UK social classes

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 6

social classes and education

 

Britain is ‘the most class-ridden society under the sun’ (George Orwell)

1. Read the article via the link on the next slide. 

2. Try and answer the questions in the slide after it.

Think about education an classes, but do gain a little more insight by reading first, so

www.theguardian.com

1. The article argues that education in the UK involves inequality. Write down the 2 most convincing arguments according to you.
2. Explain the title ‘Working-class children get less of everything in education - including respect’.
3. What would you call the overall tone of voice of text? A. Matter-of-fact, B. Ironic, C. Persuasive
4. Give at least one example from the text that illustrates the answer you picked regarding question 3.

Remember these concepts

The Elitist Britain report (2019), released as Old Etonian Boris Johnson and former Charterhouse head boy Jeremy Hunt vie to be the next prime minister, looked at the backgrounds of 5,000 individuals.

It found a number of public bodies are still dominated by private school alumni – including senior judges (65 per cent), civil service permanent secretaries (59 per cent – a rise of 4 percentage points) and the Lords (57 per cent – a rise of 8 percentage points).

There has been “isolated pockets of positive change” over the past five years with a slight decline of private school over-representation, but “persistent inequality” remains, it says.

It adds that power rests with a “narrow section of the population” – the 7 per cent who attend private schools in Britain and the 1 per cent who graduate from Oxford and Cambridge.

What do you make of this?

social polariz/sation

The splitting of a society into two distinct groups that are different ends of a spectrum, such as rich and poor, or white and black. (oxfordreference.com)

Time to work on your weektask