The Student Room Group

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Reply 1
Yeh i saw that.
he can't really say anything different though can he considering he was picking up an award froma uni with such a chip on their shoulder they have had a rename.
and he wouldnt relaly know what its like now would he surely?
Reply 2
Well... he did go there.
He's welcome to his opinion. But I get the feeling people take him more seriously because he's famous. If some random person in the street said that nobody would care. Why should we care because its Steven Fry?
Reply 3
Calvin
Why should we care because its Steven Fry?

You've answered your own q.
Reply 4
All right for those who have had their Cam education to complain! If he didn't approve why did he go there himself?
Reply 5
I don't get it...what is Anglia Ruskin University?
It's hardly a new concept to suggest that Oxbridge (or one half, but let's face it applies to both) might be elitist, is it now?
kalen
I don't get it...what is Anglia Ruskin University?
It's the Cambridge version of Brookes
Reply 8
Feefifofum
It's the Cambridge version of Brookes


Ohhh :p: I didn't know there is another uni in Cambridge...

edited to add: So is he saying that going to Cambridge Brookes is the same as going to Cam minus the elitism?rofl! good sense of humor...
Reply 9
of course Cambridge is an elite university; that's the whole point of it. In fact, the whole point of universities generally is to gather an (academic) 'elite' together to advance human understanding. [Trivial things like curing cancer and the like].
However, this is not to advocate elitISM, which as i understand it, is a kind of snobbery; or a belief in leadership by an elite. A university like Cambridge, where so many are gathered purely on the basis of ability, is the antithesis of elitISM.
Fry
"Here at Anglia Ruskin University they have the advantage of not having all that pressure and not being surrounded by idiots who think they are in Brideshead Revisited but still have all the same architecture and facilities."


They might not have the idiots, but they certainly don't get to live in colleges or have supervisions with Cambridge academics. There seems to be a confusion here between social snobbery and intellectual elitism.
Reply 11
Is there "social snobbery" at Cambridge then? I mean, I've heard all the rumours, but haven't visited Cambridge, so I wouldn't know myself.
I know people at Oxford who are the most gormless fools you could imagine, Im sure cam students can be gormless fools too. You don't need to be intelligent to get As and impress an admissions tutor.
Reply 13
I think that Cambridge (and Oxford) is probably less elitist now than when Stephen Fry went there. He's 48, so he started there about 30 years ago (1975)...I went to an Oxbridge open day, and I didn't get the impression that it was elitist at all - there was such a great mix of people there...
Reply 14
I think it's hypocritical for someone who gained so much from the opportunities he got through footlights etc, and the professional partnerships he made while he was here, to then turn around and complain. He didn't have to come.
Reply 15
Gotta love Stephen Fry, the man is a legend.

But in this case, take him with a pinch of salt. The snobbery and elitism is probably there, somewhere, if you look for it. But why would you want to do that? As far as I can tell, a bigger problem here is inferiority complexes - people don't think they are good enough to be here - no matter what their background (though they are always wrong).

That isn't to say that this fishbowl isn't 'different' - something in the water, perhaps? - but snobbery? Naw.
Hmm, I stayed over a night at Cambridge not long ago and it didn't actually seem too bad at all, but I imagine it can seem very elitist...

It's no secret though, I mean, what do you expect from a university that takes the best students in the country?

Saying that, Stephen Fry has no idea how elitist Cambridge is now, and he shouldn't really make such comments. The UK in general was more elitist when he was at uni, let alone Cambridge...
Reply 17
Beekeeper

Saying that, Stephen Fry has no idea how elitist Cambridge is now, and he shouldn't really make such comments.

How do you know he has no idea and why shouldn't he make comments?
notyourpunk
How do you know he has no idea and why shouldn't he make comments?


He knows as much about Cambridge uni right now as I do...

You can't make valuable comments about an institution you attended decades ago, it defies all logic.

What awful alumni you have, a comedian humiliating cambridge for being elitist, as if they haven't got enough problems already...
How do you know how much he knows?

Hes an alumnus, and as such I'm sure has kept in contact with the place over the years. I think he even has a house there...