What they really mean when they say the ATAR doesn’t matter

“Don’t worry about it, your ATAR doesn’t matter.”

This line is thrown out by all sorts of people so frequently, that it has lost its meaning, and become a shallow affirmation. I think we need to think a lot more about what this phrase means. It has a very significant and sinister meaning. Many who repeat this phrase do not really understand it, however their acceptance of it reveals their subconscious somewhat comprehends the meaning that I want to talk about today. The secret to understanding it, is to first realise that there are in fact, multiple meanings to this phrase. The meaning changes based on your social class.

A member of the upper-class is a member of the club of people that have an overwhelmingly dominant share of ownership of all things. They own literal assets such as wealth, property, businesses, but also possess social capital, where through one’s network of acquaintances, they have easy access to professionals (medical, legal, financial), employers (executives and board members of large companies), and powerbrokers (politicians, lobbyists). For the upper-class, the purpose of the education years (usually 5-21 if we chart out the average pathway being primary school, secondary school, undergraduate study) is not academic or personal development, but a systematic induction to the club. Through exclusive private schools and extracurriculars, upper-class students meet other upper-class students, expanding their network until they leave education, and can begin to call upon their contacts to help them in whatever exploit they choose to pursue. The ATAR, a standardised examination ranking system, has no bearing on them, because they are already friendly with the people who can give them what they want.

A student from the lower-class faces numerous systematic barriers to even get to the line that other students start at. Every aspect of their existence is either mildly, or substantially, more stressful, whether that is access to health services, appropriate study space, the experience of commuting to school. Schools in lower socio-economic areas are underfunded, resulting in worse resourcing and teaching (regardless of the personal efforts of the teachers). For these students, their academic outcomes are inevitably severely hampered. Most of the high-ranking leadership position, and hence power, in the education system is held by people from the upper-class, who were given this power rather than earning it from the very participants of the system (students, parents and teachers). It is in their interest to continue the systematic oppression of the poor, because it creates workers with no power.

I believe this last part will be most relevant to the majority of the people who are reading. The middle-class can also be thought of as the suburban-class. The students here grew up in a family unit that had enough to meet essential needs. The students are healthy and free enough to direct their energy not towards survival, but advancement. Education is sold to them as the recommended pathway to earn a ticket to employment, wealth, and ultimately, entry to the upper-class. They see what the ‘owners’ have, and deceptively, the life that is the envy of many of the middle-class appears to be just within reach. This is an illusion.

While the school system for the poor is designed to be bad on purpose, so they do not receive an education, the middle-class/suburban system has a different objective. The purpose of this system is to indoctrinate students into oppression. Students are fed useless facts to memorise in unengaging classrooms. They are then punished for a lack of engagement and rewarded based on examination results. Note that just because physical punishment is now illegal doesn’t mean students cannot be harmed mentally and emotionally by the actions of the school. Consider the hidden messages that students receive from going to school.

• Experience: School content has nothing to do with life

  • Message: Nothing from your personal life experience is valuable, the only valuable knowledge is institutional (school, textbooks)

    
    

• Experience: Unengaging classroom

  • Message: Life is meant to be boring. You are childish/disruptive if you try to change that.

    
    

• Experience: Standardised exam

  • Message: The ‘best’ student is the one who can make themselves suffer the most. Give up more of your time and happiness and play the game better than your peers.

    
    

The school experience normalises the experience of oppression. The only thing it teaches these students is how to be a subservient worker. Some students from the middle-class will graduate and become workers forever. They will make enough money to make basic survival needs and will have some disposal income leftover to pay for distractions from their suffering at work. And if the capitalist system works well enough, they will be constantly marketed to enough by all these distractions to never be able to save enough money to achieve any financial independence to escape it.

There is another benefit of the middle-class being indoctrinated into the ‘art of oppression.’ Consider that one cannot be a member of the upper-class without being involved in some way in the exploitation of others. If one takes more than their fair share, it is clear that it had to be taken from others. The most diligent workers of the middle-class, at some stage in their career will be presented with an opportunity to exploit others. This is no different to an initiation ritual. Some of these people will stupidly* not realise the rules of the game and fail this entrance exam, barring them from advancement. However, in many cases, these people will have lived so long under oppression, that becoming one that perpetuates it either does not generate much discomfort, or worse, is a pleasurable notion. Welcome to the upper-class.

“Don’t worry about it, your ATAR doesn’t matter.”

For the lower-class, you had no chance of getting a good ATAR anyway.

For the middle-class, you can work hard to get a good ATAR, but it won’t fix the problems in your life.

For the upper-class, you already can have anything you want.

*I call this stupid because we are referring to a person who dreams of being upper-class who acts in a way to prevent this from happening. Obviously, a person who wishes to participate, or even better, play a role in creating, a kinder world that is free from exploitation, would not be stupid in this case.