Page 35 - 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. 35
inequality, poverty and education in the post-yugoslav space
Croatian society for contributing to a climate where »verything can be for-
given except success«. Croatia should be proud, for Katarina’s success is
Croatia’s success, a success that costs the rest of us nothing and stands in
sharp contrast to other children of the rich and famous, who tend to have
their lives more often paraded in the crna kronika section of newspapers
(Vojković, 2019). Some news portals found others, from more humble back-
grounds, who had also been educated in Harvard, or Princeton, or Cam-
bridge, expounding what I like to term the Vlak u snijegu meets Thatch-
erism maxim of »you can do anything if you put your mind to it« (“sve se
može kad se hoće”) (Plivelić, 2019). There were even ‘how to help your child
get to Harvard’ guides framed in terms of a sea change because, to quote
one example, »it used to be thought that only the swotty kids of the rich
could enroll, but now anyone can« (ibid.). We also learnt that the daughter
of the former President of the Croatian Medical Chamber would be joining
Katarina at Harvard (Dnevno, 2019).
Perhaps the most serious treatment of the case came from Nenad Jarić
Dauenhauer (2019), also writing in Index.hr. He makes the link between
the individual case and the question »how can the wealth and power of
parents contribute to the academic success of their children?«. As the child
of a diplomat, Katarina was educated, mainly at the expense of the Croa-
tian taxpayer and, subsequently, NATO, in elite schools in Washington DC
and Brussels. When her mother became President, she did her final year
of schooling in the prestigious IB (International Baccalaureat) programme
(a programme in English with a widely recognized ‘modern curriculum’)
within the Mathematics High School in Zagreb, at a cost of some 3,000
Euro. Individual preparation for the SATs cost around 2,000 Euro and she
also received individual mentoring in mathematics and in creative writing,
the latter from a famous Croatian author, at an unknown cost.
Katarina was, clearly, appealing to Harvard, showing sporting prow-
ess (she had been Croatian junior skating champion in 2016), showing com-
passion beyond her years (she had, apparently, written a book of short sto-
ries to help those of her classmates who were having suicidal thoughts) and
had undoubtedly left a lasting impression on both faculty and students in
the interview and discussion process that many have argued is the least
transparent aspect of Harvard’s selection process. As he also pointed out,
30 % of Ivy League students have at least one parent who attended the same
university (Kolinda did not) and the average annual parental income of
Harvard students is some $ 170,000. Looked at in terms of income quin-
35
Croatian society for contributing to a climate where »verything can be for-
given except success«. Croatia should be proud, for Katarina’s success is
Croatia’s success, a success that costs the rest of us nothing and stands in
sharp contrast to other children of the rich and famous, who tend to have
their lives more often paraded in the crna kronika section of newspapers
(Vojković, 2019). Some news portals found others, from more humble back-
grounds, who had also been educated in Harvard, or Princeton, or Cam-
bridge, expounding what I like to term the Vlak u snijegu meets Thatch-
erism maxim of »you can do anything if you put your mind to it« (“sve se
može kad se hoće”) (Plivelić, 2019). There were even ‘how to help your child
get to Harvard’ guides framed in terms of a sea change because, to quote
one example, »it used to be thought that only the swotty kids of the rich
could enroll, but now anyone can« (ibid.). We also learnt that the daughter
of the former President of the Croatian Medical Chamber would be joining
Katarina at Harvard (Dnevno, 2019).
Perhaps the most serious treatment of the case came from Nenad Jarić
Dauenhauer (2019), also writing in Index.hr. He makes the link between
the individual case and the question »how can the wealth and power of
parents contribute to the academic success of their children?«. As the child
of a diplomat, Katarina was educated, mainly at the expense of the Croa-
tian taxpayer and, subsequently, NATO, in elite schools in Washington DC
and Brussels. When her mother became President, she did her final year
of schooling in the prestigious IB (International Baccalaureat) programme
(a programme in English with a widely recognized ‘modern curriculum’)
within the Mathematics High School in Zagreb, at a cost of some 3,000
Euro. Individual preparation for the SATs cost around 2,000 Euro and she
also received individual mentoring in mathematics and in creative writing,
the latter from a famous Croatian author, at an unknown cost.
Katarina was, clearly, appealing to Harvard, showing sporting prow-
ess (she had been Croatian junior skating champion in 2016), showing com-
passion beyond her years (she had, apparently, written a book of short sto-
ries to help those of her classmates who were having suicidal thoughts) and
had undoubtedly left a lasting impression on both faculty and students in
the interview and discussion process that many have argued is the least
transparent aspect of Harvard’s selection process. As he also pointed out,
30 % of Ivy League students have at least one parent who attended the same
university (Kolinda did not) and the average annual parental income of
Harvard students is some $ 170,000. Looked at in terms of income quin-
35
