By Brittney Brown, Mathematics and Science Faculty Member

Someone Has to Fail

Faculty-Submitted Note: This essay was to examine how St. Mark’s fits in with the trifecta of aims (social mobility, social efficiency, and democratic equality) that David Labaree described in his book “Someone Has to Fail”.

St. Mark’s, an elite private boarding school that proudly believes in their slogan “Intentionally Small, THINKING BIG,” claims to help students “develop a spirit of independence, innovation, and discovery” that prepares “them to lead lives of consequences” (St. Mark’s School, n.d.). For a school that was initially focused on the idea of social mobility, the expansion to include themes of democratic equality and social efficiency have not been implemented in the most beneficial way. When reading Labree’s Someone Has to Fail, the quote “the American system of education is highly accessible, radically unequal, organizationally fragmented, and instructionally mediocre” reminded me of St. Mark’s (Labaree, 2010). By attempting to encompass all the values of democratic equality, social mobility, and social efficiency, St. Mark’s appears to be subpar at all three. 

One of St. Mark’s biggest selling points is centered around the idea of community. Creating a community that allows for a range of different perspectives also ties into the goal of students “living lives of consequence,” or gaining the skills necessary to participate in communities outside of St. Mark’s. Democratic equality, defined by Labree, “sees education as a mechanism for producing capable citizens” (Labaree, 2010). With a focus on community and being open to different perspectives is key to St. Mark’s approach to democratic equality. There is ample opportunity for students to gather together given that we meet as a whole school every school day. We give opportunities for students to participate in global studies with the goal that they become global citizens or gain a global perspective. There are community and student centered gatherings, such as Gray Colloquium (a speaker series with a discussion theme each year), or Community and Equity student meetings (where different topics are discussed), that give students the opportunity to participate. These are opportunities, not requirements, so every student is embodying a different interpretation of what it means to be a capable citizen. Without these requirements, how effective is the claim that students will gain a global mindset?

One aspect that St. Mark’s does somewhat well, it’s providing opportunities for social mobility. Labree defines social mobility as “see[ing] education as a way for individuals to reinforce or improve their social position” (Labaree, 2010). The way I’ve interpreted this is that this aspect provides accolades to define students on a piece of paper for their next step, college. For example, students have the opportunity to apply for competitive leadership roles that vary in form level, but are integral to the community. Students in leadership seem to offer a lot of personal/emotional support to their peers. For example, student leaders, particularly underform leaders, are there to listen and help students through rough periods or help in student transition to boarding school. The highest form of student leadership are the Monitors. They seem to be a way to have students included in leadership positions without being able to make a lasting change on the school. Of course, there are some instances where this is not the case. In 2020 the monitors were able to successfully bring forth a student petition that St. Mark’s implemented. Change, whether it was the intended result or not, did occur. There are academic paths that lead to taking advanced courses such as STEM and History Fellowship courses or higher level math courses. However, these opportunities are only available for the students who are able to come in with the prerequisite credits. For students who can afford both the time and financial equipment to take these outside courses, this credential stands out since they were able to take advantage of the most difficult curriculum the school offered. The school provides different volunteer activities throughout the year, but only if the student can get into a Saturday class or Lion Term section that focuses on serving the community. Attending St. Mark’s means something to the outside world, enough to count as a credential for furthering one’s education. That’s why the students are here. They are able to get the accreditation of attending a private institution, and then collect other credentials to further their social pursuits. This is part of being a school that leans more towards being a private good: the school makes decisions based on the needs of the consumer. In this case, the consumer needs a multitude of resume worthy activities, which are not accessible to all students, to allow students to stand out from each other. 

The goal at SM is for students to get into college. It is not often that a student wishes to pursue a career that is more aligned with vocations. This means that the school is not preparing students to go straight into a career. Its role is to get students into college. Labree defines social efficiency as “see[ing] education as a mechanism for developing productive workers” (Labree 2010). By pushing career-focused education for later, the school is only providing a generic foundation for later learned skills to be placed upon. The education they receive at St. Mark’s is not meant to be the end. This makes sense: Why would someone pay tens of thousands of dollars to get an education to go into a vocational trade? This is not to say that these careers are inferior, but this kind of preparation is not required. This contributes to the private good aspect of St. Mark’s. Parents are paying for their child to get a diploma from St. Mark’s. This means that students are competing with each other to get into college, to the point where the college counseling office “becomes part of the marketing package” (Powell, 1999). St. Mark’s sells this aspect further by having three full-time college counselors who work with between ninety and one hundred ten students in each class. The school is dedicated to making sure students have access to higher education upon graduation. This perpetuates the cycle of needing the school to give credentials, thus stretching itself then to offer programming in order to have their students stand out. 

While the efforts of St. Mark’s to include all three aspects of Labaree’s trifecta of aims are impressive, the actual execution is subpar. There are high expectations, and currently there is a gap between reality and expectations. After listening to many student conversations that relate to the vast amount of programming that we offer, the true effect that the school desires is to resonate with students, and it feels insincere. Instead of trying everything at once, it may be beneficial to have an intense focus on one aspect to start the change to benefit all students. There is an important question to be asked to both the school and the consumers and reflected upon: Is it better to have a few deeply enriching programming and offerings, or a multitude of shallow programming and offerings? 

Brittney Brown is a first-year Farmer UPenn fellow working on her Master’s in Education from the University of Pennsylvania. Brittney is a Math fellow and teaches a section of Geometry.