Working class children need to try to be more middle class to get on!

[rollonthesummer]

www.telegraph.co.uk/education/10671048/Working-class-children-must-learn-to-be-middle-class-to-get-on-in-life-government-advisor-says.html

usual the best Labour can come up with for working class is the Scouser granny of Andy Burnham.

I Don't know anyone who has given what class they are any thought. The most successful people I know would probably say - Working class, with their Broad Northern Accents also the fact that not one of them as any higher level qualifications or has even set foot in a University .

They have managed to overcome the massive Hurdle that not having a University Education has enforced on them . Yeah it has caused them massive problems ( Every single one of them is richest 1 per cent of the country in either salary or wealth).

It is to simplistic to put down opportunities or probability of success in life down to whether you are Working or middle class. Whatever that definition is its not the reason why some will succeed others wont .

How would you know if someone was a WC lawyer??

What would mark them out?

I know one who wore red on her first appearance in court, does that count as a lack of soft skills?

A regional accent on a lawyer (or anyone else for that matter) would not mark them out as from a WC background, but would merely mark them out as not public school educated with an RP accent.

Again, there is a huge swathe of MC people in between Vicki Pollard and Kirstie Allsopp.

On the other hand, sloppy grammar, dialect and slang, the inability to write in formal English, and poor/inappropriate dress sense for the business environment will mark you out as WC. And probably not a lawyer.

Erin Brockovich anyone?

Fridge, I don't agree that there is a feeling on this thread that a taxi driver can't be cultured. Many posters, including myself, have said that the view of WC people as thickos is insulting. I personally posted about my WC background filled with books and politics!

What most people have said is there is less likelihood of WC people being exposed to certain things because of lack of opportunity, money, contacts etc!

Agree that many kids won't think certain jobs are for them because they can't identify with the people doing those jobs. But I know for a fact that a lot of WC people don't know certain jobs exist. Not doctors/lawyers etc, but some more less-known MC jobs that you might only hear about because your parents friends/neighbours etc do them. So unless you have very good career guidance, lack of knowledge in that area is another barrier.

I'm a lawyer from WC background with a strong regional accent by the way, on a separate point! I've even been let loose in court! But it's harder for me to prove myself, without a doubt, and I've been made to feel and have felt inferior.

I wasn't being serious about EB, I just had an image of her and her mini skirt and low cut vest top pop into my head when I talked about lawyers and inappropriate clothing.

In the UK, middle class is a synonym for "educated" and working class is a synonym for "uneducated".

That isn't always true Bonsoir but it's true enough.

It's what Gove is referring to, though - the uneducated working class need to aspire to be more educated middle class.

You know if WC children saw more WC politicians, Lawyers etc who spoke with regional accents and didn't come across as public school 'poshos' then maybe they would think 'I will have some of that'

That's never going to happen if they are told to become like them or to pretend to be like them.

This is so important and one of the reasons why as a teacher I make it very clear that I am working class. I speak clearly but with a regional accent and have my own colloquialisms. I know that I bemuse my middle class colleagues with my " funny ways" but it is is important that working class children see that you can be like them and successful.

It will not pretend to be someone that I am not, firstly because I like being me and secondly by pretending to be someone else I am keeping the division alive.

Bonsior I am highly educated, I have a degree from a university that middle class parents wet their knickers at the throughout of attending. I have a second degree which was a first class degree. I have a masters and further post graduate qualifications.

Because middle class people tend to define class as soon as you have an attribute they value you seem to become middle class.

Because middle class people tend to define class as soon as you have an attribute they value you seem to become middle class.

My god, that's SO true.

That's why it's so difficult to define. It's not one thing in isolation, but one or any number of specific things in combination. Even if you have one of htose qualities but not others (an RP accent being the main and most obvious indicator) you can be a piss-poor, thick as a brick waster and people will still see you as MC.

Philoslothy. What as your Class or background got to do with being "odd".
Anybody who comments on your accent or colloquialisms is a "Sad" person and needs to get a life. The only thing that matters is that you are a good and caring teacher not where and how you grew up.

What has your Class or background got to do with being "odd".

I am seen as odd because most of my colleagues are achingly middle class. Of course I am very aware that I am completely normal.

I grew up in a very poor area. My father taught us very strict table manners and it wasn't until I was well in my adulthood, that I discovered many of the things that I was taught as good table manners, are supposedly signs of being posh.

My mum took us to museums, galleries, the library and loads of free or very cheap cultural events.

No one in my family had been to University. It didn't stop them making sure their kids got to experience a range of things in life.