University is for the middle classes

Discuss.

I'm not so sure as many people on my course at my uni are not what I would define as typically 'middle class', but it's been described that being middle class is not simply about income, but an attitude to taking responsibility for oneself and ones' self-improvement. If being middle class is put into this framework, does going to university instantly make you middle class?

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Reply 1

numb3rb0y

...not unless you make up a new definition for "middle class".

Reply 2

Tintin and the Picaros

Frankly no, some people who attend university are complete dross.

Reply 3

Chattykatty88

numb3rb0y

...not unless you make up a new definition for "middle class".

But why? Surely those who go to university are looking to take responsibility for themselves and their self-improvement.

Reply 4

numb3rb0y

Chattykatty88

But why? Surely those who go to university are looking to take responsibility for themselves and their self-improvement.

Probably (I know a fair few who went there almost exclusively for the "uni lifestyle", in other words basically to prolong their pre-adulthood), but "middle class" means more than just self-responsibility and self-improvement.

Reply 5

gamer91

taking responsibility for ones self does not make you middle class.

I can feed my self - look mummy I'm middle class now.

what about all those in stereotypically working class professions who are self reliant - is cleaner now a middle class job too?

Reply 6

jacketpotato

How on Earth does taking responsibility for yourself and your own self-improvement make middle-class?

This has absolutely nothing to do with class!

Everybody is middle-class these days T_T

Reply 7

cpj1987

I wouldn't say it automatically makes you middle class; but more people come out of uni middle class than go in.

Reply 8

Basma

Chattykatty88

But why? Surely those who go to university are looking to take responsibility for themselves and their self-improvement.

Some go to extend their knowledge - even part of their hobby. That doesn't make you middle class.

No. It's really not.

Chattykatty88

So what would lower class and upper class be? Taking care of others/being taken care of by others? :confused:

Reply 11

meercatman

I can see what you are trying to say, it's all that "prolonged gratification" stuff.

As far as I'm concerned, family history and upbringing are the things that make you middle class. Not going to university.

Reply 12

La Esmerelda

Sort of. But this kind of thing starts from birth:

If parents who went to Uni were to have a child then they'd be more likely to drill hard work into your family.

For some families (like mine, we're not really m/c btw) going to Uni is the norm. Its not something you question or think about, its just something you do-like breathing.

Reply 13

Punk Phloyd

I've enterred university most definitely as working class, though I imagine a few years after I leave I shall be middle class.

Reply 14

shuperstar

To take the definition of middle class to be taking care of ones self and setting about on a quest for self improvement is ridiculous. More accurately i would say that describes someone who is upwardly mobile in the class system, if such thing even exists per se anymore.

I live in a council house, my mum is a cleaner, my dad a labourer who is currently unemployed, for generations my family have lived in the same town, never been outside the UK. Yet they taught me that i should want for more than this an sacrificed a lot to ensure that i never wanted for anything. Im 19 and have travelled fairly extensively, achieved excellent exam results and study at university after turning down a place at oxford to study in an environment more familiar to me. I intend to become a teacher, so yup, upwardly mobile, but most definitely working class and to some extent i feel disloyal and uncomfortable being called middle class.

Reply 15

Beautiful Liar

Punk Phloyd

I've enterred university most definitely as working class, though I imagine a few years after I leave I shall be middle class.

this.

Reply 16

Prince Rhyus

Chattykatty88

In some places, university is a holiday camp for the spawn of wealthy [insert targetted group].

Being middle class is definitely not about an attitude to taking responsibility for oneself and ones' self improvement. That's about maturity. Too many people get to university with their parents still taking responsibility for the self improvement of their children. ("What will the neighbours think if Oliver/Katie does not get into a good university/get good A-Level results?!?! Oh no!, I'll be labelled as a failure as a parent!!!")

Reply 17

MorbidCow

Depends on how you define middle-class. But tbh most middle class people have to go in university to even get an office job but even after getting the degree, they can struggle, especially if it is a pointless mickey-mouse one.

Lots of undeserving spoilt middle-class kids go to university and lots of upper-working class also go. A perfect example is my R.E Teacher. She's thick as ******* but manages to go to university to study drama, suddenly after getting rejected by RADA, she discovers "OMG! Acting is hard!" and becomes a teacher because it's easier. She claims she is disadvantaged yet she got ballet, acting and singing lessons. She's been on tons of holidays which involved scuba diving, sailing and skiing. But she considers me middle class when I live off 8k a year :s-smilie:

Vapid women spends all R.E lesson gossiping about herself and friends. She gives us sheets with all the information but doesn't actually teach us out of the box. She just teaches what the government schedule says and nothing else.

But tbh university isn't where the intelligent are housed like twenty years ago. Everyone goes now because it makes you more likely to get a better job. It makes university a three year drinking and shagging game with a couple of exams. :P

Reply 18

Kolya

Prince Rhyus

Being middle class is definitely not about an attitude to taking responsibility for oneself and ones' self improvement.

How would you define "middle class" then? Many posters have stated that the OP's definition is incorrect, but no one has yet offered a better definition.

Reply 19

Kyte

Maybe not BEFORE university, because grants and whatnot that we don't get mean other people can get in. After university though, most people probably go on to lead middle class-ish lives because they have degrees...