White, working class boys are the UK’s most underprivileged

WHITE, working-class boys from low-income homes are by far the most underprivileged children in Britain in comparison with any other major ethnic group, according to evidence given at the Education Committee’s inquiry into why poor white children do so badly at school by Professor Matthew Goodwin.

According to the Department for Education, just 13 per cent of white boys from families on benefits, go on to higher education.

Yet 27 per cent of similar black Caribbean boys go to university, 42 per cent of Pakistani, 51 per cent of black African and 66 per cent of Chinese boys. 

It is a staggering fact that only two per cent of white, working-class children get into the most prestigious universities.

There has been much pressure on academics to promote diversity and inclusion, to unleash what some refer to as the ‘untapped potential’ of children from minority ethnic backgrounds.

As part of this, staff at universities are often asked to take tests to establish whether they are unconsciously biased or racist. Yet the conversation is all about multi-culturalism and almost never includes the role of class.

Our universities seem oblivious to the problem of raising educational standards for the white working class.

These boys who underachieve so badly do not come from a minority, let alone a fashionable one. They are even too unfashionable to have a hashtag or cultural campaign.

This does not explain the shocking failure of politicians to recognise and support them. In particular, the Labour Party, which was set up to speak for the working class, and now seems to have turned its back on them completely.

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Written by

Charlie Loran

Manchester born mummy with a two year old diva (2020), living on the Costa del Sol for just short of a decade.
Former chef and restaurateur, holistic health fanatic and lover of long words.

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