Classroom culture war won’t help students

Reform UK’s Suella Braverman claims a two-tier system is failing white students (Pic: Simon Dawson / No10 Downing Street)

The mainstream media is pouring fuel onto another “culture war” fire.

The Guardian newspaper ran a story this week saying, “A third of disadvantaged white pupils in England leave their primary school unable to read well enough to access the secondary school curriculum.”

The claim is based on analysis by the Fischer Family Trust (FFT).

Their study suggests that a higher proportion of what it defines as “white disadvantaged pupils” are failing to meet literacy benchmarks.

That’s compared to “non‑disadvantaged pupils”—33 to 20 percent.

The Guardian has seized on this to talk about the unique disadvantages that “white working class students” face.

But a previous FTT report said, “Disadvantaged Black Caribbean and Mixed White/Black Caribbean pupils have similarly poor outcomes to disadvantaged White pupils.”

The narrative in the mainstream media only plays into the far right’s talk of “two-tier” Britain.

Similarly, the Telegraph newspaper has claimed this week that “white working class students” are excluded from scholarships at universities.

The right wing rag quotes Suella Braverman, Reform UK’s education spokesman.

“This is yet another example of two-tier academic society that punishes white working class boys and girls because of who they are,” she says.

To back up this claim, it points to a small number of scholarships at a small number of universities on offer to students from Black and Minority Ethnic backgrounds.

Across Britain, such schemes exist at only 19 universities.

Instead, it quotes a “white student from a working class family” who claims that he had been excluded “on grounds of ethnicity” from a leading university.

He was unable to secure funding to cover accommodation and living costs.

Again, it points to the real problem facing all working class people—how unaffordable higher education has become.

The selective use of statistics to push these sorts of “culture war” arguments is playing into the hands of Nigel Farage and Reform UK.

Instead, we should be fighting for an education system puts all working class students first. That means a boost in funding for starters.