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Working class? Don't think that Oxbridge is for you.

(484 Posts)
volver Thu 09-Jun-22 13:08:03

She's the gift that keeps on giving, isn't she?

www.lbc.co.uk/news/working-class-people-told-to-aim-lower-than-oxbridge-by-social-mobility-tsar/

To be fair, we haven't heard the whole speech yet so it might not come out this way when she actually says it.

Grandma70s Thu 09-Jun-22 18:37:29

paddyann54

Grandma70's " we cant claim to be working class"
So you or your family never got paid and depended on wages to live ?
Regardless of what your jobs were IF you worked for pay and to pay your bills..your working class!
Honestly the snobbery of the class system is ridiculous .

It was the term used in the quotation and the title of this thread. I imagine you know approximately what it indicates.

Joseanne Thu 09-Jun-22 18:29:16

Oops phone came up with Newham, meant Newnham!!

Joseanne Thu 09-Jun-22 18:27:02

DD went to Royal Holloway which always has some very posh students
He he, me too, and most of the girls on my course came from Cheltenham Ladies' College or the French Lycée. I was from an inner London comprehensive, cockney accent, brought up by a single parent. I hated every minute, not the other students, but the stuffiness and snobbery of it all. My schoolfriend at Newham Cambridge had a far more down to earth experience.

Casdon Thu 09-Jun-22 18:24:25

Germanshepherdsmum

I agree NittWitt. Her message is about so much more than disadvantaged kids going to Oxbridge. Whatever is right for a particular pupil to progress beyond their disadvantaged background is surely what should be aimed for. Maybe it's training to become a hairdresser or a plumber. Maybe it's going to university. Are Oxford and Cambridge the only good universities to aim for? No.

Oxford and Cambridge aren’t the only good universities to aim for, but they are the most prestigious from a career perspective. Academic capability is what should determine which universities are best for which young people, and all young people who are capable enough academically should be encouraged to try for Oxbridge - background should be irrelevant.

Callistemon21 Thu 09-Jun-22 18:10:03

What is "Working Class"?

Germanshepherdsmum Thu 09-Jun-22 18:06:02

Exactly, GG

Deedaa Thu 09-Jun-22 18:03:47

DD went to Royal Holloway which always has some very posh students because it's in Surrey darling and it's so easy to pop up to London for the weekend! I won't say she had a disadvantaged background but by national standards we were pretty hard up and by the time she went to university we had lost our house and been rehoused by the council. Nearly 30 years later she is still there, leading a research team and being a constant thorn in the side of the university admin grin

GrannyGravy13 Thu 09-Jun-22 18:03:07

I think it’s time to realise that all jobs are worthwhile, whether it’s a degree needed, apprenticeship, or in job training .

Snobbery regarding degrees from Oxbridge seem to be reaching fever pitch.

NittWitt Thu 09-Jun-22 17:52:51

Germany has a very good system of vocational training which the UK would do well to look at, in my view.

paddyann54 Thu 09-Jun-22 17:52:28

Grandma70's " we cant claim to be working class"
So you or your family never got paid and depended on wages to live ?
Regardless of what your jobs were IF you worked for pay and to pay your bills..your working class!
Honestly the snobbery of the class system is ridiculous .

Germanshepherdsmum Thu 09-Jun-22 17:46:39

I agree NittWitt. Her message is about so much more than disadvantaged kids going to Oxbridge. Whatever is right for a particular pupil to progress beyond their disadvantaged background is surely what should be aimed for. Maybe it's training to become a hairdresser or a plumber. Maybe it's going to university. Are Oxford and Cambridge the only good universities to aim for? No.

NittWitt Thu 09-Jun-22 17:33:22

Giving out the message that Oxbridge isn't the right place for poorer children is just so wrong.

The message sounds to me to be that there is too much concentration on statistics of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds getting into university and there should be more focus on education and training that helps pupils towards good careers that may not require university.

volver Thu 09-Jun-22 17:21:51

Perhaps, but I don't think any of us are meant to be the social mobility tsar, advise the government and have a seat in the HoL in our sights.

GrannyGravy13 Thu 09-Jun-22 17:19:55

Ms Birbalsingh must be on GN, sounds a familiar modus operandi

volver Thu 09-Jun-22 17:14:41

Baggs

Could you support that with some evidence, please, V?

Which bit? The bit about Birbalsingh not knowing what she's talking about?

Well, there's this.

www.iop.org/about/news/work-together-to-encourage-girls-to-study-physics#gref

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-10845937/Britains-strictest-headmistress-slammed-online-critics-suggest-pupils-need-therapy.html (Daily Mail!!)

www.newstatesman.com/culture/2022/05/is-britains-strictest-headmistress-a-visionary-or-a-tyrant

The New Stateman one is mainly about how she approaches people who criticise her and her methods. TL:DR; she belittles them and plays the victim.

Baggs Thu 09-Jun-22 16:59:11

Meanwhile, I was making cauliflower cheese just now and recalled something I read this morning about political discussions (others too but that was what the writer was talking about mainly). He said he thinks we "have lost the ability to argue in a spirit of charity."

I'm making a renewed resolution to try and do that.

Baggs Thu 09-Jun-22 16:56:58

Could you support that with some evidence, please, V?

volver Thu 09-Jun-22 16:26:30

Oh? And some people think its plain that Birbalsingh knows what she's talking about.

They're wrong too.

Callistemon21 Thu 09-Jun-22 16:24:30

No, just chose to misinterpret it, I think
It seemed plain enough.

volver Thu 09-Jun-22 16:23:26

No, just chose to misinterpret it, I think.

I'd mention a good broad based Scottish education, but the thread might explode.

Callistemon21 Thu 09-Jun-22 16:23:18

Isn't her school in a deprived area?
I thought she encouraged her pupils to achieve the best they possibly can?
Or have I got that wrong?

Not that I agree with her methods, particularly.

Callistemon21 Thu 09-Jun-22 16:22:01

Not so much WPIS, more having had a proper education unlike anything that MissSnuffy can imagine, as a result of which it became possible to identify BS when I see it.
I don't think I misread that

confused

volver Thu 09-Jun-22 16:21:54

You can bet your life she'll be reported telling us that's not what she said or meant, and all the big bad lefties are getting at her and she will not be cowed.

She is so transparent.

volver Thu 09-Jun-22 16:20:04

Yes.

Callistemon21 Thu 09-Jun-22 16:19:41

Giving out the message that Oxbridge isn't the right place for poorer children is just so wrong.
But is she?