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?

This thread demonstrates why HR should screen out personal details prior to shortlisting

For every person doing this in the "name of social justice" there is a different type of bigot screening out people on ethnicity, religion, sex etc.

Data from a "census by the Independent Schools Council (ISC) - hardly an unbiased source.

Which also reveals that 82% of private school pupils do not have a disability. And proportionally not that different from the state sector.

Assuming this is real rather than a fantasy then allowing your bitterness to dominate your life is terribly sad. The ‘rejected’ candidate will easily get as good or better jobs elsewhere where the actual potential of a candidate matters more than the ego of a chippy and insecure recruiter.

And I am not privately educated myself -in my country the private schools are b so religious so so don’t have that obsession that some British have over where someone went to school. How narrow to categorise people like that…

So when any redistributive policy is enacted it's simply because those calling for it are "insecure" and "chippy". You do realise the most successful societies by most metrics in Europe, have vastly smaller, or no, private school sectors don't you?

This is blatantly a goadie thread.

In fact I’m surprised it’s still here.

I agree though that details should be removed at application stage to stop this kind of prejudice.

Either way I don’t believe the OP is educated at all neither do I believe she has anything to do with any kind of recruitment. Likely she just isn’t bright enough to get into a decent university, and instead of taking responsibility for her own achievements she feels the need to blame private school kids, predominantly because they’re ripe for the picking on mn.

Thanks for that - you made my DP chuckle.

Hello?
"You do realise the most successful societies by most metrics in Europe, have vastly smaller, or no, private school sectors don't you?"
Which 'societies' would that be?

OP- my point is, you are attempting to take a hammer to crack a nut, and show no understanding of the nuances with regards to tackling inequality. There aren’t any private schools in Northern Ireland but yet people who do academically better and get to a grammar school- shock horror- still do better in the long term.
Also- there is plenty of nepotism in other sectors- may not be in relation to private schools, but to do with other factors.

We try to remove the obstacles for kids from lower-income families, internships now have to be paid and they are advertised and hopefully, that side of the process has become a little bit fairer. I think for years the privileged have received more than their due - I do applaud you for your good work.

My efforts have been very successful in increasing diversity in educational (and also social) background in the companies I have worked in. That has been my goal.

You're evaluating my actions against different metrics.

I can assure you in my sector there is a great deal of bias towards the privately educated.

Huh? The counter argument is that what you’re doing is discriminatory and in the best interests of no one…….except, perhaps, you.

Massive ego alert.

Maythe4th- yep. Am with you. 😂

I am sure there is bias, but you don’t address that by putting a blanket ban on anyone with a private education applying!

What about the interests of the many state-school candidates I have offered employment to, who otherwise would have been denied the chance to work in a lucrative industry?

It should be the best person for the job based on how they perform at interview!! To suggest that if you haven’t been to a private school you can’t perform well at interview is incorrect.
Also- non privately educated children also are perfectly able to get good GCSE and A Level results! Northern Ireland consistently gets the best results in the UK and no private schools.

What you are doing is actually quite offensive- ‘you didn’t go to a private school so, god love you, we can’t expect you to do as well!’.

It was massively skewed though - Dh and I were the only state educated ones at our City magic circle law firm in the early 2000s I reckon it’s why we got together- like minded souls in a sea of toffs!

There is a certain confidence that many get from private education that means they often interview well.

I have experience of both sectors and am able, mostly, to cut through that and evaluate accordingly.

@EastLondonObserver I work in a similar field and I actively seek to support those entering the industry via Sutton Trust, Villiers etc. Perhaps that would be a more positive way forward. I don't believe in disadvantaging people based on their parents' choices

But equally there are lots of people who haven’t been to a private school who are confident, and a good interviewer should be able to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Blanket refusal to interview is just silly.

I hate small-minded bigotry.
I went to prep school, a direct grant school in a labour area. in the vith form, the council told school that for the previous 6 years I'd been entitled to free school meals, but due to their prejudice hadn't bothered to tell school.
Probably OP you'd have done the same.b

So just to be clear, you would throw away an application from a private school pupil even if that application were accompanied by a request for reasonable adjustments that indicated that person was disabled?

And you would expect that individual to be comforted by the fact that the majority of their peers are not disabled?

While so many areas of lucrative employment, the arts and politics are so heavily dominated by the privately educated through nepotism and favouritism towards them, I'm afraid fire has to be fought with fire.

Yes, my approach is blunt, but it works.