On the front page of educationguardian the headline is “Segregation, 2006 style” as
“Figures on the ethnicity of students in higher education show a disturbing racial divide amongst universities”
Inside the cover, Trevor Philips, Chair of the Commission for Racial Equality, complains about the “institutional racism” that keeps
blacks “students of African-Caribbean heritage” out of the “holy trinity” of Oxford, Cambridge, and Imperial.
Meanwhile, on the “Opinion” page of the same section of the newspaper, Philip Beadle objects to any hint of selection by ability in government policy because it’s, er, well, like “more right wing than Stanley Matthews”, man; and the real educational segregation—selection by house price, by social class, and by school fee—rumbles on, undisturbed.
Here’s how the Metro reported it today: “Racial segregation in universities poses a deadly threat to society, [Trevor Phillips] warned yesterday. […] He blamed poor exam results among some ethnic minorities for their continuing failure to win places at leading universities.” Note also that the sociologist who produced the report, Tariq Modood, is quoted as saying “the single biggest factor that explains the trend is A-level score”.
Clearly, then, the exams themselves are racist. Why don’t we just abolish them altogether, and make education compulsory until the age of 21? That would put a stop to this monstrous policy of segregation at a stroke.