The usual comedy

How to fix a problem the wrong way. Despite all the usual protestations, university entrance will be "normed".

In the US, this led to interesting effects. Chinese and Jewish students were declared not to be minorities. Apparently, a real minority is unsuccessful as a group. They even went so far as to put caps on how many could go to certain universities.... For those with a sense of history this was particularly nasty, since one of the first breakthroughs for civil rights in the US was the removing of the quotas (limits) on the number of Jewish students at various universities.

So are we going to have the same stupidity here? The argument is that not enough working class children are going to university. What is actually happening? The evidence is interesting - equally qualified candidates to Oxford and Cambridge, for example, have an equal probability of getting the place. But why is it that half the places go to the private/grammar school entrants?

The simple problem is that many of those from the state sector who do have 4 or 5 As at A grade do not apply to top Universities. That is, they do not put them down on the form. There is no cost associated with requesting them. The form is simply filled in by the pupil/teacher/parents and posted to the general administration service. I repeat, they are not even applying. So, it cannot be reactionary snobs in the universities turning them down.

I have personal and hence anecdotal evidence of what happens - a friend at UCL who had 4 A Levels at A didn't apply to Oxbridge because "They wouldn't take me - I'm not posh". This had been the advice of her teacher. She had not, herself, ever been near either place.....

The old Soviet Union tried the game of giving university places preferentially to the children of "workers". So of course the truly powerful got round this, and it was those in the middle who got the short end of the stick. Interestingly, this was the cause of several defections by mid ranking KGB officers....

Lastly, selecting on class will probably be illegal - A Human Rights lawyer would have a field day, arguing that since a child has no choice in parents or indeed schooling before 16, penalising them for their background would be unjust. Cherie Blair is quite rich enough. How about a campaign to get State school pupils with the requisite grades to sign up for Oxbridge/Russel Group Universities?