What made social
class? How is it being measured? How do you feel about it? After reading
chapter five and chapter six, I strongly agree that cultural capital and
cultural reproduction reflects social class. Cultural capital is the knowledge;
values which a person develops from home, school and society which make a
person feels that he is more superior to others. Cultural capital affects how a
person thinks, considers, understands and lives. This cultural capital could
have been developed from a long time ago and being transferred to others from
generation to generation. It is reproduced by the ruler of a country, society,
teacher, family and friends. It is therefore, the thinking of the people in a
country is very important.
For example, teachers,
parents and students have in mind that the students studying in the first
ranking classroom is better than the other students in other classes. All the
parents will want their children to be in the first ranked class. Teachers
believe that they have more responsible in teaching the students with the most
effective ways to maintain the grades of the students in that class. Thus, the
students were given many opportunities and priority. Students in this class
also believe that they are the best. They know that they will have to work
harder than other students. Unconsciously, this has created social class among
students.
Through my own
experience in my primary school, firstly, classrooms were separated into A and
B. All the students in A class never liked to mingle with the students in B
class. They felt that B class students were not as smart as they were. They
only stay among their classmates.
Secondly,
different positions in school will also cause social class. Teacher will
nominate a few students who are well doing in their studies and behaviour to be
the school prefects or classroom representatives. Here again, parents feel
proud if their children were chosen to be a school prefect or a classroom
representative. Both the teachers and parents subtly influence in how a student
will think. These students will feel that they are not the same as other
students.
Finally, it’s the
test. The test showed us clearly who are the smarter students and vice versa.
Then the smarter students will long to be together. Teachers were not satisfied
with those weaker students and parents even caned the poor students. It seems
like all the students will have to be the top ten’s but there are over forty
students in a class. That is not all. During the year-end report card day, all
of us from A class will feel really nervous, tension and frightened. We were
afraid that we would be downgraded to B class. We were being told by the
teacher that if we couldn’t get good score, we would be transferred to B class.
Our parents thought that way too. Therefore, the reproduction of the cultural
capital here is, if you are not an A class student, not a prefect or a class
representative, not the top ten students, you are not good enough.
We can also always
see in the media or even the banner in front of the tuition centre advertising
about students getting straights A’s. Parents will want their children to study
there and students themselves may want to study there as well. Why? The media
educates people that if you study here, you will score straight A’s. Again, for
those students who are not having tuition there, they feel uncomfortable when
they are to talk about it to their friends. Peer pressure comes into place.
Most of the parents will focus on getting their children the best and maybe
also the most expensive tuition centre for their children. Why has education
for children have been so complicated nowadays?
Education and
media are strongly being intervened by government intervention. Every country
has its own culture and its own set of education system. Therefore, people have
developed their values through their own country’s ruling system. For example, a
ruler that has always put their own benefits into ruling their country would
not have much concern about the education of his people. They would want the
types of people which would not cause any threat to them. It was like the more a
person learns, understands, knows about others and knowledge gained, the more
that person would question and cause problems. In such countries, the hegemony
of the ruler comes into priority. Education and welfare would not be taking
into consideration. Therefore, the education system is designed with the
interest of the culture of a country and most probably not for the needs of
students. In this kind of system, what could students learn? Were the students
given opportunities to compete fairly among themselves?
The students were
either the hare or the tortoise. As in general, the hare is faster than the
tortoise, however, in fiction, the tortoise won the race because the hare fell
asleep. It doesn’t really matters who won the race. The agent of education which
is the teacher should teach the students to identify the strengths and values
of the hare and the tortoise instead of putting them onto a race. Therefore,
the cultural capital is putting students into the race of the hare and the
tortoise. The only person who has the power to change the cultural capital
should be a teacher.
- Eagle -
