Page 34 - Igor Ž. Žagar in Ana Mlekuž, ur. Raziskovanje v vzgoji in izobraževanju: mednarodni vidiki vzgoje in izobraževanja. Ljubljana: Pedagoški inštitut, 2020. Digitalna knjižnica, Dissertationes 38
P. 34
r aziskovanje v vzgoji in izobr aževanju: mednarodni vidki vzgoje in izobr aževanja
The paper starts with a case study of media coverage following the
President of Croatia’s daughter gaining a place to study as an undergraduate
at Harvard University. The next section looks historically at studies of edu-
cation and mobility in socialist Yugoslavia. Section three turns to an over-
view of research on educational inequality in the post-Yugoslav space, sur-
veying a literature that leaves us with more questions than answers. I then
focus on my own research on child poverty and household coping strate-
gies in Croatia before ending with some thoughts on whether another edu-
cation - education otherwise - is possible, one that is not only or primarily
about neoliberal skills or nationalist values, but which promotes equal op-
portunities, social mobility and social inclusion, borrowing, in particular,
from the work of Pierre Bourdieu and Paolo Freire.
The case of the president’s daughter
For three days in May 2019, the Croatian public became obsessed with the
issue of education and mobility, following the acceptance of the daughter
of President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović for a fully funded place as an un-
dergraduate at Harvard University. Once the media frenzy had died down,
the debate on education and social mobility returned to normal; that is to
say, it ceased to exist. Revisiting the media frenzy for the purposes of this
paper, I was struck by how limited it was. What unfolded was a rather bi-
nary opposition between those who felt that Katarina Kitarović had ob-
tained her place purely on merit, her mother proudly announcing she had
scored in the top 1% of her SATs, and had been offered places by all four
Ivy League colleges she had applied to; and those who felt that her accept-
ance was as much due to parental wealth, influence and connections/veze.
A side debate occurred about whether studying abroad was a betrayal of
Croatia or, as the Minister of Education Blaženka Divljak suggested, a good
thing, whilst warning that »Croatia must ensure the conditions for return-
ing and remaining for young educated people« (Trstenjak, 2019). The Pres-
ident’s own statement noted her daughter’s »wish to be free of the police
officers who follow her twenty-four hours a day« and then joined in the de-
bate, thus: »I have heard stories that she was accepted by Harvard because
I am the President of Croatia, which has nothing to do with the truth be-
cause, as you know, the American education system takes no account of
that.« (Vojković, 2019)
The commentator Goran Vojković, on Index.hr, the very portal which
carried many of the most critical articles, attacked the ‘sick and pathetic’
34
The paper starts with a case study of media coverage following the
President of Croatia’s daughter gaining a place to study as an undergraduate
at Harvard University. The next section looks historically at studies of edu-
cation and mobility in socialist Yugoslavia. Section three turns to an over-
view of research on educational inequality in the post-Yugoslav space, sur-
veying a literature that leaves us with more questions than answers. I then
focus on my own research on child poverty and household coping strate-
gies in Croatia before ending with some thoughts on whether another edu-
cation - education otherwise - is possible, one that is not only or primarily
about neoliberal skills or nationalist values, but which promotes equal op-
portunities, social mobility and social inclusion, borrowing, in particular,
from the work of Pierre Bourdieu and Paolo Freire.
The case of the president’s daughter
For three days in May 2019, the Croatian public became obsessed with the
issue of education and mobility, following the acceptance of the daughter
of President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović for a fully funded place as an un-
dergraduate at Harvard University. Once the media frenzy had died down,
the debate on education and social mobility returned to normal; that is to
say, it ceased to exist. Revisiting the media frenzy for the purposes of this
paper, I was struck by how limited it was. What unfolded was a rather bi-
nary opposition between those who felt that Katarina Kitarović had ob-
tained her place purely on merit, her mother proudly announcing she had
scored in the top 1% of her SATs, and had been offered places by all four
Ivy League colleges she had applied to; and those who felt that her accept-
ance was as much due to parental wealth, influence and connections/veze.
A side debate occurred about whether studying abroad was a betrayal of
Croatia or, as the Minister of Education Blaženka Divljak suggested, a good
thing, whilst warning that »Croatia must ensure the conditions for return-
ing and remaining for young educated people« (Trstenjak, 2019). The Pres-
ident’s own statement noted her daughter’s »wish to be free of the police
officers who follow her twenty-four hours a day« and then joined in the de-
bate, thus: »I have heard stories that she was accepted by Harvard because
I am the President of Croatia, which has nothing to do with the truth be-
cause, as you know, the American education system takes no account of
that.« (Vojković, 2019)
The commentator Goran Vojković, on Index.hr, the very portal which
carried many of the most critical articles, attacked the ‘sick and pathetic’
34
