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

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.

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

Exactly, GG

What is "Working Class"?

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.

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.

Oops phone came up with Newham, meant Newnham!!

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.

My twin sons both went to Oxford - engineering. Working class background, had no issues on their courses. That was 30 years ago when there didn't seem to be so much obsession with working/upper class student background.

NittWitt

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

Could not agree more.

I watched her speech online so you don't have to. It was hard, but I was brave. It's like watching to a sixth former debating, TBH.

Anyway, she thinks we should re-define social mobility as the process of enabling everyone to find and apply their talents in ways that they enjoy and gives them purpose, and for our wider society and economy.

Well OK, that's very nice, but that's not social mobility is it? And she's meant to be the social mobility tsar. She maybe needs to look at her job description again to remind herself what it is she's supposed to be doing.

Oxbridge isn’t necessarily the best choice for all highly paid careers.

Oxbridge takes in around 7,000 undergraduates each year.

It is not easy to find the number of KS4 and KS5 pupils who left all schools in the UK last year but it will be substantial.

Each one of these pupils deserves the best chance to succeed, whether it be a place at Oxbridge or paid employment.

John Prescott sorted it years ago.
John, now Lord Prescott, announced that 'We're all middle class now'.

Problem solved.

It doesn't really have much to do with Oxbridge. Oxbridge is an exemplar. It's got to do with aspiration. Which our social mobility tsar is conveniently avoiding mentioning.

She's redefining social mobility volver making it a term which actually means "knowing your place and celebrating it". Another way of saying it might be "Don't get above yourself". If you have a job that's enough for you. It's deeply unpleasant given that she is supposed to care about education.

Yep.

All jobs are valuable to society, the person who cleans the toilets in an Oxford Dons house could go on to have their own cleaning company.

It is not necessary to have an Oxbridge or any other University degree to be successful financially or otherwise.

My daughter attended a local comprehensive school. When she was doing her A levels, she, along with a small group of others, was selected to visit Cambridge with a view to perhaps applying there. She went on the visit and hated Cambridge! She didn’t want to be the ‘token’ state school student (this was in the late 80s) and felt that it wasn’t for her. She went to a northern red brick university where she went on to gain a science PhD and is currently a high flyer in the pharmaceutical industry. Not sure she would have flourished at Cambridge. I think, as a society, we need to stop putting Oxbridge on a pedestal. There are many, many excellent universities throughout the UK - let’s celebrate them.

lots of well off people I know are annoyed that working class/state school pupils are getting places at redbrick/oxbridge universities when their privately educated relatives cannot get places and they seem to think people from state schools are getting some kind of advantage

That's crazy JaneJudge. How can you buy a brain (or a uni place) by sending a child to an independent school?

GrannyGravy13

All jobs are valuable to society, the person who cleans the toilets in an Oxford Dons house could go on to have their own cleaning company.

It is not necessary to have an Oxbridge or any other University degree to be successful financially or otherwise.

OF course all jobs are valuable. This isn't about jobs. It's about expectations. If you come from a family of long term unemployed be satisfied if you get a job and don't even think of going to Oxbridge.

Glorianny it is all to do with jobs.

Academia versus wealth

I know academics who cannot be described as wealthy, I know millionaires who left school at 15.

Expectations today are totally different due to social media, some young want to be famous, some want to be rich, some want to learn and no doubt some want to be all three.

Time to move on from putting people in boxes whilst in education, further education can be entered at any age and with access courses no need for A levels.

It all boils down to academic snobbery.

When the ruling party have spent over a decade systematically and deliberately increasing the divide between rich and poor it seems only unsurprising that the person they appoint as Chair of the Social Mobility Committee should be telling us that limited progress is desirable, normal and satisfactory.

This despite her day job being entirely about getting children from deprived backgrounds into Oxbridge.

People aren't getting this at all.

The person who is meant to be in charge of making sure there are as few barriers as possible to social mobility, is saying you should be happy with what you can get. And not expect to move above your station, just be happy you've got a job.

Perhaps all this chat about academic snobbery and vocational training is simply because people can't believe what Birbalsingh is saying. She's saying "don't get ideas above your station, peasants."