[Maker]

(Original post by kangarooblue)
What really annoys me is that it says in the article that Simon went to private school himself and then went on to study at Cambridge University. I'm at private school and I want to apply to Oxford next year for medicine and I know that people with worse grades than me stand a better chance because they go to a state school. It's absolute madness; they should absolutely be encouraging bright state school students to go to Oxbridge, but that should be because they're clever and not because they're at a state school. He's a hypocrite and you're right - he wouldn't be campaigning as he is if he were 18 and still at college, as he is now.

Why don't you leave private school and go to a state school, simples. And don't neg me, its way too obvious and shows you are not very bright.

[creak]

CBA to read the thread, first page is depressing enough. University choices should be allocated according to potential though, and differences in schooling can distort and obscure this. Grades only tell half the story:

Pupils from comprehensive schools are likely to do better at university than children educated at private or grammar schools with similar A-level results, according to research carried out for the government and published today.

A five-year study tracking 8,000 A-level candidates found that a comprehensive pupil with the grades BBB is likely to perform as well in their university degree as an independent or grammar school pupil with 2 As and a B.

...

The research, which was carried out for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the education charity the Sutton Trust, found that privately educated graduates with the same class of degree as comprehensively educated ones had A-levels that were between half a grade and 0.7 of a grade higher.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/...ils-university

So absolutely take educational background into consideration when judging applications.

[Ocassus]

That is an impressive thread necro guys. Good job.

[chrisawhitmore]

(Original post by Teaddict)
Top universities should be forced to restrict the number of private school pupils they admit so that their intake reflects society as a whole, Simon Hughes has said.

Around 20% of students do not get 5 A*-C grade GCSEs. These students are woefully under-represented in top universities. There should be limits on the number of academically successful pupils admitted.

[Steve1654]

They should do a blind selection where the universities do not have any knowledge of what schools the applicants attend. Only A-Level results and personal statements should be used.

[Teaddict]

(Original post by chrisawhitmore)
Around 20% of students do not get 5 A*-C grade GCSEs. These students are woefully under-represented in top universities. There should be limits on the number of academically successful pupils admitted.

Nonsense - University should be for the academic elite thus they should be accepting the very best pupils. The idea that we should send less academic pupils to academic institutions than more academically able pupils is a distortion of logic.

[tory88]

The point of a university is to train the best and brightest students to be successful, not to redress social imbalance. That's firmly the job of government, which could do so by improving the education state schooling gives.

[chrisawhitmore]

(Original post by Teaddict)
Nonsense - University should be for the academic elite thus they should be accepting the very best pupils. The idea that we should send less academic pupils to academic institutions than more academically able pupils is a distortion of logic.

More fun propositions using the same logic:

Around 20% of the UK is over 60, perhaps Universities should limit the number of young people they accept to better reflect society

Over 25% of people in the UK have a degree, perhaps Universities should limit the number of students without degrees they accept on to their bachelor's courses to make their intake reflect society better.

Over 70% of the UK population do not have a degree, perhaps Universities should limit the number of students with degrees they accept on to their PHD courses to make them reflect society better.

To clarify, I'm against the idea of any regulation on intake, I'd like to see a system where the University doesn't know where the candidate comes from.

[TheBigGeek]

I always think this stuff is so stupid and short term. They're dealing with the symptom, not the cause.

Instead of making universities take less able students we should improve state education so that state students are of the same calibre.

[electriic_ink]

As a someone who went to a state school, I find the idea that I'm somehow unable to compete with the super-awesome public school students a bit patronising.

[Teaddict]

(Original post by chrisawhitmore)
To clarify, I'm against the idea of any regulation on intake, I'd like to see a system where the University doesn't know where the candidate comes from.

I don't care where students come from, I just care about their academic credentials.

[chrisawhitmore]

(Original post by Teaddict)
I don't care where students come from, I just care about their academic credentials.

Cool, that's basically my view, but I'd make sure that UCAS did not tell Unis where the student was from.

[OMGWTFBBQ]

(Original post by chrisawhitmore)
Cool, that's basically my view, but I'd make sure that UCAS did not tell Unis where the student was from.

The school name would definitely make it into the Academic Reference; or could be deduced by the name of the supporting tutor and five seconds on LinkedIn.

[RobertWhite]

Yes private education is slightly unfair... it's also unfair to limit the amount of kids who come from private schools. They can't help being from a private school and so should not be punished for it. If they're better applicants, then naturally they should be allowed to gain more places. I didn't need a fancy private school to perform my best and to use that as an excuse of your inadequacy is ludicrous.

[Dave454]

I don't think there should be there 'quotas' as such. I went to a comprehensive school, but I wouldn't expect to take the place of a privately educated student who got better grades than me simply because of my state school upbringing. Surely an improvement to the state education system would be a better way of addressing the social imbalance?

[chrisawhitmore]

(Original post by OMGWTFBBQ)
The school name would definitely make it into the Academic Reference; or could be deduced by the name of the supporting tutor and five seconds on LinkedIn.

So just put the position of the person giving the reference, not the name, but have them register with UCAS. Also, have any reference containing the name or location of the school result in a fine for the school.

[M4LLY]

They should just pick the bes of the best irrespective of where they come from

[ANARCHY__]

(Original post by Teaddict)
Nonsense - University should be for the academic elite thus they should be accepting the very best pupils. The idea that we should send less academic pupils to academic institutions than more academically able pupils is a distortion of logic.

There is a difference between the academic elite and academia for elites. I am not sure the field has been levelled just yet. There is no grammar school system in much of the country. If meritocracy should exist, it should exist at every level. Not one.

[King Kebab]

Universities should pick people based on their ability. It should have nothing to do with what school they went to.

[Maker]

I think it makes sense to demand lower A level grades from applicants from state schools because private schools on the whole have better teaching which in effect distorts the true academic potential of applicants.