To think being prejudiced against the privately educated is OK

[EastLondonObserver]

I have spent 25 years working in the advertising industry at some of the most highly regarded agencies in the world. Most of these have been dominated (in certain roles, at least) by the privately educated who gained their entry to the industry through having personal/family contacts in it, were subbed by rich parents while working in low-paid or free internships to gain experience and had that empty confidence private schools instil.

Perfectly capable graduates educated comprehensive schools didn't get much of a look in. However a few managed to break through, including myself.

Consequently, throughout my career I have actively rejected almost all privately educated graduates applying for entry level positions. This runs into hundreds of applicants. I have managed to do this without being called out. Sometimes I have rejected them even when they clearly would have done a better job than a comprehensive school educated alternative. These were corporate companies - it made no meaningful difference to me if they were mildly less successful as a consequence. The only exception was one graduate educated at Harrow and Bristol. I gave him the job as an experiment. He was average at best.

I did this in the name of social justice: re-distributing opportunities away from those with unearned privilege.

Have I been unreasonable? Has anyone else done the same?

YABU

You’re gonna get a pasting here but yes, when I was hiring I did the same. Oxbridge CVs went straight in the bin.

YABVU

YABU. Best person for the job regardless of background.

Yabu. Best person for the job should get it. Kids are not responsible for where their parents send them to school

As long as it’s also ok for people to discriminate against people from State schools then you crack on

You sound like you have a massive chip on your shoulder. If you have failed to select candidates based on their qualities and fit for the job, you have failed your employers.

Perhaps think about championing a scheme whereby your employer sponsors those less well off through college or whatever qualifications they need.

Wow. I can’t believe anyone would do that rather than looking at applications on merit. Especially given you’re punishing people for decisions their parents made.

This seems silly if you don’t look at the school that came beforehand. I saw Cambridge as a way to escape my shitty estate.

Right so a kid from a council estate who gets in on a scholarship and is the first in their family to go to uni and gets into a good uni graduates with no parental support and gets stuck serving coffee because of this inverse snobbery. I know several people this happened to. YABU.

I would frame this as positive discrimination towards the state school educated, rather than negative discrimination towards the privately educated. You're probably providing a much needed counterbalance to the hiring policies of your peers, by the sound of it.

No I don’t think it’s ok.

People should be picked on merit. People don’t choose where they are educated until university (sometimes not even then)

I think there’s nothing wrong with ensuring non privately educated people get an equal shot and opportunities. Or even a given a slight advantage in the interviewing process.

But to disregard people over a decision their parent made doesn’t sit right with me. Not the end of the world because they will have other advantages.

I wasn’t privately educated, neither are my children. On paper, we fit into the ‘disadvantaged background’ section. But it’s still not something I would do.

This

YANBU. Those people will not have struggled to get a job elsewhere. You’ve given people a chance who might not otherwise have had it and boosted social mobility.

(Hope you’re not a troll)

They do

Blind hiring is a good solution to this. No names or education listed on job applications, so everyone applying gets a fair shot. More places are starting to do it.

You are being very unreasonable. It's not their fault their parents sent them to a private school. They might have done well out of it, they might not.

What you should do instead is to take positive measures to level the playing field so that state educated applicants are not disadvantaged.

What an awful thing to do - this is simply "the politics of envy" and does you no credit at all.

YABU - punishing people for their parents choices isn't something to be proud of.

I went to a grammar-turned-comp. DH was sent to an independent school. We did the same uni course, and at various points compared our education - mine had nearly all been better. He'd had to teach himself and his friends A level chemistry because the teacher was so crap.

Sometimes I have rejected them even when they clearly would have done a better job than a comprehensive school educated alternative

By all means if you've got two equal candidates use schooling as a criterion for a tie break, but otherwise you're doing your employer a disservice.

Yes, I admire you for it. State school pupils often lack the social capital which private school pupils possess, so I think you are totally correct in doing this.

What about the children from armed forces backgrounds who were put into subsidised boarding schools? Or those with additional needs who were placed in the most appropriate, sometimes private school?
Prejudice is a stupid and ignorant choice.

Love that they’re saying this all affronted about the advertising industry 😂 especially higher up. Yes they 100% do hire based on school name, OP is the balancing act

I don't know if this is still the case, but the first firms trying this found they'd recruited more privately educated applicants than before. The idea is good but it may not work in practice.

Awful. That chip on your shoulder is massive. What about kids from poorer backgrounds who worked hard to get bursaries and scholarships into private schools and Oxbridge? You sound power mad.

Wow. That's really nasty. I come from a very poor background where I had a high amount of trauma due to neglect and abuse. I won a scholarship to a private school and then Oxbridge. Although I wanted to, I didn't kill myself because it enabled me to find a way out of my situation by getting high grades and a good job. Not everyone who goes to private school is rich and privileged.