The quote "...our immersion in particular cultures...shape how we and feel about the world, how we behave within it, and the range of choices we have to operate with" (Wadham, Pudsey and Boyd, 2007, p.3) made me realise that much of my decisions I have made since the beginning of my high school years were shaped by the culture within my Catholic school. My personal experiences of culture and identity in relation to education mostly come from my high school days.I went to an all-girls Catholic high school in western Sydney where the ‘values’ that were established since 1889 are still being recognised with great importance. Some of the values included were excellence, justice, dignity, mercy and compassion, which were entrenched into our everyday schooling life. For example, my school always participated in any fundraisers that were available or created their own fundraisers to help the disadvantaged and marginalised people in our society. Everyone in our school community did their best to contribute to these fundraisers and we were praised of our efforts always whether it was a small or significant contribution. However, it also demonstrates the ‘competitive culture’ within my school as we would mostly interpret any event as a competition.
The competitiveness of my school was seen within the sports, co-curricular and academic domains. First place in whatever our school was involved in is what we aimed to achieve. In particular, our academic position and sports were fields that displayed our competitive side. When we did place first in a sport where we had versed other schools or first for debating, it was always high acknowledge at our school assemblies. Although not everyone in our school participated in the sport, debating or in either, we felt as a school community a sense of pride and achievement. Competition within my school always had its advantages, but also disadvantages. One of the main disadvantages that I noticed was the competition each student felt between each other. This was especially heightened during our Higher School Certificate (HSC) year. Throughout my preliminary HSC and HSC years many girls started to become more competitive in their studies and found themselves comparing with their friends other girls. I especially found myself doing this too. It was always a race to be ranked first in an assessment, class or subject. But, as HSC progressed the competitiveness between us girls lowered as we accepted those who were always ranked first did deserve it due to their hard work. I recognised that some recess or lunch breaks most of the grade found ourselves admiring the people who had the ‘brains’ but, time for themselves too. It was a shift from being competitive with each other to now admiring and trying to be similar to some of the girls who were considered ‘naturally smart’ and had great time to socialise.
Our school uniform and blazers which had the school symbol and motto changed us into a different person what we call a ‘Mercy Girl’. Our unofficial school motto that circulated around the school for many years is: “Once a Mercy Girl is always a Mercy Girl”. Although it sounds cheesy it did have significant meaning to us. Besides our school emblem, the school uniform was an everyday symbol representing us a Mercy Girl. It created a sense of unity that our school was very proud and encouraged us to achieve. It gave us a sense of belonging where we would attend school knowing that the girls from year 7 to year 12 and the teachers shared common beliefs and values. Supporting one another, whether we did or didn’t have a close relationship with the girl, was one of the many things my school community had in common. We were very communal and with that became very comfortable with one another.
Although the Mercy Girl sounds like a kind, warm-hearted, ‘good girl’ persona, it does have characteristics that you would not imagine being associated with it. From what I have heard in my high school years from other students from other high schools, they viewed my school as a very ‘posh’ school where every girl was considered as a ‘snob’. One time I had to catch the bus home which is the second type of public transport I would use to get home from school, I bumped into some of my primary friends and asked me “Wow, why does the princess have to use the bus?”. My school I attended definitely changed the way I was perceived. I did not mind catching the bus or any type of public transport but, friends who knew me and attended different schools recognised me as a different person. Although this does not bother me at all, I can definitely see how the high school I went to also affected my identity and I believe in a positive way.
To end with a quote concerning culture and identity by Wadham, Pudsey and Boyd (2007): "In short, culture shapes much of our lives and decision-making.".
REFERENCE:
Wadham, B, Pudsey, J and Boyd, R 2007, Culture and Education, Pearson Education Australia, Frenches Forest.
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