I had my first class with the seniors today. We’re going to be meeting once a week, to work on the college application process.
It seems like a normal group of high school students, your average mix of sweet kids and brats, earnest overachievers, disaffected slackers, jocks and social butterflies.
Except that, since this is one of the most expensive and prestigious private schools in Brazil, the student body is also incredibly wealthy and privileged.
The senior class includes: the daughter of a famous reggae singer, granddaughter of a former vice president, great-grandson of a world renowned camera manufacturer, and son of the family that essentially owns the state of Bahia.
Sometimes I get the feeling that many of the students (and their parents) see us teachers as just one or two notches on the totem pole above the maids who scrub their floors and iron their clothes.
The senior class of 18 is split about half and half between students who want to study in the U.S. or elsewhere abroad, and those who want to stay in Brazil.
For today’s meeting, everyone introduced themselves, and then we had a general q and a.
They wanted to know about deadlines, the SATs, what scores they needed to get into a good school.
Then the son of the Bahia magnate raised his hand.
Don’t you think, he said, if you are planning to live in Brazil eventually, maybe it would be better to stay here for college, because, for example, maybe you will sit next to the son of a minister or businessman in class, and if you go to school in the States, you don’t have this kind of opportunity?
I was kind of taken aback by the question, by its unabashed honesty, its guileless sense of entitlement, its savvy familiarity with how this society works.
Yes, that’s true, I acknowledged.
Now, I’m not going to pretend that the United States is some idyllic meritocracy, where the sons and daughters of taxi drivers and presidents sit side by side in the lecture halls of Harvard.
But it seems unlikely to me that in the U.S., personal and professional connections would play such a significant and explicit role a high school student’s future plans.
What do you think?
Brazilian royalty, ready for their college entrance exams
10 comments:
Oh, I don't know - I think that says more about class than nation. Perhaps, because the US has such a strong myth of meritocracy, the students would just keep such thoughts to themselves...
Thanks for your thoughts, Chris.
I agree that family and connections can play a large role in one's success in the U.S. as well (most obvious case in point, our last president).
But I think it would probably be seen as pretty gauche to be so explicitly well-versed in and accepting of the system's inequities, especially as a high schooler.
My dad went to Harvard and was from a working class family of Irish immigrants. So, on the one hand, you could argue that there is some truth to the U.S. meritocracy myth. Then again, I think he struggled a lot with insecurity while he was there and never really felt like he fit in. One reason I work at CUNY is because I really need to believe that some little grain of the American meritocracy narrative is true and that students who come from immigrant and/or working class families can work their way up the social ladder. We all know how hard that really is, though, especially when public universities are underfunded and students are saddled with ever-increasing tuition fees.
And, I will say that the worst teaching experience I ever had was with a Brazilian at the NYU language school where I taught for a summer. I know that it was just one individual case, but I still can't get that student and her astounding sense of entitlement fully out of my mind. I remember feeling like I was no better than a servant to this student, and it was no a pleasant experience! Not that a servant should be treated with disrespect either.
Thanks for adding your perspective, Ash. Very interesting. As cynical as I am about meritocracy in the U.S., and as terribly flawed as I think it is, maybe there is _some_ grain of truth to it (at least compared to in other places)?
I just listened to an episode of This American Life that addressed the issue in a really interesting way:
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=364
I would really like to connect with you. I am returning to Bahia in December and study education as well. I have a blog...but I don't really keep it up. I have to do some work right now, but wanted to touch base and will be in further contact soon....
Thanks for writing, Mae. Please do be in touch! Very interested to meet you!
I think the answer also depends on your chosen profession or field of study. If the student wants to be a lawyer or businessman, then studying in Brazil probably makes more sense. But if the student wants to study medicine or science, it would be a lot better to study abroad. I think both the training and the foreign connections would be much more useful.
Yup, a couple notches up from the maids, that's us.
sj: Good point. I think that makes sense, although I know with medicine at least there is an issue of being able to practice in Brazil if one is accredited in the U.S. But that is a different question.
Aku: Right?!
Hi,
I found your blog through Mark's blog and started to follow it as well. Your post was really interesting because you could accurately get the picture of how things work in Brazil. It's all about who you know, where you live and where you stand in the social pyramid. Social class prejudice is much stronger than skin color or nationality.
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