• Nie Znaleziono Wyników

The Role of Bulgarian Elite Schools in the Process of Social Reproduction

N/A
N/A
Protected

Academic year: 2021

Share "The Role of Bulgarian Elite Schools in the Process of Social Reproduction"

Copied!
18
0
0

Pełen tekst

(1)

V a l e n t i n a M i l e n k o v a

THE ROLE OF BULGARIAN ELITE SCHOOLS IN THE

PROCESS OF SOCIAL REPRODUCTION

Elite schools are for researchers an especially interesting phenomenon 1. It results from the fact that the schools make it possible either to climb or to secure the up-per levels of social hierarchy. Moreover, the mechanism that provides the graduates of such schools with a guarantee of fi rst access to numerous privileges has been successfully functioning since the ancient times and the Middle Ages. We know of many cases from history when the connection of proper origin and elite education transformed into prestigious social positions.

In a lot of countries, private schools are the elite ones (e.g. England, Austria, India, Switzerland), yet there are also instances of public elite schools (e.g. France, Germany, Bulgaria). Th en, an interest in the capital that is included in the schools and in the ways of fi nancing them is scarce. Researchers attention is more focused on how the schools function in social consciousness, on the individuals that go there, on the creation of specifi c cultures (subcultures) in them, on the achieve-ments of their graduates resulting from the intended social status of a student caused by his or her family’s investment.

Generally, elite schools are characterised by a high level of education, as well as by selected and uniform students. For most people, it is obvious that sending chil-dren to such a school will guarantee their off spring a high social prestige. Th e term “elite school” itself includes a specifi c social evaluation, which results in the fact that the schools educate specifi c “aristocracy”, privileged groups. Social function of 1 P. Bourdieu, La Noblesse d’etat, Editions de Minuit 1989; L.L. Baird, Th e Elite Schools: A Profi le of Prestigious Independent Schools, Heath Lexington 1977.

(2)

these schools is based on creating and strengthening elites with relations among education, selection and power. In elite schools, a special place is devoted to a net of contacts, relations among students. A specifi c selection of students is a signifi -cant element of the “brand” of a school. Th erefore, elites transfer their position onto their children through specialised schools, which constitute an additional guarantee of access to privileges and of membership in the authorities for future generations.

For the above reasons, elite schools arise general interest, which is additionally magnifi ed by phenomena such as high competition at “the entry”, specifi c student subcultures and their social background2. Th ese features are connected with the idea of social stratifi cation of individual position, at the basis of which remains socialisation and selective school mechanisms.

1. Bulgarian elite schools

Until 9 September 19443, there were practically no elite schools in Bulgaria. Taking into consideration the very low level of education of society, high schools could be considered elite, since only few Bulgarians studied in them. When in 1909 a new act concerning the educational system was accepted4, the minister of education, N. Mušanov, admitted that “it is no secret to anyone that like today, high school edu-cation will remain for a long time still a privilege of the rich citizens of cities and villagers”5. Th e level of urbanisation was meager then, and the demographically dominant villages lacked educational traditions. Th e running of schools was too expensive. Statistics show that in 1922, of 5,009 school buildings, only 1,692 were in decent condition. Th e remaining 3317 buildings, either partially or as a whole, were not usable6. Th e national education act of 1924 strengthened the tendency of classical and humanistic education in high schools. In 1934, in numerous locations high schools were closed, and two-year schools were created there (two fi nal years of high school: the fourth and the fi ft h), and full high schools were left only in the

2 O.G. Egorov, Opit sozdania elitarnoj školu v Podmoskovie, “Pedagogika” 2004, no. 2, pp. 34–39. 3 9 September 1944 – the date of the beginning of communist rule in Bulgaria (translator’s note). 4 Th e law was introduced by “pre-high schools”, as another level of education coming aft er pri-mary school.

5 N. Vankov, Istoria na učebno delo v Blgaria, Vraca 1921. 6 Op.cit.

(3)

biggest cities7. Th ere were also private schools, nevertheless, children of doctors, lawyers or politicians studied abroad.

Aft er September 1944, communist authorities ventured into the hardship of forming their elites learning a foreign language became an important element of this process. Th erefore, language high schools8 naturally transformed into schools that deal with a kind of selection. Children of party notables and functionaries9 mainly studied there. Th e dominance of language schools has continued also re-cently. However, aft er 1990, they have become noticeably more open and merito-cratic. Nevertheless, the good economic and social position of parents has played a similarly signifi cant role in their functioning.

Nowadays, the most important feature of Bulgarian elite schools is the fact that it is the youth that pass through a thick sieve of numerous entrance exams that study there. Taking this criterion into consideration10, as elite schools should be treated fi rst of all language, mathematical, and art high schools, as well as a few vocational high schools, where enormous competition among candidates results in high selectiveness. It is possible to refer here to another, typically quantitative element. As can be concluded from surveys conducted among students applying to high schools in Sofi a, for the last fi ve years most of them (71%) has directed their fi rst choice to one of the capital language high schools: GLS (German Language School), I ELS (the First English Language School), SLS (Spanish Language School), and FLS (French Language School). Th e candidates to the above mentioned schools achieve also the highest scores in entrance exams. Th e selection process and sus-taining the rule of meritocracy are possible exactly due to the considerable number of applicants, among whom the best future students can be chosen.

Linguistic education involves a thorough, meticulous, and solid didactic proc-ess. Young people, choosing language schools, are directed by various reasons. However, they are always convinced of the necessity of education gained by them, which will infl uence the rest of their lives, and which remains for them one of the

7 Ž. Atanasov, Istoria na blgarskoto obrazovanie, Sofi â 1977.

8 Generally, high schools as one of the types of secondary schools are a continuation of prima-ry schools and come before university. Whereas language high schools, are diff erent in that in the fi rst year, mainly a foreign language is studied, and in the following years most of the school subjects are lectured in this foreign language (translator’s note).

9 It was the Bulgarian Communist Party (translator’s note).

10 Th e concept of an elite school (according to private schools teachers that took part in the 2003 research) is predominantly based on the “selection of students according to their quality”, and less importantly on a proper material base and on “highly qualifi ed teachers” (N. Boâdžieva, Častno učiliŝe prez pogleda na učitelite i roditelite, “Strategii na obrazovatelnata i naučnata politika” 2003, no. 2, pp. 50–62).

(4)

most important values. Th e present tendencies as to the choice of a specifi c profi led school are varied, because individual expectations, choices and actions are shaped under the infl uence of heterogeneous and wavering economic, political, and cul-tural factors.

From the above point of view, it seems interesting to investigate the process of student selection to modern elite language high schools, and to observe the envi-ronment the youth studies in, and the teachers work in. on the one hand, such an analysis will make it possible to follow the process of elite formation and the re-productive function of school. On the other hand, it is also indispensable to try to answer the question whether, and to what extent, elite high schools realise the idea of “equal access to education”.

2. Elite schools under empirical study

Th is type of institutions can be defi ned in two dimensions:

− Ontological one – connected with the background of students: educational, professional and economic profi le of the family.

− Instrumental one – connected with selection, the spirit of rivalry, teachers’ professionalism, and graduates’ competitiveness.

Elite schools are characterised by the following features, which diff er them in quality from other high schools (the concept by P. Boâdžieva):

1) strict selection at the “entry”;

2) the spirit of rivalry and graduate’s competitiveness aft er language high schools when continuing education at universities;

3) specifi c individual profi le of teachers, which connects high professionalism and a high level of expectations towards students.

Th e ontological dimension

An unrepresentative survey, conducted in 2005 on 360 students of GLS, I ELS, SLS, and FLS (90 students from each school) shows that 61.1% (220 people) of the respondents’ parents also graduated from language high schools11. To complete the information, we will present the results of a research (performed according to the scheme of “an experiment designed in the fi eld work”) conducted in 1996, in three language high schools: the I ELS, GLS, FLS, and in two comprehensive high schools: 11 Survey conducted by the author. Th e basic method was a standardised interview with stu-dents.

(5)

HS No. 81, and HS No. 40 (which constituted the control group) in Sofi a12. Th e subject of the analysis were environments – the family and school ones, as well as their characteristics, the cultural capital of parents and family, the specifi city and conditions of the process of education, teachers and children’s achievements.

Education of the respondents’ parents:

• Fathers: university education 91.8% from ELS, 96.6% from GLS, 91.2% from FLS; whereas less than a half of the fathers (45.7%) of HS No. 81 and (43.9%) HS No. 40 students has got university education.

• Mothers: university education – 87.6% from ELS, 90.9 from GLS, 90.2 from FLS; 46% from HS No.81, and 41.7 from HS No.40.

Practiced profession

Parents of the respondents from language high schools can be in majority called intelligentsia (over 85%) – doctors (25%), teachers (4%), engineers (7%), diplo-mates (3%), lawyers (21%), economists (9%), academics (5%), and journalists (11%). 12% work in private companies; the extent of belonging to intelligentsia professions is relatively smaller of the parents of children from the control group – less than 30%.

From the above data it is clear that from intelligentsia environments come in-dividuals that are not only potential candidates, but fi nally constitute the only dominant majority of language high schools students. It means that intelligentsia background gives children wide possibilities of linguistic practice, family traditions and specifi c homely atmosphere in this environment provide the youth coming from them with a privileged position.

Among the surveyed parents of the language schools’ students, an extensive group is comprised of high state offi cials and representatives of medium and big business. Th erefore, it is not surprising that a considerable number of the respond-ents refused to give specifi c information on their fi nancial situation, considering such questions too “intimate” and deserving “no comment” (the quotes are from

12 Th e creation of a control group was important to compare the results. 100 students and 10 teachers were surveyed from every school. Th e following methods were used: a standarised interview with teachers, an auditory questionnaire with students, information on the school from the headma-ster, expertises from the Regional Inspectorate of Education in Sofi a as to 10 school subjects. A survey called “Socialisation in elite language schools” was realised by a team from the Institute of Sociology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) in 1996: V. Milenkova, R. Stoilov, and M. Molhov, con-sulted with z P. Boâdžieva. Th e research was fi nanced by the National Research Fund, which functions at the Ministry of Education and Science.

(6)

the questionnaires)13. Filling in the part referring to parents’ profession, the re-spondents defi ned quite clearly jobs such as: “a member of a board of directors”, “the chairmen of a board of directors”, the Ministry of Home Aff airs, “a sales rep-resentative”. When it comes to fi nances, there was mainly a general answer: “suffi -cient earnings”.

Selection

Th is aspect of the analysis is concerned with the selection of students as one of the main indicators of how elite a school is. Recently, a tendency has been estab-lished to admit to language high schools people that receive the highest possible or close to it average score from the entrance exams.

Entrance exams results:

72.7% of the respondents from ELS, 57.8 from GLS, 55.9% from FLS got the highest marks; the same score was earned by 21.4% of the students from HS No. 81, and 29.6% from HS No. 40.

As a result of studying in a language high school, a young person functions for a few years in a strongly competitive environment, which he or she has to deal with every day, thus realising the rule of “competitive mobility”14. Th e specifi city of a modern school is a consequence of the above, which is based on the necessity of continuous achievement in numerous tests and exams.

Th is is the way young people are prepared to the forthcoming in their lives much more serious confl icts, “battles”. Various forms of thorough control of the students’ progress: exams, tests, verbal tests are much more successful in tough-ening the students of elite schools in comparison to their peers in other schools. As a result, an elite school connects the model of “reproduction” and “meritoc-racy”, tolerating competition, it organises education following the rule of “com-petitive mobility”. Which does not change the fact that achieving good results by a student unquestionably results from their social background. It means that in the process of educational selection arises reproduction, and competition is con-sidered a positive phenomenon as long as it serves reproduction and mobility for the elites.

13 It should be remembered that in 1996 fi nancial issues were an irritating subject for Bulgarian society – it was connected with the beginning of economic and social change in Bulgaria (translato-r’s note).

14 E.I. Hopper, A Typology for the Classifi cation of Educational Systems, “Sociology” 1968, vol. 2, pp. 29–46.

(7)

One year of school achievements:

74% of students from ELS, 69% from GLS, and 71.8% from FLS achieved excel-lent marks15 in the school year previous to the survey; to compare – about 29% of the students from HS No. 81 and 35.8% from HS No. 40 achieved the best score. Such a good result is possible only due to systematic and thorough work, determi-nation and serious, responsible attitude to education16. It is confi rmed by the opin-ions of teachers from elite schools:

“Th e level is very high here. Our students learn, this is why they are the best and competition is strong here, as well. However, the quality has recently fallen a little. In my times, I’m also a graduate of a language high school, it was much more dif-fi cult” (a teacher from a language high school).

“I’m glad I work in this school. Earlier I taught in a comprehensive high school, the diff erence is huge. In the schools located on the outskirts, it is even problem-atic to gather students in the classroom on a lesson” (a teacher from a language school).

Just like the teachers, students of language high schools are conscious of the eff ort they have to make to achieve the highest marks. It was confi rmed in answers to the following statements: “It is easy to get good marks in this school”: most people (52.2%) pointed to the answer “I strongly disagree” and “I rather don’t agree” (28.2%); to compare, in comprehensive high schools the following answers were the most popular: “I  neither agree nor disagree” (45%), and “I  rather agree” (21.5%).

A similar situation can be observed in thee opinions expressed in a fi ve-degree scale which are concerned with the following statements:

• When I prepare for a lesson I learn only what is necessary; • I use additional sources almost to every subject;

• I devote my free time to more interesting things than learning; • I never come to a class unprepared;

• School is the most important matter in my life.

As can bee seen in a dispersive analysis17, conducted according to the procedure of variance analysis ANOVA, for a factor (independent variable) – “school type” and for a  dependent variable – the scale of the statements’ evaluations,

15 Th e marking scale in Bulgarian educational system consists of fi ve marks: from 2 – failed, to 6 – excellent (translator’s note).

16 It is illustrated by the fact that as many as 63% of the respondents from language high schools go to extra classes, in the control group – about 20%.

(8)

F(1.331)=31.02, p<0.0000, the average values for comprehensive high schools is 14.21, and for language high schools it equals 17.31. It means that the connection between the type of school and the expressed opinion is statistically important.

3. Competitiveness of graduates

It is a result of the selection of competitive spirit in elite schools: almost 100% graduates of language high schools applies every year to universities; over 1/3rd18 of students in 1994 graduated from these schools and mathematical high schools. According to the information received for fi ve consecutive years (1990–1995) by the schools headmasters, 90–95% of graduates from FLS, 90–95% from GLS, and 96% from ELS were admitted to higher schools; to compare, 10–15% from HS No. 40, and 20% from HS No. 8119.

In the following two years, almost 100% of students who graduated from lan-guage high schools were admitted to universities, moreover, aft er 2000, Bulgarian youth has in increasing numbers continued education at higher schools in the Western Europe and in the United States, and these are mostly graduates of lan-guage schools. It is obvious that elite schools educate a relatively bigger number of future students in comparison to other high schools. Reasons of the above can be found in the fact that elite schools socialise their students according to the rules of meritocracy, which stimulates them to always fresh challenges and achievements.

4. Professionalism of teachers

We will quote a few opinions of experts from the Capital School Inspectorate, re-ceived during the already mentioned survey from 1996:

“Teachers in language high schools have high qualifi cations, which can be de-veloped due to the fact that students are interested in learning” (a chemistry ex-pert).

“In language schools teachers are usually better professionally qualifi ed, they are good professionals or younger academic teachers from the Sofi a University” (a phys-ics expert).

18 Th e data come from the survey “Th e needs of academic university education in the time of transformation”, conducted in 1994 by a team led by G. Dimitrov.

19 Th e data come from the survey “Socialisation in elite schools” conducted in 1996 by a team led by V. Milenkova.

(9)

“Th e names of good teachers can be long enumerated, both in language high schools and in comprehensive ones. However, the authors of school books and other didactic facilities are mostly teachers from language high schools” (a Bulgar-ian language expert).

Th e quoted opinions, completed with quantitative data which show that teach-ers from language high schools devote twice as much time aft er school on their work in comparison to teachers from other high schools, and that they have high-er formal qualifi cations, support the thesis about high professionalism of the ped-agogical staff of language high schools. It should be added here that a considerable majority of teachers from language high schools are willing to write and review school books – 60% from ELS, 60% form GLS, 70% from FLS; in comprehensive high schools it is less than a half – 40–50% in HS No. 81, and 30% in HS No. 40.

Teachers from language high schools are clearly more satisfi ed with their work in comparison to their colleagues from other schools20. Taking the above into con-sideration, teachers from language high schools claim that if they could, they would choose the profession of a teacher again21; here are some examples:

“I like my job. I think the children are good and ambitious. I’ve worked in this school for years and I believe it should defi nitely be called an elite school” (a teach-er from ELS).

“although my work experience as a teacher is relatively long, I’ve come here relatively recently so I’m able to compare. Th e diff erence is enormous. Th ere is no absence here, everyone is motivated, ambitious, everyone learns. It cannot be put aside an average comprehensive school, there it is a burden to go to school, not to mention having ambitions to study. I think that a teacher can see the results of his work when he works with wise children” (a teacher from GLS).

Th e high professionalism of teachers from language high schools is a conse-quence of specifi c requirements of the privileged part of society. Th erefore, the high qualifi cations of the above mentioned teachers are not something natural, but they result from a specifi c “social demand”.

20 Not at all satisfi ed: none language schools – 9.5%, language schools 0%; rather unsatisfi ed: none language schools – 38.1%, language schools – 19.2%; quite satisfi ed: none language schools – 42.9%, language ones – 61.5%; fully satisfi ed: none language schools – 9.5%, language ones – 19.2%.

21 “I would become a teacher again”: none language schools – 40%, language ones – 7.1%; “I wo-uld look for a diff erent job”: none language schools – 50%, language ones – 32.1%.

(10)

Th us:

• Language high schools are to a much bigger extent identifi ed with centres of strengthening meritocratic standards than comprehensive high schools. Th e standards are sustained due to the requirements for the teachers and students. Obviously, these schools should not be idealised. However, according to ex-perts from the inspectorate and to the surveyed teachers, on the background of the generally falling level of education, language high schools witness a considerably lower devaluation of education and marks.

• Th e label “an elite school” fi ts all the elements of school environment – qualifi ca-tions of teachers, level of teaching, student abilities and ambition. It is diffi cult to clearly defi ne here what is the reason and what is the result, since the youth with an extensive potential requires high qualifi cations from their teachers, who in turn, due to their professionalism, can stimulate their ambitious students. It should be remembered that a dominant and not accidental place in the space of an elite school belongs to the selection that appears at the entrance, in the proc-ess of education and at the end of education. It is organically connected with the idea of a capital. An “elite” is a term suitable for groups that are privileged in rela-tion to the rest of society, and the key to this advantage is this economic and cul-tural capital. Th us, elites – selection – capital create a chain of relations that defi nes their dependence on one another, transition and determination.

5. Meaning of cultural capital

Cultural capital acquired in a family house by students of elite schools constitutes a specifi c attribute and a natural prerequisite of admitting a young person into an exclusive school and of his or her educational achievements. Cultural capital guar-antees continuous movement forward in gaining a privileged social position by its owner. Th e real cultural and social variety of individual families transform in the process of education into objective discrepancies, which are revealed in the kind of education, and in school achievements.

Th e aforementioned cultural capital of a family will be shown by the character-istic of children studying in language schools. Th e data were acquired in the proc-ess of an unrepresentative survey of 60 students from various groups from the I ELS and GLS (30 people from each school), conducted in March 2006.

Th e cultural capital is comprised of three elements:

1) individual education (educational capital), which makes it possible to ac-cumulate specifi c cultural tastes;

(11)

2) family background, which shapes the tastes, here the transition from parents to children takes place.

3) tastes and life styles.

Tastes and lifestyles22 can be manifested in many ways: the choice of clothes, a car, fi lms, books, food, etc. let us choose a few to show the characteristic depend-encies between education and cultural education on the one side, and economic and educational capital on the other, as the fundamental rules that structure social space.

Cultural capital in the aforementioned survey was described by the use of the following categories23:

• education and profession of parents (additional indicator: how do they make their living);

• material space of life/home – furniture, RTV, kitchen utensils, clothes, con-sumption;

• involvement in culture, tastes and cultural habits; • health care.

Operationalisation of the above categories:

− Material equipment of home: an apartment/house, a television (colour), a washing machine, heating, a cooker, a video (DVD), an MP3, a computer, a car (number of).

− Consumption:consumption of meat, fruit, vegetables, fl our products. − Involvement in culture: books (the number of volumes in a family library),

readership; most oft en watched TV shows, channels, transmissions; the number of visits in the cinema per month; the number of holidays per year, summer holiday, the number of trips per year, total number of trips abroad.

− Health care: a very important indicator of parents’ status.

Apart from that, the number of family members will be taken into considera-tion.

Th e questionnaire is divided into three parts:

• the fi rst one includes information about families, material environment, place of living, home equipment, clothes, books;

22 P. Bourdieu, Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste, Cambridge 1984. 23 A. Sulivan, Cultural Capital and Educational Attainment, “Sociology” 2001, vol. 35 (4), pp. 893– –912.

(12)

• the second one refers to parents: education profession, interests, tastes, cul-tural preferences, involvement in culture;

• the third one refers only to children: interests, leisure time, favourite places to play and for entertainment, cultural preferences.

Th e respondents – students at the age of 15 to 19 years, 36 girls and 24 boys

from two language high schools (I ELS, GLS).

Families – usually consisting of three people (46.6%) and four people (50%),

3.33% of students live with only one parent.

Education (of fathers) – 93.3% of parents has got higher education, 5% - second-ary education.

Material life space – home equipment:

All the respondents claim that their families live in their own apartments, half of them owns houses.

All the respondents claim that their families own: a TV set (more than one), a washing machine, a cooker, a microwave, a VCR (DVD), a car: 46.6% of families owns two cars, an MP3, all the respondents have got a computer and access to the Internet.

Consumption: the respondents claim that in their homes various kinds of food are eaten (meat, vegetables, fruit, fl our products), but it was diffi cult for them to specify how many times per week and what kind of food is eaten.

Clothes: over a half of the respondents (53.3%) claims that they buy almost exclusively brand name clothes; for 30% of them it does not make any diff erence where they buy clothes, it is important that they are fashionable.

Cultural involvement: books, TV, the cinema, the theatre, exhibitions, concerts, the opera, holidays, summer holiday, trips, and trips abroad;

Books:

25% of the respondents has got at home over 100 books;

58,3% of the respondents has got at home from 100 to 150 books; 16,7% of the respondents has got at home over 150 books.

Th e respondents claim that they do not have time to read literature (apart from school set books), which is characteristic for modern youth. Th ey prefer the Inter-net as a source of information and “Skype” as a tool of keeping in touch with their peers. According to the surveyed students, their parents most oft en read newspa-pers.

TV programmes and channels:

Musical programmes and channels are the most popular (83.3%), then sports ones (48.3%), and fi lm ones (51.7%). However, the respondents prefer to spend their time at a computer and the Internet or with friends at home parties or in clubs

(13)

(the eighteen and nineteen-year-olds). Parents (according to their children) are predominantly interested in political and publicist programmes, fi lms and series, they sometimes watch also sports.

Th e cinema:

It is more popular than the theatre (38.3%), 80% of the respondents go to con-certs, the least numbers go to the opera (16.7%) and to exhibitions (20%), and they do so usually as a part of their school curriculum; individually the respondents prefer youth clubs.

Whereas parents go to the cinema 55%), to the theatre (40%), to concerts (35%), they spend their leisure time usually with family and friends (58.3%).

Holidays, summer holiday:

Students prefer winter and summer camps organised by schools (58.3%); 33.3% spend summer holiday with their family.

Travels and trips abroad:

All the respondents have already been abroad: once (36.7%); twice (33.3%), more than twice (29.9%). the trips were organised by parents or school.

Health care: all the respondents have a family doctor.

Generalising the above data, it must be stated that families of the students of elite schools (I ELS, GLS) have a very high, in comparison with the rest of Bulgar-ian society, standard of living.

Th e cinema is preferred here; a computer as a source of information about cul-ture; contact with literature is restricted to school set books; students turn to books of their own will much less frequently. If the youth buy literature, it is also con-nected with their education, whereas they buy coloured youth magazines more oft en and more willingly.

Both among children and their parents, such entertainment as concerts and exhibitions are less popular. It can be assumed that the youth acquire the cultural habits of their care-takers, thus shaping the basis for their own development, which they perceive and defi ne as independent of their parents. Th e respondents intend not to copy the life styles, views and values of their parents – it is , though, an eff ect of the adolescence period, of youth rebellion. It is illustrated if only by the fact that the surveyed students consider good standard of living as something natural – a computer, the Internet, travelling abroad, good clothes are not something excep-tional to their minds. It should be noticed that most of cultural entertainments can be realised due to a good fi nancial situation, which constitutes the basis of the dif-ferentiation of tastes. Parents’ cultural capital moves onto their descendants as indicator of the social status, an invaluable resource. It is the basis of the creation of individual development.

(14)

It is worth emphasising that the involvement in culture of the respondents is realised mainly among their peers. Th ey predominantly choose the company of friends from school, or even from their classes. It confi rms the thesis of P.Bourdieu on the controlled homogenisation of society and on directing towards contacts in the limits of this sphere. Th erefore, the cultural capital of parents has an indirect infl uence here, and it is not thoroughly reproduced. Th e presence of the care-takers in organising children’s leisure time is replaced by peer infl uence, which starts on the level of school interests and transfer to leisure time. Th e uniformity of a group and life styles constitutes one of the key features of elites.

6. Life at school

A crucial importance for adjusting and copying the school environment and for adopting its rules lies in the forms of community life, which shape the commonly shared standards and the feeling of community, of belonging to a certain whole. As a result, the one and only culture is created, i.e. a collection of legal meanings and statements, of manners, the typical expressions from a school slang, the forms of jokes, the kinds of behaviour, the intonation, the models of engaging in relation-ships with other, most proper people24. Th e creation of solidarity among students, emphasis on general harmony, and socialisation of particular habits constitutes a continuous process that takes a few years.

Life at school is directed at lowering tempers, and encouraging individuals to cooperation. In building the collective consciousness of a particular group, an individual is supposed to subordinate to the group and to identify with it. Th is socialisation is connected with a system of mental schemes and with the adopted style of life, which are the elements that should determine all actions of students. Generally, the most important task of elite schools is to conduct a socialisation that is resistant to other, external infl uences.

Selection is aimed at creating one homogeneous, and the main task of parents is to provide the necessary economic capital for their children and to secure for them proper conditions to keep and reproduce it, create the basis due to which their off spring will be able to meet similar peers. School is concentrated on the creation of social individuals who consult and recognise the limits, which place them inside or outside a community. Due to selection, the uniqueness of students is emphasised and their separation is legitimised. As a result, society is divided

(15)

into internal, homogeneous, yet distanced and varied classes. In spite of consider-able competition, there simultaneously appears a strong solidarity, a sense of com-munity, among the students of elite schools.

Moreover, there is also the need to create a kind of a new community whose members become carriers of the symbolic capital of the group. Admittance to an elite school requires a specifi c preparation, which is achieved due to proper so-cialisation – one which forms specifi c habits, sharing specifi c rules and traditions common to all students. Th is introductory adaptation develops also emotional and cognitive competences, since from the very beginning of work with “the freshmen” their image of themselves and their peers is changed.

As a consequence of this specifi c rite of passage, the commonly shared stand-ards, identity, and distance towards people that do not belong to this group, even peers, are imposed on students. It results from the fact that familiarising young adepts with the tradition of the community constitutes a long and slow process, it requires adjusting to the existent hierarchy, to the authorities, rigid norms and values created for years, decades, or even centuries.

Th e fi nal eff ect of this process is identifi cation with the school, with the rules that abide in the school. Strict obedience to the order is a part of every day rhythm of work, which is sustained by teachers, students and administration. Without it, an elite school would lose a part of its cultural specifi city, its glamour, the con-sciousness of its uniqueness. Th e strength of relationships, sense of student and graduate community, would also weaken. Th e cultural specifi city of an elite school constructs the belief in access to some knowledge which is beyond the reach of people from outside. Resultantly, an agreement is created, which is necessary to build self consciousness, future identity, and help among the graduates.

Th is consensus supports the process of “closing” social borders. Education, both formally and informally are aimed here at creating specifi c subculture, whose members are endowed with success emblems. It is exceptionally important, since it shows the formation, the deliberate creation of elites. Selecting the ones that best fulfi l the requirements of this uniqueness, school additionally strengthens the high self-esteem of its chosen ones. Training in elite schools aims at acquiring by stu-dents a specifi c symbolic capital. Symbolic forms provide a direct context of so-cialisation, of strengthening the identity of an individual.

Th is hidden action is realised due to a specifi c status, which results from the attachment to a particular place and position25. Just as a specifi c continuation of 25 P. Bourdieu, P. Chapman, Les exclus de l’interieur, “Actes de la recherche en sciences so-cials”1992, no. 91–92, pp. 71–75.

(16)

an individual and social dimension is shaped, similarly the agreement between the system of values and norms and the existent internal order in a group is created. Th is model is one of the possible ways of introducing mechanisms through which a school tempts a student to accept the rules of this place, shapes conformist atti-tudes towards school requirements, by realisation of which it strengthens the exist-ent structures.

Th erefore, in most cases, students aspire to apply to a system which forms such dispositions that are the most similar to the ones they learned at home. We can claim, then, that successful socialisation in elite schools is connected with the fact of transformation of the individuals that come there according to the expectations of the school. All typical school activities – exams, rewards, high marks, gratifi ca-tions for various achievements – strengthen the prestige of a school, which due to these mechanisms raises the value of its education and so the circle closes.

Taking the above into consideration, it is also worth mentioning what is the staff policy of language high schools’ headmasters, who try to employ their former graduates as teachers. During a conversation with the researcher, the headmaster of the I ELS admitted that it is very important for her, since former students of this school as teachers can use this one of a kind experience which is compatible with the ideas of the school, and which other teachers lack. Moreover, to her mind, the institutional atmosphere of a language high school strengthens the traditions, val-ues, which the youth is taught, and the teachers that used to study there are very active in fulfi lling this mission.

Th e whole process of education in elite schools is directed not only at shaping individuals that can adjust to the rules and conditions abiding in a school, but at forming dispositions that make it possible for individuals to engage into social processes to which they belong, or should belong. Th e set of rules, knowledge, orientations, attitudes, language patterns of the members of the educational ac-tivities – the results of school socialisation – is refl ected in specifi c situations and behaviour.

To conclude, we have analysed here the features of elite schools, which are con-nected with the background of the students, and the professional and economic profi le of their families. Th ese characteristics, assuming specifi c high social values, constitute an inevitable basis of the functioning of these schools, which in turn are noticeable for they selectiveness, professionalism of teachers and competitiveness among students.

Elite schools provide an answer to the social demand of creating and socialising future elites. Th ey also make it possible for children to inherit at least some of the elements of their parents’ status, which is especially visible in the fact that 61% of

(17)

parents of the respondents have also graduated from language high schools. Th ere-fore, this type of high school perfectly meets the expectations and aspirations of the families that send their off spring there.

Taking the above into consideration, we have studied the cultural capital, which is comprised, among others, of the education and profession of parents, cultural activeness, life styles, tastes of both the whole family and the youth, as well. Result-antly, it appears that the students of language high schools have similar cultural preferences, they spend their leisure time in a similar way. In the years spent at school, their community turns more homogeneous and unifi ed. Consequently, when creating a new community, elite schools must secure for their students not only a specifi c high level and kind of knowledge, but proper conditions for the creation of friendships, as well.

Th e conducted analyses show another important conclusion: education in elute schools is a process that connects “reproduction” and “meritocracy”. In the schools that interest us, in the process of reproduction social mobility is also possible, yet of course it refers only to the young people who managed to be admitted to such a school, thus probably at the very beginning of their education they were sup-ported by a high social status. Th e idea of connecting the two, seemingly contradic-tory concepts, raises the value of individual achievements and encourages compe-tition.

Elite schools are an example of integrating the model of “reproduction” and “meritocracy”. It is only possible when assuming that the concept of “competitive mobility” is realised here. For this reason, the assumption that school achievement is dependent on social background of students is not undermined here. Reproduc-tion is a part of educaReproduc-tional selecReproduc-tion. CompetiReproduc-tion, on the other hand, is consid-ered a positive phenomenon if it functions as a mechanism of copying social status. Th erefore, mobility is possible, yet mainly within the limits of an elite. It is worth researching deeper into the phenomenon of coexistence and mutual strengthening of two, theoretically contradictory, phenomena.

Translation from Bulgarian: Magdalena Dybaś

B I B L I O G R A P H Y :

Atanasov, Ž., Istoria na blgarskoto obrazovanie, Sofi â 1977.

Baird L.L., Th e Elite Schools: a Profi le of Prestigious Independent Schools, Heath Lexington

(18)

Bourdieu P., Sport and Social Class, “Social Science Information” 1978, no. 17.

Bourdieu P., Boltansky L., Changes in Social Structure and Changes in the Demand for

Edu-cation, ”Information sur les Sciences Sociales” 1979, no. 12.

Bourdieu P., Questions de sociologie, Editions de Minuit 1980.

Bourdieu P., Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste, Cambridge: Harvard University Press 1984.

Bourdieu P., Th e Forms of Capital, “Handbook of Th eory and Research for the Sociology of Education”, ed. J.G. Richardson, New York 1986.

Bourdieu P., La Noblesse d’etat, Editions de Minuit 1989.

Bourdieu P., Chapman P., Les exclus de l’interieur, “Actes de la recherche en sciences socials”, Editions de Minuit 1992, no. 91–92.

Boâdžieva N., Častno učiliŝe prez pogleda na učitelite i roditelite, “Strategii na obrazovatel-nata i naučobrazovatel-nata politika” 2003, no. 2.

Egorov O.G., Opit sozdania elitarnoj školu v Podmoskovie, “Pedagogika” 2004, no. 2. Hopper E.I., A Typology for the Classifi cation of Educational Systems, “Sociology” 1968, vol.

2.

Lareau A., Weininger E.B., Cultural Capital in Educational Research: a Critical Assessment, “Th eory and Society” 2003, no. 32.

Persistent Inequality: Changing Educational Attainment in Th irteen Countries, Y. Shavit,

H.P. Blossfeld (ed.), Westview Press 1993.

Sulivan A., Cultural Capital and Educational Attainment, “Sociology” 2001, vol. 35 (4). Vankov N., Istoria na učebno delo v Blgaria, Vraca 1921.

SUMMARY

Th e focus of the article is placed on the functioning of elite schools in Bulgaria. Elite schools raise interest, which is intensifi ed by such phenomena as high competition at “the entry”, specifi c subcultures of pupils and their social background. Th ese features are con-nected with the social idea of individual position stratifi cation which has grounds in so-cialization and selective mechanisms at school. Th e article is a presentation of data obtained through the research conducted in 2005 in four elite language high schools in Sofi a. What has been analysed are the characteristics of elite schools connected with background of pupils, and occupational and economic profi le of their families. Th ese characteristics, as-suming certain high social values, constitute the basis for the functioning of the discussed institutions, which distinguish themselves by selectiveness, teachers’ professionalism and competitiveness among pupils. Th e aim is to indicate the process of integrating the ‘repro-duction’ and ‘meritocracy’ models within the functioning of an elite school.

Cytaty

Powiązane dokumenty

Wobec takiego stanu autografu w kilku przypadkach ustalenie redakcji ostatecznej jest zupełnie niemożliwe (np. przy wierszu Za wstąp dolna część kartki

Ustalono plan dalszych badań kompleksowych w 1969 roku oraz prao konserwatorskich przy zabezpleozenlu oraz udostępnie­ niu zwiedzająoym odsłoniętych fragmentów podziemi

Ratownicze badania wykopaliskowe, przeprowadzone we wrześniu przez mgr.. Mirosława Fudzińskiego (Muzeum Archeologiczne

Przedmiotem jej będzie analiza stosunków i okoliczno­ ści, które p rzyczyn iły się do każdorazowego powodzenia tej lub owej k siążk i... ty sty c

Wnioski te wzmacniają deklaracje przedstawicieli samorządu na poziomie województwa (Urzędu Marszałkowskiego, Regionalnego Ośrodka Polityki Spo- łecznej, Wojewódzkiego Urzędu

In this article, three plays are dis- cussed: Le Temps est un songe, Les Ratés, and Le Lâche, in which the French playwright diagnosed cases of melancholia by describing the

•  texting addiction is characterized by using the device mainly for texting, feeling the constant need to receive and send text messages — accord- ing to a survey conducted in

Szacowanie zasobów węgla brunatnego złoża Cybinka W złożu Cybinka rozpoznano dwa pokłady węgla bru- natnego, przy czym pokład górny jest dokładniej rozpoznany.. Zróżnicowany