the overwhelming amount of pressure they put on their students to become leaders had individuals that didn’t necessarily feel the same way feel like they were “nothing” . When someone doesn’t necessarily see themselves in a leadership role, it can be very challenging hearing “you’re supposed to be leaders!” throughout your entire time at these elite institutions, in this case at the Croft school . I can only imagine that with all these inside pressures and influences, that not “following” the normal path of becoming a leader can take a toll on students and further the divide of elite schools. 

Although elite schools already face divisions with individuals and society outside of these institutions, there are also divisions within them. Sort of continuing with this concept of the “bubble inside of the bubble.” Not wanting to become a leader or pursue a role in a leadership position only creates more of a divide within these elite schools. Not being able to relate with the majority of the students and teachers around you makes you question what you are doing there. That is how both the alumni described it in their transcripts, this idea of feeling like you’re “nothing” if you didn’t want to be a leader . This made it much more obvious that these schools pressure their students to become leaders to maintain their elite status. These schools make it seem like it is for their students when in fact it is to continue to grow their elite image. 

Through my reading of the transcripts, I uncovered that not everyone that is a part of these elite institutions sees themselves becoming a leader after their time there. So in a way forcing the idea of leadership upon the students within the school will result in some form of division and question of belonging. Although it doesn’t seem like a major issue, it is something to take into consideration when thinking about how elite schools go about maintaining and legitimizing their elite status.

The transcript reading process has been an exercise I have not yet come across in any other course during my time at Colby. Throughout my experience thus far I have realized how much value qualitative data adds to a specific study. These interviews and transcripts I have looked at add a perspective that one can’t always gain from quantitative data. Furthermore, quantitative data can often be skewed or manipulated so it can prove a certain point. Whereas qualitative data is more realistic, in this case personal, and significant to the conversation. My findings up to this point, when looking at the qualitative data, has allowed my group and me to have very productive conversations surrounding what takes place in elite schools in Chile. 

For this research project, my group decided to split up the transcripts and then come back together to talk about any recurring themes we discovered. I specifically focused on the alumni transcripts from the Croft school in Chile while my peers honed in on current students. Both transcripts that I read had numerous similarities as well as several differences. Just between these two interviews, certain themes like becoming leaders or leadership, student-teacher relationships, and the idea of the Croft school feeling like a “bubble” came to the surface. This was important to realize while reading these transcripts because of the concept of triangulation. Triangulation implies that multiple sources discuss the same theme to make it a valid finding. The merging of information from different sources and perspectives helps further solidify a point explained within the qualitative data. Not only did my two alumni sources have similar thoughts about the school and the education system, but so did the student interviews that my group members read. That made it clear that these themes are important discoveries. 

 Another principal aspect of reading these specific transcripts from the students in Chile was the subtle language barrier between the interviewer and interviewees. Although the Croft school does a majority of its learning in English, a few of the questions asked regarding “global citizenship” or “global citizens” left the interviewees a little confused. This could be due to Croft school not spending much time explaining what global citizenship is or a genuine misunderstanding of the question asked. For example, there were parts in the transcripts that state “Spanish translation needed” and then a time in the audio recording. For this project explicitly that could potentially make clear understandings and interpretations more difficult. However, this didn’t occur too often but was something that stood out to me when digging into the qualitative data. 

Ultimately, I enjoyed getting the opportunity to listen and read the transcripts between the interviewer and the alumni from the Croft school. These transcripts have allowed me to form a better understanding of how the school functioned as well as how students felt about their time there. Numbers could never explain in such detail how impactful a school like the Croft school is on the students that come through it. Although it is by no means an easy thing to read transcripts, it is quite neat when certain concepts or ideas start to connect to ideas that your peers also saw in the transcripts that they read. This exercise has taught me how significant qualitative research is in studies that need more than just quantitative knowledge.