Equality Issues In The Cultural Capital Of Elite Higher Education Opportunities

The grandes ecoles are the elite higher education system in France. They are the institution where the social elite of France are generated. As a result, the grandes ecoles have a very good reputation in France. However, an inequality of enrollment significantly exists in the grandes ecoles system because they adopt a special entrance examination. In this thesis, the author will analyze the enrollment inequality of grandes ecoles from the perspective of cultural capital, discuss the compensation methods that have been taken by the grandes ecoles, in order to provide valuable materials and perspective for further study of the opportunity equality of the elite education.In the first chapter, the author makes a brief introduction to the grandes ecoles in the frame of the whole education system of France. Then, the enrollment system of the grandes ecoles is discussed. It is presented that the grandes ecoles are totally different from the universities in enrollment: the grandes ecoles use a competitive entrance exam after the students finish two years of study in preparing class, while the universities have no exam for admission. Finally, the author points out the complication of the enrollment inequality of the grandes ecoles.In the second chapter, the author demonstrates that the enrollment inequality of grandes ecoles existed for a long period and it seems that a stronger inequality is observed at present. Therefore, the grandes ecoles are frequently criticized as the duplicator of social inequality and the reproducer of social class. This phenomenon has received the attention of the researcher, the government and the grandes ecoles. Based on these, the author explains the reason why the enrollment opportunity has been paid attention. On one hand, the enrollment opportunity has great importance for the future career of individuals; on the other hand, the problem is related to the usage of high quality education resource, the initial intention of the grandes ecoles, and the political value of France.In the third chapter, the role and influence of cultural capital on the enrollment inequality is analyzed. First, the general role of the economical capital and the cultural capital are compared. Then the author focuses on the function of the family background, the education level of the parents and the participation of the cultural activities on the enrollment inequality. Here, the author discussed the influence of cultural capital on the enrollment inequality from the aspects of preparing class and grandes ecoles separately.The fourth chapter analyzes the methods for compensation of the cultural capital. The author use the project "A Grande Ecole, Why not I?" of ESSEC (Ecole Superieure des Sciences Economiues et Commerciales) as a typical example. The purpose of the project, the organization, the current status , the development and the results of the project are all discussed in the perspective of cultural capital. Finally, the importance of the education inequality in the background of the democracy of the higher education, the role of cultural capital on this inequality, the feasibility of the cultural capital compensation methods, and the disadvantage of the cultural capital perspective are discussed. It is also pointed out the problem of inequality of elite higher education is important for our country.The main innovations of this thesis lie in: (1) It is demonstrated that significant inequality of enrollment opportunity exists for grandes ecoles in France. (2) The function and influence of cultural capital upon enrollment inequality are demonstrated based on statistic data, which is expected to provide valuable perspective for similar studies in our country. (3) The feasibility of compensation of cultural capital are discussed, which may provide constructive suggestions for the practice in bur country.