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The Influence Of Education In John Peter's 28 Up

Decent Essays

The future lives of participants in 28 Up were influenced by the education available to them as a result of their social class. However, education was merely one influence and by no means was it the only determining element. Thus, isolating this social force could not have been used to accurately predict the participants’ futures. John is one participant of 28 Up whose life clearly exemplifies that his education wasn’t the lone determining factor of his future. The prestigious public education available to John due to his upper class status irrefutably provided him with a wide range of future career choices. Notwithstanding the obvious influence of this social force, it is important to remember that his education wasn’t a guarantee of a particular life. At 21, John was clearly conscious of what his class privilege could yield in education when he acknowledged that he had had the best of everything when education was concerned. Even though he acknowledged his advantageous education, he also disputed that he had some “indestructible birth right” that guaranteed his career. The latter extraction from John clearly shows thast he disagrees that his social class enabling private …show more content…

However, when initially introduced to Peter, he adheres to the false notion that his education dictated by his class status was the only predictor of his future. At 28, when asked if he thought he had a fair opportunity in school, he responded to the director “of course not. People got it made for them: all lined up” which clearly juxtaposes against John’s claims of having ample opportunity. From contrasting these two participants it’s extremely obvious that there is a positive correlation between class level and educational opportunities. However, exploring further into both characters reveals that this is merely one influence on their future and cannot be said to be the only

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