I attended a Catholic, private, all girls school in Western Sydney. Being an Anglican student used to a co-ed public school therefore, I was in for quite a shock. Luckily for me however, I fell into a group that are still close friends now, three years after we have graduated. However, throughout high school it was known that you flit between groups of friends within classes and in the playground. Being an Australian student in a multicultural school, this allowed me to gain a certain understanding of other cultures, particularly Asian and Lebanese derivatives. Did this affect the establishment of my identity more than I imagined?
Let's refer to some theorists and authors who are better at analysing information that I am - Smith (2001:241) claims that the terms identity "refers to who people think they are, either individually or collectively." 'Individually or collectively' hmm... Does that mean that we are able to essentially define our identity by who we are in relation to a group? This certainly would mean then that schools establish a sense of identity. But in relation to what I mentioned before - girls in my school used to flit between and associate themselves with a wide range of cliques within my year. Thwaites, Davis and Mules (1994:214) claim that these differing social situations are actually called "social composites" which "comprises attitudes that will combine in different ratios according to the demans and pressures of the situation." In plain English, this means that any given social situation will bring forth different aspects of your identity, characterstics and attitudes. This is in fact called 'Role Playing' which involves a person fulfilling various positionss within a group, according to the unfolding situation (Thwaites, Davis and Mules 1994:214).
By staying in reference to this 'Role Playing' methodology, wouldn't this actually just confuse the student in the establishment of their own identity - both personal and culture? Not necessarily. A wide range of influences of someone's identity and culture may just expose them to different attributes that will compose their future identity. In my own personal experience, my schooling life saw the establishment of lasting friendships because we, as a collective, all grew together.
In my opinion, the educational institution and the affect that cliques have on identities is actually a negative impact. I found that the constant bitchiness and judgemental attitudes that were involved with an all girl private school, changed my behaviour and attitudes in a way that, now looking back, I wasn't happy with. Personally, the growth of identity came from graduating highschool and making something of my own - university, work and relationships are perhaps the greater impact on identity rather than a schooling institution. But I don't think our identity ever stops evolving. Sure, we 'role play' with different aspects depending on the social situation, but I think we are ever changing, and we will continue to grow and nuture our own sense of identity for the rest of our lives.
References:
Smith,
P. (2001). Cultural Theory: An
Introduction. Chapter Fourteen: ‘Postmodern and Poststructural Cultural
Theory.’ United Kingdom: Blackwell Publishing. Print. Accessed online at http://books.google.com.au/books?id=JFm8IAYu2gUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=what+is+culture&hl=en&sa=X&ei=-0olUpLfFoS1kAXUx4DgDA&ved=0CD8Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=identity&f=false
Thwaites,
T., Davis, L. & Mules, W. (1994). Tools
for Cultural Studies: An Introduction. Melbourne, Australia: MacMillan
Publishing. Print.
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