Saturday, March 08, 2014

Acting up

So, according to Peter Brant, head of policy at the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, "working-class children should learn to be middle class to get on in life". I wonder if he's bothered to consider the alternative: that, rather than having to modify their behaviour, working-class children should have the obstacles placed in their way removed to ensure a level playing field. Just a thought.

(Thanks to Adam for the link.)

2 comments:

Peter Brant said...

Hi,

You might be interested in the full blog as something got a little bit lost in translation in media reports lf it https://smcpcommission.blog.gov.uk/2014/02/26/whos-frightened-of-being-middle-class/

The points you raise are good ones and one of the areas the Commission is focused on is tackling the structural barriers that people from less advantaged backgrounds face in fulfilling their potential (e.g. through challenging elite universities and businesses about unconscious biases in their recruitment processes among other things).

Ben said...

Thanks for the link, Peter. Good to know that that sort of work is being undertaken.