Paper short abstract:

This paper draws from ethnographic research conducted in an over-subscribed girls’ secondary boarding school in western Kenya to analyze the multiple harms perpetrated through the competitive school system, and how these debase the ideals of education for students, teachers, and broader society.

Paper long abstract:

Public boarding schools are intensive filters in Kenya’s highly competitive and unequal secondary education system. On the one hand, a student’s admission to a secondary boarding school affords some prestige, as it evidences the student’s merit and potential to succeed. On the other hand, only some students will earn the top results leading to a next step of higher education and associated professional employment. As such, many school administrators and teachers tend to practice the logic that only the most disciplined and determined individuals will succeed, and they seek to develop students’ determination through inflicting trials of pain and suffering. At the same time, even public schools are run as businesses in a competitive marketplace, with students’ exam scores distinguishing one school from another, and one school manager from another. In this paper, we draw from ethnographic research conducted over the 2023 school year in an over-subscribed girls’ secondary boarding school in western Kenya to analyze the multiple harms perpetrated through this school system, and how these debase the ideals of education for students, teachers, and broader society. Findings highlight the institutionalization of cheating as a mode of survival and 'success' and the demoralization this system ingrains in its participants.