The Plight of the Posh

A state school education, or a public school experience? Do universities discriminate against prospective students from privileged backgrounds?

The latest movement in the continual saga of state-versus-public has recently emerged in the form of one Anthony Seldon, master of Wellington College.

This prestigious independent school in Berkshire had an impressive 62 pupils reach the interview stage of the Oxbridge application process this year. Yet Dr Seldon was quoted in The Telegraph on Monday declaring that he expected ‘only’ 20 of these students to be offered places.

Seldon’s domain

He said: “From our perspective it looks as if some public school students are being discriminated against at the final hurdle. It’s painful because we are seeing some excellent candidates who would go on to get firsts who are not getting offers…”

Picking up on his comments, The Mail opened an article by declaring that a ‘leading headmaster’ had accused Oxbridge of discriminating against public school pupils.

A spokesperson for Wellington College told The Tab: “Unfortunately [Seldon] was misquoted – he was not saying that there is discrimination from Oxbridge (or any universities) against public school students, but a general ‘discrimination’ from certain elements of society.”

The distinctive Oxford rooftops

The Independent meanwhile has published an enthusiastic article about both Dr Seldon and Frances King, headmistress of Roedean independent school in Sussex, who has also spoken out against public school discrimination.

The reporter declared that Seldon and King “are not obvious candidates for our sympathy”. Rather, they are “the most visible representatives of a segment of society which already does disproportionately well, and which is cross that it isn’t allowed to do even better.”

Despite conflicting views within the media, Oxford University maintains that it abides by a strict policy with regards to access.

A University spokesperson said: “Selection at Oxford is based purely on academic ability and potential, laid down in published selection criteria for each subject. Academic ability and potential is assessed through a range of measures, including predicted and attained grades, teacher references, subject-specific aptitude tests and multiple interviews.

The process is designed to ensure that the brightest candidates get an offer from Oxford, whatever their background.”

James Taylor, second-year Archeology student at Magdalen College, went to a public school before Oxford and has never felt the need to hide this fact: “I’ve never felt discriminated against at all, and I think it’s a completely manufactured issue.

The Telegraph and others are trying to make this into a problem and to place blame on universities…this is diverting attention from the far more pressing educational issues of state schools themselves.”