University - equality of opportunity?

Don Ledingham

Sunday 10 September 2006

We took Douglas, our eldest son, up to Pollock Halls yesterday to settle into his Edinburgh University accomodation. It was beautiful day but the roads around Pollock were jammed with cars of parents taking their children into the halls. I couldn't help noticing that every car seemed to be an expensive and new or newish model. In fact our 10 year old Passat seemed very out of place. That set me to wondering?

Do universities like Edinburgh really provide equality of access for all?

Comments

Cars

Iain

Tuesday 12 September 2006

I don't think he was claiming they define you - if he was, a Head of Education driving a "ten-year old Passat" wouldn't make much sense. But the fact is that only the wealthy can afford new, high-class cars - having something modest says nothing about you, but driving a £30,000+ vehicle suggests you have a lot of money. This is why you see all manner of vehicles outside the average ELC school on a weekday morning, and nothing but brand-new shiny 4x4s and BMWs outside the Compass school in Haddington.

The fact that the Edinburgh Uni car park is full of such cars reinforces my long-held view that Edinburgh University is a fairly elitist establishment, with a high proportion of well-off students, compared to Heriot-Watt or Napier, say. I think it's a pretty valid observation.

Judging someone's character by their car would be shallow - but saying they are wealthy when they are driving something worth more than a small house seems OK to me.