OPINION: Diligent education as a level playing field
"Depriving hard working students of the best university education because of their background cannot be defended," argues Jewish News' historian Derek Taylor.
Like a substantial percentage of the Jewish community in Britain, my ancestors were penniless Victorian emigrants from Europe. My paternal grandfather could write his name and that was the extent of his literacy. My maternal great grandfather was a Welsh pedlar. None of my children went to public schools and they have eight degrees between them. Two of my grandchildren have first class Cambridge degrees.
Now this is nothing to boast about. The importance of education in Judaism is set down in the Shema; “and thou shalt teach it diligently.” Not if there’s nothing on the TV; “diligently”. By the parents.
It is even part of the din that you can sell a synagogue to build a school, but you can’t sell a school to build a synagogue. A school is that important. When the Sephardim came back in Stuart times, one of the first things they did was start a school.
It has not been a level playing field up to recent times. There were Christian conversionist schools at the beginning of the 19th century to attract poor Jewish parents to enrol their children; the little ones were given a meal and a suit of clothes as incentives. To combat their influence the Jews’ Free School was started and by 1900 became the largest in the country.
As far as the public schools were concerned, they had strict quotas for Jewish children until quite recently, and in many the Jewish children were not allowed to attend Sabbath or festival services. There was a good deal of anti-semitism as well. They were often Christian foundations and didn’t feel it was any of their responsibility to teach Judaism. Only four public schools ever had a Jewish boarding house; none of them survive.
Alright, there was a great deal of room for improvement but there is a considerable danger today that we’re moving too far in the other direction. The argument is that children from poor and ethnic minorities should be given preference when it comes to admission to university.
Now if there is one thing a civilised nation needs it is an educated work force. The Jews have done their best to contribute, with over 20% of Nobel prizes being awarded to their members internationally. They have developed new industries, which have provided work and capital to help many nation’s balance of trade.
We have been fortunate in Britain to have waves of emigrants coming into the country, who have strengthened our industries. Now, however, there seems to be a movement to discriminate against white students from public schools. Indeed there is a suggestion that public schools should no longer be granted charity status. The argument is that poor children are just as intelligent as those from wealthier families, but they are taught more poorly. Therefore, there should be positive discrimination.
The Jews are not alone in giving education a high priority. The Hindus and the Chinese are also committed. While the quality of teachers in schools may favour those who can pay most, the only fair judgement for admission to university is of the quality of the students’ work.
You could have a lower mark for poorer schools but the idea that the school is the be-all of success is a nonsense. The application of the children is also of great importance, and that depends on how much interest and hard work the parents put in to seeing that their kids keep their noses to the educational grindstone.
This may well involve a cultural change but there are any number of human interest stories of poor parents who have made the necessary effort; from black to white and in between. To be prejudiced against students who get high marks from good exam work is grossly unfair.
To deprive hard working students of the best university education because of their background cannot be defended. They are already being saddled with fees they have to pay off over future years, which is also ludicrous.
Do we want them to give up on a university degree to avoid such a burden? Will that help the country?
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