only 452 black students in the UK met Oxfords entry requirements!

Thanks for enlightening us there. I'm glad to know my medical education is entirely based on the 'token' gift of a government-pleasing tutor and nothing to do with any merit of my own.

Also, I'd hardly call 50% of the intake a token amount. In fact, considering this is roughly the same proportion that apply I would suggest that the willingness to provide 'token offers' has not been exhausted and that any limitations lie further down the pipeline.

Oxford defends its lack of blacks by claiming the statistics were skewed and that they in fact admitted 30 to 40 students of African heritage last year. They then claim that:

"only 452 black students across the country had even achieved the A-level results demanded by Oxford to meet its minimum entry requirements for the 2009-10 academic year." [1]

Do you reckon this statistic is accurate? When I did AS levels I wasn't aware the examiners knew my ethnicity.

If it IS accurate, what do people make of it? Where does the fault lie? Is it a damning indictment of the low aspirations of British students of African heritage, or is it society wot is to blame?

...

Grammar school is/was wasted on you as your too stupid to understand basic statments. You’re not getting the point I’m making and I’ve repeated it 3 times EVERYBODY else got it except you! How is it a racist policy? (This is a rhetorical question as I don’t want you to reply) many companies are FORCED to have more ethnic employees etc so is that also racist? NO its law. So I suggested the same for grammar schools. You haven’t actually added anything useful to this thread and I shall repeat the last statement of you having a skewed view of life, but have a nice one

Discrimination on the basis of race? Yes...

And kudos on calling me stupid, guess I'll being seeing you at MM soon...

becuase going to MMU makes me stupid ok then it couldnt have been a choice at all it must be becuase i couldnt hit the entry grades for any other uni ohh PS check the track and your see i rejected Aston,Bournemonth and brunel and insuranced Keele but what do i know im too stupid LOL kudos well deserved

Seriously? I take my point back! Such a highly competitive course, at such highly competitive universities, means you must be far far more intelligent then me

im sure aston is a highly regarded uni or did i just pull that information out of the daily mail not 2 sure i'll go check BRB

Oh sorry I missed that awe-insipering insitution... I now humbly accept my title of idiot...

Oxford are going to take their best students. That's it. You can't choose to take students over others mainly due to their race.

Of course they will, but my point was directed towards the fact that not enough black students are achieving the necessary grades. That is something to care about.

thats what going to a bog standard school does
and the socio-economic factors
and your general environment and aspirations of people around you

the problems are deep rooted by the time your applying to uni.

Errr...while that may be true for a lot of black students, it certainly isn't like that for all black students.

I never implied Oxford was racist. I was intrigued by the article and thought it would be a good topic to post - guaranteed to start some writhing TSR angst.

"who cares" is not the right attitude though. There is an interesting story in these statistics, I feel.

Well I care because it's plain unfair and grammar schools should be brought back to enable poor people (of any ethnicity) compete for top universities - even I at a private school think it's unfair.

EDIT: Hmmmm nice to get negged for showing sympathy and decency. Just shows that I should be the Conservative everyone expects of me then...

Hmm. Have you ever considered that if you want to do well in life and have a highly successful career you are going to have to get on well with, and compete with, these people. It is much easier to do both if you have been educated with them and established a network of contacts among them. They are not the enemy, nor are they to be despised, they are to be emulated.

It is a mixture.

But it is no ones fault per say. Therr are defining stats about over-achieving chinese peopoe, under-achieving pakistani people, and white people who cannot even spell their name. It is not Oxfords fault, the society we live in plays a small (but influential) role in the construct of academic success of various different races, but a lot (imo) has got to do with the way they have been brought up.

If your parents are educated/well off/cultured/academically pushy it will be naturally easier for you to do better at school.

Unfortunately not all people come from a background like that.
I'm white, my sister got pregnant in her last year of school and I have a brother who passed away in hospital after getting into gang fights. I came under a special scheme organised by the uni which frankly was there to help chavs and people from ****ty backgrounds achieve and get into Uni. It was not the Unia fault that no one in my family had got any form of higher education or that most of my family were on benefits etc. yet they made allowances to 'widen participation'

Cameron is a cock for even bring race into it. Yes more should be done to get under-achievers reaching their goals etc but it has nor much to do with colour explicitly. There are tonnes of brainy/well off black people but even more less fortunate black people without a stable household. There ought to be some way of bridging the gap and helping all student who aspire to go to uni but who are held back by the social dyna,ic of their household - be they white, black, yellow, orange w/e.

Don't blame Oxford, don't blame the government. Social equality is an issue for all of us and there is no way of fixing it unless we take serious steps in educating and providing for those who cannot themeselves. Our government gives financial aid to families without income so why do we not give academic help to those who cannot access it/have low academic prospects purely due to a factor OUT OF THEIR CONTROL?!?!?! It's not fair. It's not right.

Nice Essay