Class & Education: Shattering the Meritocratic Illusion of Education

Due to the neoliberal individualistic discourse in which most Canadians are surrounded by, it seems almost natural for most people nowadays to view education as the vehicle to social mobility. Evidence surprisingly shows that this is relatively rare. Instead, at its very core, the Western education system is an engine of class reproduction (Ravelli & Webber, 2010). The scope of this paper is to explore the ways in which ascribed socioeconomic class affects the educational endeavours of individuals. By examining the lives of students from two polar extremes: working-class and upper-class—this paper tries to elucidate just how the educational and authoritative discourses their respective socioeconomic classes are steeped in affects students’ preparedness towards pursuing higher education.


Discourse Differences

In her book, Class Construction (2007), Freie’s study illustrates how there are key differences in the discourses the educational institutions of either upper-class stature or of the working-class utilize. Her interviews with grade eleven students from a working-class, homogeneously Caucasian high school in a deindustrialized community expose a pervasive ignorance among the students of the higher education application and enrolment process (Freie, 2007). Referring to St. George’s study on an isolated upper-class institution, Freie illustrates how in higher class educational institutions, the students are groomed specifically towards succeeding in a post-secondary environment. These upper-class students are exposed to everything from “the specifics of the application, recommendation, and interview process” to the extracurricular activities they require to be competitive for post-secondary education (Freie, 2007, p. 57). In essence, these students are awash in a culture that not only encourages and stimulates success but instills a modus operandi that is designed specifically for this success. Students in working-class schools lack this environment, which is one subtle yet significant hindrance towards class mobility.

Additionally there appears to be contradictions in the ways students in working class schools prioritize and in some ways impede their education through the embracement of their working-class identity. According to Freie, some students articulate the necessity of education for their future goals while at the same time contradict these statements through actions that seemingly stunt their chances toward success. They maintain part-time jobs while avoiding almost all extracurricular activities within the school and do not partake in the authoritative hierarchal structures within. These conflicting actions limit the development of skills and the necessary cultural capital these students need to flourish in higher education. An important note is that the working-class students Freie interviews neither conceptualize nor connect their class-distinctions. Through their inability to see their struggles as part of a larger dynamic—along with their held discourses of individualism—many students come to see their cultural, academic or economic struggles as personal or isolated, which ultimately permits rise to these contradictions (Freie, 2007). These factors illuminate the stark differences in discourse between upper and working-class institutions which give upper-class students both an academic and cultural advantage.

Authority & Streaming

The authority structure of working-class schools promotes the working-class discourse, which solidifies the inescapability of reproduction of their class. Freie documents a culture of misinformation (either late or unavailable if even correct at all) that the working-class students consistently encounter. Freie finds students constantly lack the necessary information needed regarding secondary education enrolment. More appalling is the fact that only a fixed number (often 50%) of graduating working-class students are able to attend information sessions regarding post-secondary enrolment. This is mainly due to costs, and in this economic barrier is another obstacle that limits students from success in college and university-level education. As already mentioned, upper-class institutions have in place the authoritative structures that allow for the cultural and academic development unavailable to working-class students.

Teachers and counselors also perpetuate the working-class dynamic by streaming students towards lower-level institutions (like community colleges) or trades-oriented educational paths. Generally citing reasons of cost economy as reason for this streaming, these instructors and counselors are in fact inhibiting working-class individuals from acquiring the education needed often necessary for intragenerational class mobility (Freie, 2007).

Class Reproduction

While notions of meritocracy run deep in both classes, there are subtle immovable structures along with a pervasive hidden curriculum within the respective educational institutions that assist in reproducing class for each strati. Upper-class students are trained by ways of the school culture, discourse, and authoritative hierarchal structures to be more prepared for success in a post-secondary institution. Lower-class high schools tend to behave similarly but lack the necessary training for their student body to succeed after they graduate. Both of these dynamics assist in perpetuating class reproduction in the face of the meritocratic ideals most of us are lead to accept—often in presupposition.

Conclusion

One must consider the surmounting evidence of how the ascribed socioeconomic class of secondary students affects their chances of success in post-secondary institutions to understand that it consequently limits their ability for intragenerational class mobility. Much of this is caused by cultural and class-specific discourses that are utilized by the respective schools’ authorities. It is therefore safe to conclude that much to the disillusion of commonplace individualistic or meritocratic ideals, these dynamics leads to class reproduction. It is along these lines that individuals are limited in achieving a realunhindered ability for class mobility based solely on merit and academic performance—which is what education is widely believed to endorse.

References

Freie, C. (2007). Class construction: white working-class student identity in the new millennium.

Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

Ravelli, B., & Webber, M. (2010). Chapter 12, Education. In Exploring sociology: a Canadian perspective (pp. 306-330). Toronto: Pearson Canada.

Catharsis

The cold sends a chill through my body all the way to my very sinews. 

It's the middle of summer. 

I am tired of writing about her. This fraudulent captivity of a love long lost. It is a preoccupation of everything and every subject I hold with a veil of contempt; my morbid, murky and, more importantly, childish disobedience to what I want. 

Yet I still bob my head to its music. Waiting, wishing, yearning for it to hear me. Or to see my dance; my movements, carefully thought out. All to its tune.

The Benefits of Dearth: Appreciation Through Inadequacy

While most individuals have a specific object, activity or person they can point to, it is my staunchly held belief that it was what I did not possess or experience that inevitably guided the formation of my character. The poverty my family was entrenched in for the majority of my life—after we had become refugees from civil war and rebellion in Uzbekistan—was the guiding factor in how I would lead my life. As a child, I was like most ordinary children: wide eyed, inquisitive, and ever-so-trusting in the goodness of people in general. Yet after 1992 (the year I arrived in Canada with my family), I began the retreat into the individual I am today. The journey from that moment on, which at every step was abundant with the bittersweet, had a profound effect on my character in that, to my very fibre, it endowed me with traits of pessimism, empathy and ambition.

Though I continuously attempt not to betray my most sincere efforts to conceal this flaw, to begin my character analysis on pessimism only makes sense as this trait gives birth, in natural procession, to the aforementioned others that I possess. Being a pessimist is not something one holds in pride, neither is it something, I believe, one should be disingenuous about. To always be prepared for—no, to expect the worst is a survival mechanism that I have acquired over the years dealing with countless disappointments and setbacks. My parents sacrificed much of their lives and futures in hopes of their children being raised in the greatest country they had heard of. Children do not necessarily need financial wealth to feel secure but emotional wealth is essential. My mother battled with culture shock and severe bouts of depression throughout a large majority of my life. My father has worked, on average, fourteen hours a day without a real vacation or significant day off for the past eighteen years. In my eyes, although my siblings and I had, my parents never truly attempted to become fully assimilated into the society of the greatest country they had ever heard of. To a child who only wanted the feeling of normalcy to return, the hypocrisy of their dichotomous stance—being in Canada, yet seemingly regretting and hating the differences (moral, societal, etc.) of their surroundings only played in dissonance before my eyes. They were too busy and preoccupied to create the supportive environment their children were so parched for. It made me realize although there are good intentions in an action, endeavour or event, one should always brace himself for disappointment for the off-chance that what tends to happen, will: the best laid plans will oft go awry.

I often feel grateful for being allowed to cultivate my understanding of the effects of what most people will call luck. The seeming chance of my life and how it turned out gave me the belief that most people, if not all, do not have exactly what they want in their lives. People have told me I possess a rare sensitivity (or insight) of situations and the people that I know and encounter. Although it is a flattering characterization, I believe it stems from the understanding that most variables that people attempt to overcome are ones that they truly have no controls over: family, situational circumstance, financial hindrance, and many others. I have experienced all, and I feel empathy for people that seem to be mired in the same. I also gained understanding of individuals who have been blessed with the lack of such obstacles. Instead of jealousy and contempt, I feel there is a certain honour that one gains from being one of the have-nots.

One is not defined by his circumstances but by what one does in the midst of them. There is a burning ambition that comes with being deprived of material and emotional foundation. I have to admit that I am not exempt from this drive. Although I have dabbled with pity and self-sabotage, I have acquired a need for constant inquiry. I absolutely love to learn, and when I want to do something and truly put my mind to it, I complete it fully or not at all; mediocrity is something that I do not tolerate in the things I do. The lack of substantive possessions throughout my life gave me this sense that I need to catch up and more than make up for what I missed. I want to be the best that I can be, and this ambition is clearly driven fully by my insecurities.

Here I sit, pessimistic, empathic, and ambitious, knowing full well these traits would have been naught but vapours if poverty had not imposed itself on my family and me. While it is true that I’ve been cultivated by what most would call inferior circumstances, each single detail is the sum of an always greater whole; this journey made me who I am today. I cannot foresee myself not possessing these facets of character nor do I regret the journey which led me to acquire them. Upon careful scrutiny, I can honestly affirm that these traits are qualities I would not trade for any of the riches in the world.