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https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/mar/06/bullingdon-in-reverse-working-class-student-93-club-taking-on-elitism>
"Roughly 7% of pupils in the UK attend a private school but at Bristol
University, they make up nearly a third of the graduate intake. Most of the
so-called elite universities have disproportionately high numbers of private
school students, including Oxford and Cambridge, which respectively have 31%
and 32% representation from independent schools. At Bristol in 2016, the year
Pender began her English degree, the proportion was closer to 40%.
After those early damaging encounters with privately educated students Pender
decided to make a stand. “I wanted to even things out a bit, so that those who
didn’t come from privileged backgrounds could help each other get on in life.
And I didn’t see why people from working-class families should feel ashamed of
their upbringing.”
The result was the establishment of the first 93% Club.
Pender describes the club as a kind of old boys’ network in reverse: “It’s
artificially creating a movement against the idea that a small number of people
get all the good jobs. It’s bringing people together who simply don’t have
those connections. The question of ‘what school did you go to?’, which private
school people are always asking each other, is being replaced with ‘which 93%
Club are you a member of?’”
During the pandemic the movement has snowballed, from just two clubs at the
start of 2020 to 36 participating universities today and a reach of more than
10,000 students. In December the club attained charitable status and has now
attracted a plethora of high-profile corporate sponsors, including Accenture,
CapitalOne, Herbert Smith Freehills, Newton Europe, DLA Piper, Teach First,
OC&C Consulting and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer."
Via Muse, who wrote "This young woman is BRILLIANT!"
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
