Date of Award
2019
Document Type
Honors Thesis (Open Access)
Department
Colby College. Education Program
Advisor(s)
Adam Howard
Second Advisor
Laura Saltz
Abstract
This project explores the ways in which the admissions process functions at an elite school in Santiago, Chile, The Croft School. The project focuses on the ways in which admissions procedures contribute to the reproduction of social classes, by only allowing the wealthy elite to have access to a prestigious education. In order to understand these structures of power, interviews were conducted with administrators and parents at the Croft School. These methods were used to analyze the administrators’ view of the school community, their role within the larger Santiago community, and how an exclusive admissions process contributes to socioeconomic divides within the city. The results of this research reveal that the emphasis on connections, wealth, and prestige contribute to a homogenous school environment, where elite students are only spending time with members of their own social class. This greatly affects the ways in which the Croft community views themselves and their relationship to the greater community. In order for procedures to change, the administrators at Croft must evaluate their privileged standing within society, and recognize the ways in which their eliteness contributes to exclusivity. From here, they will be able to restructure the admissions process to accept a more diverse student body.
Keywords
admissions, social class, privilege, Chile, elite, social reproduction
Recommended Citation
Pine, Jamie, "Beyond the Gates: Admissions in an Elite Schooling Context" (2019). Honors Theses. Paper 922.https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/honorstheses/922