Ucas to enforce 'name-blind' applications to tackle racial bias

Rufus Fotherington-Smyth vs Mason Brown.

Have fun here: http://www.netmums.com/pregnancy/g/the-poshest-baby-names/146586

Gervase Twistleton-Wyckham-Ffynnes is not going to turn up wearing a fake gold chain and Tommy Hilfiger trackie.

There is no law stating you can have a "posh" name if and only if you are posh, and the vast majority of "posh" people do not have a title. Therefore it is not always possible to identify class based on name. So a system of positive bias based on identifying people by their name is not practical. Instead such decisions could be made far more simply by looking at their education history.

Okay. I don't know how accurate their research is, but the The Guardian has an article about how having a "posh" name seems to help when applying to Oxbridge. (Of course, they have the interview process as well, but I'm sure the data can be applied to other Russell Groups universities).

And well, if I was a classist admissions officer and I had to choose between two applicants with equal grades and strength in related extra-circulars, I would go for "Tarquin Spencer-Williamson" and not Cortnie Sprott (?).

My point is that the majority of privately educated people from upper class backgrounds would not be caught out by a "name check", even if some would.

Right, some names from Tatler Bystander

Lady Kitty Spencer, Cosmia Benson-Colpi, Matthew Willamson, Lily Cayzer-Colvin, Dree Hemingway, Lucy Walch, Gyles Brandreth...

To me, they sound rather posh

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Perhaps I have misunderstood your initial point, but that is a contradiction. You initially stated that a name-blind system would advantage the Tarquin Spencer-Williamson types, whilst now you are saying that a name-blind system would disadvantage them.

My original point is that positive discrimination helps the lower classes and racial minorities. So with this gone - by implementing a system that nobody knows the applicant's names, will actually be beneficial to the people that are already favoured.

I'm actually confused - are we on the same page?

I think we may not be understanding each other :-) I also agree positive discrimination is important so as to ensure all people get equal opportunities.

However I thought your original post was saying that if we removed names from applications then universities could not identify who to give contextual offers to and hence this would benefit people from richer backgrounds. But unis do not use names to do this, they use contextual data such as the performance of the applicants schools and how they compared to the average there.

Ah, I see now!

Yes, I agree that my original point on names was weak, so I added in that ethnic minorities will be influenced by this new policy too in my next reply.

So I think we can agree to this: positive discrimination for racial minorities and for low performing schools?

How do you identify class from someone's name?

Benedict Barrington-Smythe vs Barry Smith.

Fairly easily.

It is great idea but there is still going to be an issue once it gets to interview stage.

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How do you identify class from someone's name?

They should somehow make the number not appear until after, to remove bias against nicer numbers.

Hmm. I think this will actually help the middle / upper class, as universities will no longer take positive discrimination into consideration.