Out of Class Experiences in Prep Schools: An Ethnographic Look at Educational Inequity, Nonprofit Intervention and Palliative Change

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Document

In this thesis, I complicate the notion that education is an accessible and liberating force that equally propels us towards success and the American Dream. The research is based on fieldwork conducted at the educational nonprofit Prep for Prep - which assists underrepresented students in attending elite secondary education schools. I consider the various strategies that Prep uses to resocialize and expose their students to white middle class habitus prior to entering elite educational institutions and reveal how these spaces- designed for the power and comfort of white, wealthy students- remain exclusionary and marginalize students of color. Still, while recognizing the benefits of this program, I argue that Prep's processes only serve to reinforce hegemonic values of whiteness and wealth that exist within and outside of the halls of such institutions. I conclude with analysis of the inherent contradictions of the social-service nonprofit. Indeed, Prep for Prep, with its emphasis on personal achievement rather than structurally challenging the root causes of educational inequity, operates within a neoliberal system that paradoxically recreates itself.

    Item Description
    Name(s)
    Date
    April 15, 2016
    Extent
    129 pages
    Language
    eng
    Genre
    Physical Form
    electronic
    Discipline
    Rights and Use
    In Copyright – Non-Commercial Use Permitted
    Digital Collection
    PID
    ir:223