Most schools are at pains to stress their involvement with local communities, and in truth, many do work closely with parents and local charities to simultaneously educated local children and build ‘stronger communities’.
However, at the end of the day, the education system assess and grades students on the results they achieve as individuals - it doesn’t matter how community-oriented a child is during her time at school, this kind of activity will be a qualitative footnote to their individual academic qualifications, and from what I can see, by the time they reach me at 16 years of age, the education system has done a pretty good job of educating the vast majority of students into the fact that ‘individually I rise’, ‘in community I fall’.
At root, the instilling of this attitude in students lies in the competitive (‘marketised’) education system - you basically have to do better than the bottom ~ 40% of your subject-cohort if you want a C grade, and better than ~ 90% of them if you want an A-grade. This varies by subject, of course, but whatever the subject the message is clear: your classmates may be your (temporary) ‘friends’, but in terms of your life-chances, they’re probably better regarded as your rivals.
One other thing the education system does alongside this ‘individualisation’ is ‘responsibilisation’ - it is made very clear to students that it is their responsibility to get their grades and complete their university application forms… it doesn’t matter what barriers to learning you may face from coming from a poor background with uneducated parents, or what issues you might be having during the month of the exams, at the end of day, we might ‘support you’, but those results, are down to you…. And you can in no way blame either social disadvantage or privilege for your failure or success.
Of course in reality, your chances of succeeding in education are boosted massively if you come from a wealthy background, and having ‘cultural capital’ and going to a private school with the best resources gives you a massive boost, and vice versa - but thanks to the individualised and responsibilised ideology of the modern education system, this simple fact is hidden from most students and rich kids end up thinking they’re string of As and Bs are because their clever individuals, while poor kids think their Cs and Ds are because their just a little bit stupider, or at least that they can’t use their poverty as an excuse, because that doesn’t fit with the educational achievement discourse of our times…
The solution..... ?
For me and all other teachers: quit teaching and stop perpetuating this mess
For students: realise your success is influenced heavily by your background. If you’ve messed up your A-levels and want to carry on doing academic studies, take a year or two out and have a look at access to university courses, or just do independent study and find a way to make money online.
Image source
http://criminoblogue.com/individualisation-du-systeme-judiciaire-considerons-lhumain/