The Up Series!

This week we started to watch a video series called “Up.” It is a documentary of the lives of thirteen British children of various social classes. The series starts when the children are 7 and then continues every seven years after that. So far there are seven videos in the series and have captured the individuals at age 49 but they are in the process of filming 56Up which shows the individuals at age 56. I think it is really neat that one director has spent the time to stay in contact with these individuals so we can see how their life progresses and how it changes depending on their circumstances.

The first video, which we watched on Tuesday, shows the lives of the children at age 7. At this age, the children were in a wide range of social classes from upper class to working class to a lower class orphanage. I found it very interesting to see the differences between the children. The boys and girls from the upper class spoke proper English and really articulated their words. In comparison, when the children from the lower class spoke, I found they were hard to understand and tended to mumble their words together. Even the manner in which they spent their free time was extremely different. The children from the upper class would come home from school and have tea with their parents, watch television or read the newspaper. Their evenings appeared to be very structured with a definite bedtime. The lower class children would play outside and watch t.v. and would go to bed much later than the upper class. I thought it was really interesting that when the children were brought together, the lower class boys were a lot rougher in the way they played than the upper class boys. The upper class children had already been taught to act proper and “civilized”.

In addition to differences in the way the children spent their free time, the children also had different aspirations for their education and careers. The majority of the children in the upper class already knew which prep schools they would attend and which universities they wanted to go to. I found the children of the lower class had greater dreams and aspirations than those of the upper class, however some of them already knew that it would be too hard or that they would never get into university. For example, Paul wanted to be a policeman, however he knew it would be too hard for him. This made me wonder if he would still try or if he knew that since he was in the lower class there was no point in trying. I find it difficult to watch children with that have big dreams for their life but their dreams are squashed because of the class they were born into. I see this as a big problem with the sponsorship system. Unless children are born into the upper class or succeed on their 11+ exam, they are restricted in the careers that they can have.

In yesterday’s class we watched a portion of the 28Up video. We saw how the lives of three of the individuals, Paul, Suzy and Nick, changed from age 7. The video also showed segments from the 14Up and 21Up videos.

Paul – at age 7 he wanted to be a policeman but thought it was too hard for him. He went to a Charity boarding school and did not seem to know much about the school system. At age 28, he is a bricklayer living with his wife and two kids in Melbourne, Australia. He stated that he was able to have a better life because he left England. By moving from the sponsorship system to the contest system, he was able to use his talent and effort to move into an upper-middle class. At age 7, Paul was shown building a house at the playground and then he becomes a bricklayer. It makes you wonder if what you do at age 7 impacts where you become later in life.

Suzy – at age 7, she was in a private girls boarding school and definitely knew she was “above” other people. Although she did know say what she wanted to be when she was older, she thought she would go to university. At age 16, she left school and went to Paris where she took a secretary program. At age 28, she was a house wife but had married someone of upper class so had remained in the same class. What I thought was really interesting was hearing about all the things she did not want at 21. She did not want to marry or have a family, and then at age 28 she was married and had two children. The other thing that I thought was interesting about Suzy was that she hated prep school but would still send her children to private school around age 13.

Nick – I think Nick is a really interesting individual. At age 7, Nick went to a rural one room school and did not have much interaction with other children. In his spare time he would explore the countryside and he wanted to “learn about the moon and things” when he was older. At age 28, Nick was in America and was a nuclear physics assistant professor. He was able to succeed in the sponsorship system due to the 11+ test. He wrote the test and was found to be gifted so he went to boarding school and university. However, leaving England and entering into the top of the contest system has allowed him to further succeed. I wonder how Nick’s life will continue.

So far it seems that what the children do at age 7 or what they desire to do becomes a relatively accurate portrayal of how their lives turn out. I wonder then what I was like at age 7. I can’t remember what I wanted to do or what I was really interested in. At one of my friend’s birthday parties when we were around 6, her dad videotaped all the kids and asked us what we wanted to be when they grew up. I said I didn’t know. Apparently I didn’t have any dreams of a specific career at that age, or at least that day. I have seen the video a few times since then and I would be curious to see what the people on that video are actually doing.