David Lammy’s revelation about Oxbridge’s “apartheid” raises many pertinent issues, but yet fundamentally misses the point. As a current third-year student at Keble College of ethnic minority and state school background, I would argue that while the statistics presented are shocking, Oxford is not solely to blame.
Statistics are the basis of Lammy’s argument but he often approaches them in the wrong way. “There are more offers made to students from one school – Eton – than students on free school meals across the whole country,” he says. However, the issue is not about how many students from Eton are at Oxford, it’s about how many students from Eton applied to go to Oxford; it’s not about how many students from ethnic minority backgrounds are at Oxford, it’s about how many of these students applied. Read more