Reserved for the rich or a failure of standards?
There's a lot of news around today about a government claim that the professions are increasingly 'reserved for (the children of) the rich'.
I'm not entirely convinced by the analysis, or at least think the data (if you accept it at face value and I haven't analysed it) is subject to an alternative interpretation...
I think this has all got to do with the erosion in A-level standards over the last 20 years.
Consider an employer or university admissions tutor... You're presented with way too many candidates all of whom have, or are forecasted to have, 3As at A-level. How do you select a manageable shortlist for interview, knowing already that 3As includes quite a wide range of actual abilities. You do the only thing you can - you look for other measures of perceived quality. Is the applicant from a 'good' school or 'good' university? What are the parents' backgrounds? Do they speak with received pronunciation? Are there any exciting extracurricular activities (which are doubtless expensive)?
And suddenly you have a system that favours homosocial reproduction of the 'rich'.
The solution is clear - a restoration of standards at A-level, making the exams harder, more selective and with the expectation that grades will not always inflate. Either that or it will be a return to universities having their own entrance exams (and this is already happening).
I'm not entirely convinced by the analysis, or at least think the data (if you accept it at face value and I haven't analysed it) is subject to an alternative interpretation...
I think this has all got to do with the erosion in A-level standards over the last 20 years.
Consider an employer or university admissions tutor... You're presented with way too many candidates all of whom have, or are forecasted to have, 3As at A-level. How do you select a manageable shortlist for interview, knowing already that 3As includes quite a wide range of actual abilities. You do the only thing you can - you look for other measures of perceived quality. Is the applicant from a 'good' school or 'good' university? What are the parents' backgrounds? Do they speak with received pronunciation? Are there any exciting extracurricular activities (which are doubtless expensive)?
And suddenly you have a system that favours homosocial reproduction of the 'rich'.
The solution is clear - a restoration of standards at A-level, making the exams harder, more selective and with the expectation that grades will not always inflate. Either that or it will be a return to universities having their own entrance exams (and this is already happening).