The Making of an Adolescent Elite at St. Pauls School - Book Report/Review Example

The Making of an Adolescent Elite at St. Pauls School Shamus Khan wrote the book to highlight the developments at St. Paul’s school where he studied one decade before writing the text. The author begins by introducing his family, which lives in New Hampshire. According to Shamus’ description, his family is of middle class because both of his parents were farmers and he attended St. Paul’s schools as a minority student. The author argues that when he was in school in St. Paul’s, he used to sleep in the minority student’s dormitories. The minority students were considered to be the ones who came from less influential and less privileged families. During those times, Shamus and his fellow unprivileged students lacked freedom to socialize with the others from influential backgrounds. However, the author states that when he came back to St. Paul’s as a teacher, the situation in the school was better because he had the privilege of mingling with students from all backgrounds (Khan, 2010). This change reduced discrimination based on race and privilege while it increased the knowledge, equality, diversity, and inclusiveness in the institution. The major themes in the book include inequality, diversification, elitism, and social boundaries. The differentiation of students according to their backgrounds and professions when Khan was in school and when he was a teacher presents the theme of inequality in the book. For example, when Khan was a student in St. Paul’s, he was allocated to sleep in a minority dormitory that was less equipped than that of the elite students in the school (Khan, 2010). This means that Khan was less equal than his counterparts who were from first class families in the school. Elitism, on the other hand, is a theme that highlights superiority meaning that some objects or people are considered to be more superior to others. In the text, both the previous and the current generation of students in St. Paul’s are considered to be superior to their age mates who attend lower class schools. Shamus has also discussed the theme of social boundaries in Privilege. Social boundaries refer to the categorization of members of the society with whom to share ideas. The topic also deals with the behavior that a person possesses when socializing with certain members of the society. For example, the school teaches students how to observe table manners when eating so that they can belong to the elite group in the society. The school teaches students to avoid arrogance and observe etiquettes when eating and talking (Khan, 2010). This creates a social boundary because students only identify with their peers who have similar behavior. The less privileged who do not observe etiquettes find themselves together. The theme of diversification is observable because of the different groups of students who attend St. Paul’s School. The author argues that the school sponsors a third of its students by paying their school fees and other essential expenses. Khan also points out that more than half of the population of St. Paul’s students is made of women (Khan, 2010). The diversification of the students in the school leads to the need for class, social boundaries, and individual or group success. The author’s main argument is that although discrimination based on class has reduced in St. Paul’s school, the society is experiencing higher levels of inequality compared to when he was a student. Khan (2010) argues that inequality decreased in the school because the administration changed the meaning of the word privilege among students. In the past when Khan was a student, students who had privilege over others were those who slept in first class dormitories, paid higher school fees, and socialized only with their elite family friends. However, when the author taught in the school a decade later, the word privilege meant achievements and successes that are not based on inheritance. Khan (2010) argues that despite this change, inequality has increased because numerous members of the society cannot afford to acquire higher education. This is because of the high cost of learning in schools such as Harvard. The author has applied the theory of class distinction that was developed by Pierre Bordeau in the text. The theory of class distinction argues that various groups of people in the society teach their children how to maintain their status from when they are children until they become adults. These groups teach children how to behave, work, study, and socialize with others. Khan states that the students from elite families attend school at St. Paul’s so that they can maintain the standards of their societies. The author also argues that while the previous students aimed at acquiring privilege by gaining better services than their counterparts, the current ones believe in acquiring merits to retain the same (Khan, 2010). This indicates that the elite members of the society in the book use the theory of class distinction to identify and retain their status. The author wrote the book with a purpose of enlightening the society about how schools contribute to inequality. This is because Khan compares the inequality of students in the school between when he was a student and when he taught in the school. Khan (2010) argues that inequality in school leads to discrimination in the society because the few students who afford to study in elite colleges like St. Paul’s may drop out to avoid being biased by others. The author, therefore, persuades readers to avoid discrimination and educate others how they can avoid increasing the level of inequality in the society. This will then decrease the occurrences of poor people from becoming poorer while the rich gather more privileges. The author has used Aristotle’s tool of persuasion to write the text. For example, Khan argues that the African-American females were considered to represent the popular culture because of their race. The author persuades the reader to believe that female bodies were used only for sex especially if they belong to non-whites. Khan also persuades the reader that he slept in a low class dormitory while he was schooling in St. Paul’s when he states that he expected to be treated differently from others because of his color (Khan, 2010). Sharman has also used irony in delivering his message to the reader. For example, the author criticizes the sexual behavior of black females yet he states that the society viewed the bodies of black females to be sexual. The society also considered the female bodies to represent popular culture (Khan, 2010). This is a contradiction because the author praises the sexual bodies of black females at one point and condemns their sexual behavior at another point. This confuses readers of the book and it leaves them in suspense. The book has a major strength of using simple language that is easily understood by readers. The simple language enables the reader to understand major themes such as inequality, diversification, and social boundaries. The book may be understood by readers of various educational levels including high school, college, and university. The use of persuasion in the text enables the audience to read the book beginning from the first to the last chapter. This is because persuasion captures the attention of readers making them to study the whole text. The major weakness of Privilege is that it fails to associate the inequality in St. Paul’s to the inequality that is in the society. The author argues that students in the school aim at improving their merits so that they can attain an elite privilege. However, the book fails to point out that the merit that students acquired was also based on the racial structure in the institution. The black students would not acquire higher merits than the whites because they were the minority group in the school. The book also fails to discuss that the racial discrimination in the school originated from the inequality in the society. This is because discrimination originated from the society and spread to the school because the elite members of the community aimed at maintaining their superiority not only in jobs and at home, but also in school. The book enables the reader to understand various forms of discrimination that take place in elite schools such as St. Paul’s. The reader understands the negative effects of inequality in the school to the middle and low class members of the society. This understanding then enables readers to restrain from discriminating against their neighbors and fellow students in school. Readers who are students also understand the setting of St. Paul’s school and then make a decision whether to study in the institution or find another school (Khan, 2010). The book also enables other schools to understand how inequality exists in an institution and this helps them to fight against this stigma. This leads to equal education for both black and white students, which then leads to the development of the country. The author has succeeded in highlighting the inequality that exists in St. Paul’s school. These inequalities include the discrimination of black students such as Khan, which was evidenced by the existence of dormitories for the whites and blacks. The inequality is still evidenced by the societal view that black women were objects of sex and they represented popular culture. By comparing the current and previous inequalities in the school, Khan has succeeded in persuading the reader that inequality bears unfruitful results and it should be avoided. This is because according to his analysis, the author postulates that the inequality in the society has increased despite the effort of St. Paul’s of fighting against it. Reference Khan, S. H. (2010). Privilege: the making of an Adolescent Elite at St. Paul’s School. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. Read More