From: The Weight of the World by Bourdieu et al. 1993
The author interviewed three female students who experienced ‘sharp devaluation of their educational value’ (Broccolichi, 441) after they entered high school. Used to be the ‘good students’ from their junior high school, they attributed their falling grades to the ‘cold’ attitudes exhibited by the teachers whose help is not readily accessible and the drastic change in demand for school work compared with their junior high.
The author, provided a bigger social context for their situation: their school, Verlaine lycee, is one of the few high schools offering prestigious science track by ‘maintaining a demanding teaching level’ so as to achieve a competitive passing rate in science track to maintain its reputation and compete with other schools in the district to attract good students. By doing so, students from junior high school where the teaching standards were not as high, found themselves unable to catch up the demanding academic work, at the same time, losing the social connection of friends and teachers they used to enjoy in junior high. For those unable to meet the demand of the prestigious science track, they often left with no choice but to opt for the less demanding literature track with the feeling of being looked down constantly. Stress was paramount.
The change in policy to have more students attending high schools by the government has lowered the requirement for passing junior high schools and thus making more students who would not otherwise made it this far to enter into high schools. The adjustment required depends very much on the origin of junior high schools as junior high usually reflects the socioeconomic background of the neighborhood, a direct reflection of the social, economic capital one possess.
Education is believed by many as the way out of poverty, or the way to achieve social mobility. However, there seems to be inherent structural rigidity in every education system as the problem of how to allocate limited resources most strategically to achieve both social equality as well as having enough top-notch talents that can bring the nation forward and be competitive is an ever challenging one for the policy makers.
文章定位：
