BMJ 2013;347:f6352 doi: 10.1136/bmj.f6352 (Published 22 October 2013)
Page 1 of 1
Views & Reviews
VIEWS & REVIEWS FROM THE FRONTLINE
Which is the best medical school? Des Spence general practitioner, Glasgow immobility is fake. The claim that tuition fees do not deter poor students is just not credible, and charitable bursaries demean these applicants.5
So does social privilege end at the university gate? Can we compare students who have to work while studying with those who do not? Unpaid work experience or internships are not an option for poor students. Similarly, professional progression after graduation might involve intercalated degrees and research doctorates with little pay. But after graduation the poor need to get on with making a living, without being able to rely on the bank of mum and dad. Graduates from poor backgrounds, especially those heavily in debt, can less afford to climb an uncertain professional career ladder.
The scramble for university places in the United Kingdom has begun. So which is the best medical school? In terms of attainment, Oxbridge cleans up again.1 2 Interestingly, in one year only 45 children who receive free school meals were admitted to Oxbridge,3 fewer than were accepted from Winchester, a single private school. As someone who qualified for free school meals, I was lucky to get into medicine at all. We comprehensive types may tend to end up in lowly inner city general practice, but I am content—insubordination never lent itself to hospital service.
So can we overcome this persistent elitism? There’s an old trick used to bypass equality legislation in employment. Just write the job description for the candidate you have already chosen. So it is with university admissions: candidates are preselected with written profiles and qualifications that skew acceptance toward middle class and privately educated kids. The odds are loaded against poor students. Private tutoring is a social contagion, inflicted on as many as 40% of children in London.4 Universities’ attempts to adjust for this advantage in admissions is tokenistic. The regret expressed over social
Our system wastes potential talent and perpetuates classism. The poor suffer from the effects of systemic discrimination in school, at university, and then afterwards. But the educated are either too stupid or complicit to acknowledge this fact. Which is the best medical school? What a fatuous question. Competing interests: I have read and understood the BMJ Group policy on declaration of interests and have no relevant interests to declare. Provenance and peer review: Commissioned; not externally peer reviewed. 1 2 3 4
5
McManus IC. Graduates of different UK medical schools show substantial differences in performance on MRCP(UK) Part 1, Part 2 and PACES examinations. BMC Med 2008;6:5. The Guardian. University guide 2013: league table for medicine. Guardian 2012 May 22. www.theguardian.com/education/table/2012/may/22/university-guide-medicine. Department for Education. The importance of teaching: the schools white paper 2010. www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/175429/CM-7980. pdf. Wallop H. “I’ve called in a private tutor to give my child a chance in the academic arms race.” Telegraph 2013 Oct 8. www.telegraph.co.uk/education/secondaryeducation/ 10364395/Ive-called-in-a-private-tutor-to-give-my-child-a-chance-in-the-academic-armsrace.html. Russell Group. More students from poorest areas entering university, finds major study. 2010. http://www.russellgroup.ac.uk/russell-group-latest-news/121-2010/4072-morestudents-from-poorest-areas-entering-university.
Cite this as: BMJ 2013;347:f6352 © BMJ Publishing Group Ltd 2013
[email protected] For personal use only: See rights and reprints http://www.bmj.com/permissions
Subscribe: http://www.bmj.com/subscribe
Page 1 of 1
Views & Reviews
VIEWS & REVIEWS FROM THE FRONTLINE
Which is the best medical school? Des Spence general practitioner, Glasgow immobility is fake. The claim that tuition fees do not deter poor students is just not credible, and charitable bursaries demean these applicants.5
So does social privilege end at the university gate? Can we compare students who have to work while studying with those who do not? Unpaid work experience or internships are not an option for poor students. Similarly, professional progression after graduation might involve intercalated degrees and research doctorates with little pay. But after graduation the poor need to get on with making a living, without being able to rely on the bank of mum and dad. Graduates from poor backgrounds, especially those heavily in debt, can less afford to climb an uncertain professional career ladder.
The scramble for university places in the United Kingdom has begun. So which is the best medical school? In terms of attainment, Oxbridge cleans up again.1 2 Interestingly, in one year only 45 children who receive free school meals were admitted to Oxbridge,3 fewer than were accepted from Winchester, a single private school. As someone who qualified for free school meals, I was lucky to get into medicine at all. We comprehensive types may tend to end up in lowly inner city general practice, but I am content—insubordination never lent itself to hospital service.
So can we overcome this persistent elitism? There’s an old trick used to bypass equality legislation in employment. Just write the job description for the candidate you have already chosen. So it is with university admissions: candidates are preselected with written profiles and qualifications that skew acceptance toward middle class and privately educated kids. The odds are loaded against poor students. Private tutoring is a social contagion, inflicted on as many as 40% of children in London.4 Universities’ attempts to adjust for this advantage in admissions is tokenistic. The regret expressed over social
Our system wastes potential talent and perpetuates classism. The poor suffer from the effects of systemic discrimination in school, at university, and then afterwards. But the educated are either too stupid or complicit to acknowledge this fact. Which is the best medical school? What a fatuous question. Competing interests: I have read and understood the BMJ Group policy on declaration of interests and have no relevant interests to declare. Provenance and peer review: Commissioned; not externally peer reviewed. 1 2 3 4
5
McManus IC. Graduates of different UK medical schools show substantial differences in performance on MRCP(UK) Part 1, Part 2 and PACES examinations. BMC Med 2008;6:5. The Guardian. University guide 2013: league table for medicine. Guardian 2012 May 22. www.theguardian.com/education/table/2012/may/22/university-guide-medicine. Department for Education. The importance of teaching: the schools white paper 2010. www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/175429/CM-7980. pdf. Wallop H. “I’ve called in a private tutor to give my child a chance in the academic arms race.” Telegraph 2013 Oct 8. www.telegraph.co.uk/education/secondaryeducation/ 10364395/Ive-called-in-a-private-tutor-to-give-my-child-a-chance-in-the-academic-armsrace.html. Russell Group. More students from poorest areas entering university, finds major study. 2010. http://www.russellgroup.ac.uk/russell-group-latest-news/121-2010/4072-morestudents-from-poorest-areas-entering-university.
Cite this as: BMJ 2013;347:f6352 © BMJ Publishing Group Ltd 2013
[email protected] For personal use only: See rights and reprints http://www.bmj.com/permissions
Subscribe: http://www.bmj.com/subscribe
