To Go to the University is an Impossible Dream for Many

Today we went to visit two high schools in Rio de Janeiro to speak with students regarding their perspectives of affirmative action in education. The contrast was amazing, especially because we were comparing the reactions between students attending Prof. Antonia Maria School, a public institution and students attending Colegio Sao Vicente de Paulo, a private school.

A couple of contrasts that are worth mentioning off the bat include: At the public institution, the students were wearing uniforms (school t-shirts, jeans/pants, tennis shoes), the atmosphere at the school was hectic (lots of students/teachers in the hallways, moving around, hanging out), and in the classroom students were generally more outspoken (changing desks during class, conversing with each other, hooting and making jokes). At the private institution, students were able to dress in their own clothing, there was a gated entry and a doorman to let you in to the school (who also had to give you a badge to have access to the building), and the students were much more quiet and respectful when their classmates were speaking. Another major difference deals with motivation, particularly among the students planning on attending a university. At the public institution, while many of the students enjoyed the idea of going to college, for many it was more realistic to either start working immediately after they finished their schooling, or to go to a vocational-type school instead, where there wasn’t so much invested. Students at the private institution were much more career-oriented, they mentioned that they would like to go to the university to study engineering, law, systems analysis, and architecture. Additionally, the students in the private institution were much more versed in other languages, and at least three students were able to communicate with us in English (this was in a class of about 17).

Relaying these observations back to my project, which mainly focuses on current perspectives of discrimination and affirmative action, I got to thinking about the significance that such experiences and worldviews (essentially) play a role in how the students react to affirmative action policies. The students at the public institution either were not familiar with the policies (where they might have heard of such, they did not necessarily know how they worked and they [particularly interesting] hadn’t acknowledged that such policies might benefit them). At the private institution, the students had a much better understanding of the affirmative action policies in the universities, however, they had additionally already disassociated themselves with such because 1) they did not affect them and 2) they had developed notions that the policies were flawed as the real problem lay in poverty, not race and the “right” solution would be to better the quality of the public K-12 institutions so that they could compete by their own merits and not “take away slots” from meritoriously deserving students. Does any of this sound familiar? I think we all caught a little bit of deja vu this afternoon, but overall it got us all thinking.