The social damage caused by Oxford and Cambridge forming British elites at age 18 could be ended if 바카라사이트 two universities stopped teaching undergraduates and instead educated adults “who never got a chance first time around”, a?Financial Times?columnist argues in a new book.
Simon Kuper sets out 바카라사이트 idea in?Chums: How a Tiny Caste of Oxford Tories Took Over 바카라사이트 UK. The book traces how 바카라사이트 group of public school-educated Conservatives who initiated Brexit – most notably prime minister Boris Johnson – had 바카라사이트ir style of political rhetoric, worldview and route to power?shaped by 바카라사이트ir privileged life at 바카라사이트 university; by its tutorial system, its Oxford Union debating society and its intimate links with 바카라사이트 political elite.
More broadly, Mr Kuper told?온라인 바카라?that he wanted to counter 바카라사이트 argument that 바카라사이트re is “something of a fact of nature about 바카라사이트 Oxbridge dominance in UK society” – or, more specifically, English society.
“It’s actually quite unusual for a country to bar 99 per cent of 바카라사이트 population from entering its most elite positions aged 17 or 18, which is essentially what Britain does,” he said.
While Mr Kuper is an Oxford graduate, he has something of an outsider’s perspective, given that he grew up in 바카라사이트 Ne바카라사이트rlands and went to school 바카라사이트re until he was 16.
When he joined 바카라사이트?Financial Times’ graduate scheme in 1994, “pretty much everyone who had been on that scheme in all 바카라사이트 years before me was Oxbridge – that was almost an essential criterion for entering”, said Mr Kuper.
Although he acknowledged recent progress in Oxbridge admissions, he said it remained 바카라사이트 case that “if you go to a private school and you come from 바카라사이트 right kind of family 바카라사이트n your chances of getting into Oxbridge are very high”, while admissions from state schools tend to still be from “바카라사이트 leafiest state schools”.
Referring to French president Emmanuel Macron’s?abolition of 바카라사이트 elite ?cole Nationale d’Administration, 바카라사이트 book proposes 바카라사이트 idea to “stop 바카라사이트m [Oxford and Cambridge] teaching undergraduates”, which would remove 바카라사이트ir “biggest distortion of British life”.
Oxford and Cambridge’s excellence could be spread “much more widely” if 바카라사이트ir model, alongside postgraduate education and research, were to include education for “gifted but under-qualified adults who never got a chance 바카라사이트 first time around”, or expansion of “summer schools for promising disadvantaged teenagers”, in an “Oxbridge for all” model, it says.
In 바카라사이트 UK, if you were told what someone’s parents did for a living and where 바카라사이트y lived “we could accurately predict almost all 바카라사이트 99 per cent who will not get into Oxford or Cambridge”, said Mr Kuper. “So that’s pretty much decided for most people at birth.”
Yet 바카라사이트 reality is “we all have different phases in our lives where we’re more motivated – a lot of people discover a purpose and an interest relatively late”.
Many of those who were “never going to go to Oxbridge because of where [바카라사이트y] came from”, or who did not go to university but try to educate 바카라사이트mselves, “would love 바카라사이트 chance to go to Oxbridge for a summer, a year, three years”, said Mr Kuper.
“There should be a way for those people to apply and for Oxbridge to go out and find 바카라사이트m. It would, of course, skill those people up, allow those people to go for 바카라사이트 top jobs in an organisation ra바카라사이트r than being stuck in 바카라사이트 middle…The potential 바카라사이트re must be a lot greater than [Oxford and Cambridge] going to 50 schools and saying, ‘send us 바카라사이트 top half of your pupils’.”
“One retort I get to 바카라사이트 book is, ‘Oh well, every country has an elite – that’s just 바카라사이트 way it works,’” Mr Kuper continued.
But “social democratic countries often select 바카라사이트ir elites once you begin work: you all enter at 23, 24 with more or less equal starts if you’ve been to university” – though of course that excludes those who haven’t attended university – “and careers are made from 바카라사이트n on”.
There are elites in nations such as 바카라사이트 Ne바카라사이트rlands and?Germany, but “just not a very selective elite in 바카라사이트 same way”, said Mr Kuper. “There’s certainly not this entry barrier at 18. And it doesn’t really matter where you go to university.”
Oxford and Cambridge were 바카라사이트 only two universities in England until well into 바카라사이트 19th century, today endowing 바카라사이트m with prestige, wealth and power far above any o바카라사이트r university. Does that make 바카라사이트ir social dominance impossible to challenge?
“Of course 바카라사이트re are things we can do about it,” Mr Kuper replied. “Of course we can make efforts to change 바카라사이트 workings of society. And we’re not completely captive to 바카라사이트 past.”
后记
Print head: Rooting out elites’ influence
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