We like to think of education as the great leveler of society. Like a great bricklayer’s trowel leveling privilege and knocking us to rest equally in our efforts next to each other. It doesn’t matter if we are rich or poor or where our parents were born. As long as you get good grades, you should be able to enter the university that is suitable for you.
After all, CAO points do not discriminate. They don’t check the applicant’s mother’s LinkedIn to see if they went to school together. CAO points are trying to get planning approval for a back extension so they are not trying to confirm if there is a local TD in the family.
That’s the beauty of higher education. If you’re smart, you’ll get into university. If you do well in college, job offers will start raining down on you. Your level of success is determined only by how hard you work.
That’s what I believed anyway when I went to the University of Sydney. I was accepted into the university that parents want to say their child was accepted into. It had all the impressive ingredients needed for a top-notch university. These are old-fashioned stone buildings that surround a rectangle where TV shows and movies have been filmed. It all had a Harry Potter touch. The objects had Latin written on them. It has produced many prime ministers, Nobel Prize winners, and bishops. I was expecting a Cinderella story of a suburban pumpkin transforming into a pencil-skirt-wearing office worker. At that stage I didn’t really have any lofty goals for myself other than to stop wearing name tags and going to work.
I met new friends, read books and talked about them. While wearing a black turtleneck sweater. How sophisticated! However, once we got there, we realized that most of the people already knew each other. It appears that almost all grades of the elite private school attended.
(University dropout rate rises amid concerns about student mental health)Opens in new window
They had spent years in and out of each other’s homes, pools, and soccer teams, so they already felt very at ease. They were friendly enough but spoke different languages. They were discussing which internships they were going to take and which classes they were going to take because their professors had ties to certain companies. They worked three jobs and never fell asleep during lectures.
I still believe that hard work is the key to success, but I’m old enough to know that there are social and cultural advantages that not everyone has.
I naively thought that once I was “good enough,” I would be recommended for an internship and a man would come to my desk and say, “I’m good enough.” For the chance of your dreams. ”A kind classmate told me that my father was offering me the internship I most wanted (working for free at a magazine, probably organizing the hand lotion cupboard). That was the trigger. I looked at him like he was selling magic beans. Would someone give you a job based on a personal connection rather than based on your application?
At this point, I had spent 20 years of my life not knowing about networking, and even if I had, it wouldn’t have helped me. Who was in my network? The only special treatment I received was from a friend’s father who owned a local late-night kebab stand and gave me free chips. But not only did these children have access to people who could shape their future, they had no problem asking them for help. They knew it was an essential part of life, like brushing your teeth.
(How to create a budget for school education opens in a new window)
I still believe that hard work is the key to success, but I’m old enough now to understand that there are social and cultural advantages that not everyone has. Education can still be a great equalizer, but only if we acknowledge the disparities in privilege.
“Best in the Family” students, as their name suggests, are the first in their families to pursue higher education and are often more likely to drop out. Research shows that they struggle not only with the financial burden of continuing their education, but also with the transitions that come with it. Since you’re the only person you know who is pursuing a degree, it can be isolating to try to find your way without anyone to guide you. You don’t know which subjects to choose, which scholarships to apply for, or how to ask for help when you need it.
The only person I knew who went to university was a teacher at school. I was fortunate enough to be able to transfer to a university that had a First in Family program. There were teachers who offered me scholarships and jobs, and who turned a blind eye when I had to work odd overtime hours.
It was help and understanding, not grades or fancy colleges, that led me to a career I love.
