Boys of Class, Boys of Color: Negotiating the Academic and Social Geography of an Elite Independent School

Abstract

How do boys from diverse backgrounds manage in an elite boys' school? Interviewing a representative sample of 27 boys, blocked for race, class, and academic performance, we found that they navigated the school's academic geography by mastering "a drill" that included hard work, unwavering commitment, a will to win, a cool style, and self knowledge as learners. Some developed a transformative love of learning. But many marginalized boys struggled with the school's social geography. African American boys managed most effectively as they developed intra-group discourses of race and class enabling them to take up the school's offers of "hegemonic habitus" without "selling out." We discuss the liberating implications of helping students in both independent and public schools develop similar critiques.

Out with the Old, In with the New? Habitus and Social Mobility at Selective Colleges

“…As Kramer's (2008) and Kuriloff and Reichert's (2003) works suggest, black students in private high schools are already shifting their stores of cultural capital through their enrollment in private schools and contact with elite culture in that setting. This very likely has an impact upon their experiences in elite college settings and their ability to align habitus and increasing cultural capital.…”

Playing at the edges: use of playground spaces in South Australian primary schools with new arrivals programmes

“…Schools must acknowledge that despite their best efforts, dominant cultures will likely continue to dominate, to the disbenefit of marginalised cultures. As such, we recommend that schools are active in helping students to explore the cultural and social geographies of their schools in order to become more empowered to take a critical stance to their own education (Kuriloff and Reichert, 2003). However, it is likely to be the case that many non-NAP students and their families will continue to view NAP students and their families as strange or unwelcomed others who are expected to prove their worth in order to be accepted.…”

“…These differences in the geographies of the schools are important since, as previous research has noted, power relations between students are often at play within playground and other school spaces (Van Ingen and Hallas, 2006). This can be seen particularly in divisions of power between students from mainstream groups and students from ethnic backgrounds which might be considered "other" (Kuriloff and Reichert, 2003). As such, we would recommend that, where possible, the need for larger playground spaces is taken into account when NAPs are established in new schools in order to ensure that NAP students have the possibility of claiming some spaces as their own.…”

“…Other studies have found that school geographies may be divided down lines of class as well as race, such as Kuriloff and Reichert's (2003) study of an elite boys' school in America, which found that the school was divided along lines of the boys considered "lifers" (boys from upper and upper-middle class backgrounds), and boys from lower socio-economic or non-white backgrounds who were considered to be at the "margins" of the school. Kuriloff and Reichert argue that their study has relevance for public as well as private schools, and clearly both race and class issues would impact upon the ways in which refugee children are able to "fit into" school environments.…”

Higher Education Student Body Diversification as Glocal Practice

“…We can find broad mega-groupings, particularly in terms of the categories that are created through scientific and administrative practices to understand the problems of particular populations. Indeed, differences in generation (Stanfield, 1993), to include the millenial generation student (VanFossen, 2005) or the 1.5 generation student (Gulikers, Meredith & Swartz, 2004), combined with gender or color (Kuriloff & Reichert, 2003;Lee, 2004), or strictly limited to learning styles (Anderson, 1995) are some of the ways we are able to think about ourselves. Policies begin to be established, such as when education resources are considered in Congress in the case of attracting students to math and science (United States Government Printing Office, USGPO, 2000), and where debates are centered on questions of equity and excellence (Lederman, 2005;Scott, 1996;Suggs, 2005).…”