Re the proposal that class should become a protected characteristic (Editorial, 30 January), my son is 21. He is studying biochemistry and is in the final year of a four-year course. He is job-seeking. In that endeavour, he has had the misfortune to have been born to professional parents.
His mother (me) is a solicitor and his father an accountant. He went to a selective state grammar school – the very type of school designed to create social mobility. He lives in a “good” postcode and never had free school meals. As a result, his job opportunities seem to be limited. The eligibility requirements of many job advertisements in biosciences exclude him because of his selective school. For some applications, he must give his parents’ postcode, their job titles and level of education. It seems designed to exclude him from the first sift.
The injustice is that both of us (his parents) strived hard from working-class backgrounds. We started from nothing and used vigour, drive and determination, together with a strong work ethic, to gain the returns we have made. Our son is instilled with the same ethics and drive, but he will be excluded from the same chances, because of our efforts.
Bring on “class” as a protected characteristic. The only problem will be defining what that is. We might be professionals, but we are definitely working class – and so is our son.
Name and address supplied
• The problem of declining representation of the working class at top levels extends far beyond the arts (Report sets out ‘blueprint for change’ to increase working-class representation in the arts, 26 January). It is no coincidence that the decline is contemporary, with the introduction of comprehensive education in the 1970s.
In the early 1960s, I attended a leading independent school, where about half the pupils were fully funded by the county council. I then attended an Oxford college where a majority of students came from state grammar schools, mostly in the north of England. These students went on to play leading roles in society. Such opportunities no longer exist.
A well-intended reform to improve opportunity for all seems to have had the opposite effect. To have any chance of lasting success, the “class ceiling” movement will have to bite the bullet and undertake a radical review of secondary education in the UK.
David Bell
Harrow, London
• Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
