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Elitism and English universities
精英主义与英国大学
University challenged
挑战名校
Apr 16th 2012, 11:14 by A.G. | CAMBRIDGE
"BREAK, break, break," implores Zeynab, "On thy cold gray stones, O Sea!" The dozen or so inner-city teenagers grouped in the classroom scribble notes as she and a second Muslim girl critique Alfred Tennyson's 1835 elegy to his late friend Arthur Hallam. It is the Easter holiday but these 17-year-olds are in a lecture theatre at the University of Cambridge, attending a voluntary four-day programme that aims to boost their chances of entering higher education.
Although just 7% of British schoolchildren are privately educated, 41% of British undergraduates at the University of Cambridge come from independent schools. Direct discrimination is not to blame: privately educated pupils do better in exams than their state-educated counterparts. Some 37% of youngsters who gain three "A" grades or higher at A-level, the university-entrance exams sat mostly at the age of 18, attend independent schools, says Geoff Parks of the University of Cambridge. Moreover such pupils are more likely to take the demanding subjects required by the most competitive institutions.
Independently educated pupils are also more likely to apply to selective universities, according to research conducted by the Sutton Trust, a charity that seeks to enhance social mobility through education. And even when state school students do seek entry they tend to be poorly advised. Many go for ultra-competitive subjects such as medicine and law, and neglect to consider Anglo-Saxon poetry as a means to gain entry to an elite institution. Once these factors are accounted for, the University of Cambridge takes almost exactly the expected numbers of state-school students, reckons Mr Parks.
Zeynab and her cohort have spent the past three days at Corpus Christi College. Her father was initially reluctant to let her spend nights away from home, she says, but once he understood the opportunity on offer he rescinded. It is a far cry from their usual gritty inner city surroundings: the youngsters dine in the college's new gothic dining hall hung with William Morris plates and portraits of former masters. During the day they learn more about the subjects they are studying at school, as well as top tips on applying for university. Undergraduates who attended the schools in previous years are on hand to offer advice.
Zeynab's enthusiasm for her subject is obvious: she and her partner keep interrupting one another with further thoughts about the poem they have read. Sophie Read, an outreach officer in the university's English department teasingly tells them to stop talking about Tennyson. Afterwards they ask her what they could have done to improve their presentation.
Encouraging students like Zeynab to go to university is crucial to the coalition government's credibility. In December 2010 Parliament voted to allow English universities to charge up to £9,000 ($14,500) a year in tuition fees, in direct violation of promises made by the Liberal Democrats prior to the general election. From September most English universities will do so. Keen to ensure that such sums do not discourage youngsters from poor families from higher education, the government has coerced colleges into offering scholarships and bursaries. There is precious little evidence to indicate that such schemes are effective. But aspiration-raising Easter and summer schools for disadvantaged children, run in this case in collaboration with Teach First, which aims to improve teaching in poor neighbourhoods, seem to work. Half of those who attend a residential school at Cambridge go on to apply to the university, and a quarter of those who apply get in.
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