A combination of British angst and American complacency may be the beginning of a great reversal
Paine’s argument has been a fixture of British thinking ever since. “England is the most class-ridden country under the sun,” George Orwell complained in 1941: “a land of snobbery and privilege”. In William Golding’s novel, “Rites of Passage”, published in 1980, a character laments that “Class is the British language”. And it is to America that the British habitually look for opportunity unencumbered by nonsense about parentage and the pronunciation of the letter “h”.
Social mobility stagnated in both countries as the winners from the Thatcher and Reagan revolutions consolidated their gains. But Britain is trying much harder than America to get it going once again. : Britain is becoming more meritocratic, even as America becomes less so. The two countries’ differing trajectories are perhaps most obvious in education, especially in admissions to the universities that act as gatekeepers to the elite. A comparison of Oxford and Harvard is telling. Oxford is trying hard to attract poor and working-class applicants, and several of its colleges have introduced a “foundation year” to get them up to speed before they start degree courses.
By contrast Harvard, like other elite American universities, practises plutocracy modified by affirmative action for African-American applicants and, to a lesser extent, Hispanic ones. The intention is to compensate for the terrible injustice of slavery and, more broadly, to find merit where it was once overlooked. But it is undermined by an almost wilful blindness to disadvantage that stems from class, not race.
México Últimas Noticias, México Titulares
Similar News:También puedes leer noticias similares a ésta que hemos recopilado de otras fuentes de noticias.
Selena Gomez Speaks Out Against ‘Tasteless’ Joke About Her Kidney Transplant on ‘The Good Fight’“I am not sure how writing jokes about organ transplants for television shows has become a thing...”
Leer más »
How Britain became an Olympic powerA 'no-compromise' approach was key, and sports management was professionalised
Leer más »
Coronavirus Today: A tale of two AmericasOne America considers the virus a critical threat and embraces vaccines and one that does not.
Leer más »
U.S. remains top of basketball world, capturing gold medal with victory over FranceThe U.S. men’s basketball team captures gold medal with victory over France and re-establishes America's status as the world's pre-eminent basketball power.
Leer más »
A country with few asylum-seekers wants even fewerBritain's government is pulling a variety of policy levers to try to keep asylum-seekers out. But its proposals are largely misguided
Leer más »
Paying workers to stay home during the pandemic protected jobsSome of Britain's furlough claims were probably fraudulent. Those claimants are likely to be 'let go' as the scheme winds down
Leer más »