The Education System, Aspiration and Loneliness

The normalised pressures which the current education system places on young people, into their twenties and beyond, mean that the regular summer reporting on the exam results of particular cohorts of young people are followed by reports of an increasing incidence of mental health problems and suicidality. Beginning with young people’s discussions of aspiration during the research project,this chapter points to the fact that discussions of aspiration, achievement and failure of aspiration in educational research have not engaged with the emotional dynamic created especially for working class students leaving their families through educational mobility nor by the belief that ‘success is individual.’ The subheadings of Instrumentality and Achievement; Individualism; On (Not) Disappointing Parents and Unhappiness as Loneliness frame the discussion.