Deeply elitist UK locks out diversity at top

The UK is "deeply elitist" according to an analysis of the backgrounds of more than 4,000 business,
political, media and public sector leaders.

Small elites, educated at independent schools and Oxbridge, still dominate top roles, suggests the Social
Mobility and Child Poverty Commission study.

It says key institutions do not represent the public they serve.

(Reaction from Elites - own)

The Headmasters and Headmistresses Conference of top private heads called the study "unreasonable
and unfair".

HMC chairman Richard Harman, headmaster of Uppingham School, said that to suggest that a high
number of people in positions of influence were there simply because they went to private schools was
"lazy stereotyping and underestimates the diversity within the sector".

'Cosy club'

Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission chairman Alan Milburn said the UK's top jobs remain
"disproportionately held by people from a narrow range of backgrounds".

"The institutions that matter appear to be a cosy club."

Mr Milburn told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the report serves as a "wake-up call" to schools,
universities and government.

He said: "We want the best people in the top jobs, the concern of this is the dominance they exercise.

"If there is one thing that unlocks this huge challenge for the country about the excessive dominance at
the top it is the improvements in education."

'Stark' elitism (POSSIBLE CONSEQUENCE)

"Locking out a diversity of talents and experiences makes Britain's leading institutions less informed, less
representative and ultimately less credible than they should be," warned Mr Milburn in his foreword to the
report.

"This risks narrowing the conduct of public life to a small few who are very familiar with each other but
far less familiar with the day-to-day challenges facing ordinary people in the country.

"That is not a recipe for a healthy democratic society."

DATA

The commission says its findings are based on one of the most detailed analyses of its type ever undertaken.
(backgrounds of more than 4,000 business, political, media and public sector leaders.)
It found that those who had attended fee-paying schools included:

71% of senior judges

62% of senior armed forces officers
55% of permanent secretaries (the most senior civil servants)
53% of senior diplomats.

Also privately educated were 45% of chairmen and women of public bodies, 44% of the Sunday Times
Rich List, 43% of newspaper columnists and 26% of BBC executives.

In sport, 35% of the England, Scotland and Wales rugby teams and 33% of the England cricket team also went
to private schools.

In politics, half the House of Lords attended independent schools, along with 36% of the cabinet, 33% of
MPs and 22% of the shadow cabinet.

This compares with 7% of the UK population as a whole.

Figures for top people who went to Oxford and Cambridge paint a similar picture.

Some 75% of senior judges, 59% of the Cabinet, 57% of permanent secretaries, 50% of diplomats, 47% of
newspaper columnists, 38% of the House of Lords, 33% of the shadow cabinet and 24% of MPs hold Oxbridge
degrees.

In contrast, less than 1% of the whole population are Oxbridge graduates while 62% did not attend
university, says the study.

The report describes the figures as "elitism so stark that it could be called social engineering".

The authors recognise that many talented people attend independent schools and top universities, with
32% of those with AAA or better in last year's A-level results attending private schools.

National effort (RECOMMENDATIONS)

However, they ask whether top jobs are about what you know or who you know and whether some talent is
being locked out.

The report calls for a national effort to "break open" Britain's elite, with:

employers publishing data on the social background of staff

university-blind job applications and non-graduate entry routes
the government tackling unpaid internships that disadvantage those too poor to work for nothing
senior public sector jobs being opened up to a wider range of people.

Sir Anthony Seldon, the master of Wellington College in Berkshire, says every independent school should start
an academy - something his school has overseen.

He said: "We need to be more radical than [Alan Milburn] is currently proposing.
"If we look more at those state schools that are doing very well, they are very heavily dominated by the middle
classes.

"They are the grammar schools, they are the academies and comprehensives in strongly middle class areas.

"I think to be obsessed, as Alan is by private schools, is just a little bit out of date."

Mr Harman (Headmasters and Headmistresses Conference of top private heads) said the key to improving social
mobility was to allow more young people to access independent schools through bursaries and scholarships.

He said their strength was in developing pupils' talents, creativity, character and individuality, as well as
achieving high academic results.

"We are part of the solution not the root of the problem."

'Major rethink'

The Sutton Trust, which campaigns for greater social mobility through education, welcomed the
recommendations.

"It is clear more needs to be done at government level to address the issue," said policy director Lee Elliot
Major.

Prof Steve West, chairman of the University Alliance group of business and technology-focused universities,
urged a "major rethink of what success looks like in the 21st Century".

"There is a massive breadth of routes to success and huge diversity of opportunity in the global, technology-rich
graduate employment market."

A spokeswoman for Oxford University said the institution devoted "a huge amount of resource to widening
access and student support" but added that diversifying intake would require wider action.

"Social mobility is an issue stretching back to birth and beyond and early inequality of attainment is one of the
major barriers to progression."

UK Elitism Locks Out Top Talent

A new study from the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission suggests that certain professions are
mainly served by an elite group of people educated at fee-paying independent schools and Oxbridge.

Denise Keating, Chief Executive at the Employers Network for Equality & Inclusion (enei) comments:

Considering that only 7% of the UK population meets the elite definition given for the study, the
percentage of top jobs held by these elite is staggering. Social mobility seems to represent a real glass
ceiling for employees trying to enter into and progress in certain professions. Even more worrying is
that this seems to be a bigger problem in the public sector, with the majority of top judges, senior armed
forces officers, permanent secretaries and senior diplomats all being from fee paying schools. If the
Government, who are responsible for these appointments and posts, struggle to appoint a more diverse range of
candidates we are and will continue to suffer a disconnect between the needs of the majority against the views
of the minority.
Poor pupils with good grades 'miss top universities'
ACCESS GAP: Richer teenagers are three times more likely to go to top universities than working class
pupils, even if they have the same grades, research suggests.

The gap between the groups is not simply due to grades, they conclude.

"We need to talk about other possible causes," said Dr John Jerrim of London University's Institute of
Education. (Nov. 13, 2013)

http://www.bbc.com/news/education-24917394

CONSEQUENCES OF LACK OF DIVERSITY

The CIA has clearly had a hard time getting inside the heads of its opponents. One reason for this is the
homogeneity of its personnel, in terms of race, gender, ethnicity, class, and culture. For most of the agencys
existence, the majority of its agents and analysts have been a relatively tight group of Caucasian, protestant,
liberal-arts-educated American males. Very few have spoken foreign languages, and fewer still have traveled
abroad. Tellingly, like many of its business counterparts, the CIA has been repeatedly taken to court for racial
and gender discrimination.

This lack of diversity among its key staff seems to link directly to its analytical failings.

Of course, the case for diversity in business and government has long been made, but almost always on moral grounds:
An organization should reflect the community it is part of, etc.

Organizations need a diverse workforce if they are to better anticipate strategic change. Dont do it just to be nice; do
it to survive and thrive.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/frederickallen/2012/04/26/lack-of-diversity-paralyzed-the-cia-it-can-cripple-your-
organization-too/

The requirement on disclosing diversity policy is primarily intended to prevent the dire effects of group-think. The
Council pointed that a company with similarly aged board members of the same gender and coming from the same
geographical, educational and professional background may make unchallenged and narrow management decisions.
Financial experts say that group-think may have contributed to the financial crisis that has plagued the globe recently.

What is groupthink?

Groupthink describes a behavior you may have seen or even been a part ofone in which members of a group avoid
conflict and expedite consensus by choosing not to test, analyze, and evaluate ideas critically.

Historians have cited this flawed approach to decision-making as a prime suspect behind a diverse array of events
including Pearl Harbor, the space shuttle Challenger explosion, the dot-com meltdown, and the collapse of Enron.

HISTORY OF ELITISM
A shocking lack of social mobility in the UK is the consequence of decades of entrenched elitism and likely to
worsen because of a breakdown in the link between economic growth and the wages of most workers, Alan
Milburn, the government's adviser on social mobility, has said.

He said: "The shocking lack of social mobility is entrenched in British society. There is a glass ceiling in British society
and more and more people are hitting it. Whether it is law or medicine or journalism or politics, the upper echelons of
Britain are dominated by a social elite.

"One-third of MPs, half of senior doctors and over two-thirds of high court judges all hail from the private schools that
educate just 7% of our country's children. The data is so stark, the story so consistent, that it has all the hallmarks of
social engineering.

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/nov/13/uk-social-mobility-elitism-alan-milburn