Education And Elitism

Education and Elitism discusses polemical debates around privilege, private schools, elitist universities, equal access to education and underlying notions of fairness. The overarching question that runs through the book is about the future of education worldwide: how can schools and universities tread the tightrope between access and quality? This book investigates the philosophical positions that characterize elitism and anti-elitism to establish three types: meritocratic, plutocratic and cultural. These types of elitism (and their counter-positions) are used as reference points throughout the book's analysis of successive educational themes. The conclusion leads to suggestions that bridge the worlds of elitism and egalitarianism worldwide. The book covers critical questions related to the sociology and philosophy of education with particular focus on contemporary disruptors to education such as the COVID-19 pandemic and protest movements for social justice. With an attempt to offer readers an objective overview, this book will be an excellent compendium for students, academics, and researchers of the sociology of education, education policy and comparative education. It will also be of interest toschool leaders, university provosts and professionals working in curriculum design.

This book offers both a theoretical and empirical examination of elite education, at all stages from the early years to university level. The book explores the various manifestations of internationalisation of education; the implications of these for national education systems; the formation and re-articulation of elite forms of education locally and globally; and how these facilitate the reproduction or disruption of processes of inequality. The collection critically considers these questions by drawing on contributions from around the world, and focuses on how internationalisation processes shape the various stages of the education system – from early years settings to higher education – in oftentimes quite different ways. At the same time, by engaging with the issues through a range of theoretical lenses, the book invites readers to consider in greater depth the various ways we can come to understand how processes of internationalisation are both embedding but also at times destabilising the formation and purpose of elite education provision and potentially the configuration of elite groups themselves. The book will be relevant to academics, researchers, students, policymakers and educators working in or on the field of ‘education’ across the world.

Examining in detail the work of consecration carried out by elite education systems, Bourdieu analyzes the distinctive forms of power—political, intellectual, bureaucratic, and economic—by means of which contemporary societies are governed.

In Poor Queer Studies Matt Brim shifts queer studies away from its familiar sites of elite education toward poor and working-class people, places, and pedagogies. Brim shows how queer studies also takes place beyond the halls of flagship institutions: in night school; after a three-hour commute; in overflowing classrooms at no-name colleges; with no research budget; without access to decent food; with kids in tow; in a state of homelessness. Drawing on the everyday experiences of teaching and learning queer studies at the College of Staten Island, Brim outlines the ways the field has been driven by the material and intellectual resources of those institutions that neglect and rarely serve poor and minority students. By exploring poor and working-class queer ideas and laying bare the structural and disciplinary mechanisms of inequality that suppress them, Brim jumpstarts a queer-class knowledge project committed to anti-elitist and anti-racist education. Poor Queer Studies is essential for all of those who care about the state of higher education and building a more equitable academy.

An NPR Favorite Book of the Year Winner of the Critics’ Choice Book Award, American Educational Studies Association Winner of the Mirra Komarovsky Book Award Winner of the CEP–Mildred García Award for Exemplary Scholarship “Eye-opening...Brings home the pain and reality of on-campus poverty and puts the blame squarely on elite institutions.” —Washington Post “Jack’s investigation redirects attention from the matter of access to the matter of inclusion...His book challenges universities to support the diversity they indulge in advertising.” —New Yorker “The lesson is plain—simply admitting low-income students is just the start of a university’s obligations. Once they’re on campus, colleges must show them that they are full-fledged citizen.” —David Kirp, American Prospect “This book should be studied closely by anyone interested in improving diversity and inclusion in higher education and provides a moving call to action for us all.” —Raj Chetty, Harvard University The Ivy League looks different than it used to. College presidents and deans of admission have opened their doors—and their coffers—to support a more diverse student body. But is it enough just to admit these students? In this bracing exposé, Anthony Jack shows that many students’ struggles continue long after they’ve settled in their dorms. Admission, they quickly learn, is not the same as acceptance. This powerfully argued book documents how university policies and campus culture can exacerbate preexisting inequalities and reveals why some students are harder hit than others.

Deresiewicz takes a sharp look at the high-pressure conveyor belt that begins with demands for perfect grades and culminates in the skewed applications received by college admissions committees. Students are losing the ability to think independently. College is supposed to be a time for self-discovery-- but the system is broken, and he offers solutions on how to fix it.

This book examines the practices and effects of emerging international curriculum programs established by Chinese elite public high schools and supported by China's New Curriculum Reform and the Chinese-Foreign Cooperation in Running Schools (CFCRS) policy. Drawing on critical theory, the book applies sociological and anthropological approaches to the study of the educational practices of such curriculum programs and the rising Chinese elite class, as well as educational policy globally. Through analyzing a wide variety of data sources, this book focuses on examining how changing local and global contexts have influenced and shaped the educational opportunities, experiences, and aspirations of privileged urban Chinese students who are able to attend these programs and who hope to study at U.S. universities. In doing so, the book is intended to define the problematics of the internationalization of Chinese education and an emergent form of elite education in China, which are complex and embedded in the process of modernization in China. Neoliberalism, Globalization, and "Elite" Education in China: Becoming International will appeal to undergraduates, postgraduates, and academics in the fields of curriculum studies, educational policy studies, sociology of education, and anthropology of education, as well as policymakers with an interest in globalization and education, education policy, and education and international development.

Education and Consecration of Neoliberal Elites: Introduction -- Business, Economics, and the Nobel Prize: History and Legacy -- Admission: Privilege, Values and Practices -- Consecration, Business Skills and Leadership: The Student Union -- Teaching Business: The Invisible Hand in Class -- Affinity: Pedagogics for a Future Elite -- Academic Freedom and the Business Community -- Business School Faculty and Neoliberal Thinking -- Lifelong Social Relationships and Networks: Business School Alumni -- Elitism and Masculinity: Business Schools and Elite Employers -- Business Schools and the Consecration of Elites: Conclusions.