It’s time we gave up the lazy clichés and appreciated the Boat Race
This Sunday, Oxford and Cambridge will race from Putney to Mortlake – a little over 7km – in one of the most famous events on the British sporting calendar. The Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race is watched by millions around the world, with audiences far beyond the two universities and rowing community. Yet the focus in the press during the build-up to Sunday’s race has once again centred upon the number of foreign oarsmen and a long running debate about the “elitism” of Oxbridge.
Firstly, we need to get one thing straight. This is a university boat race which means the selection criteria is simply a matter of those who are presently taking a degree in the relevant institution. The issue of nationality should play no part. True, many students in Oxbridge are foreign nationals, but then many Brutish students take up the opportunity to study abroad. If anything, the number of foreign students in our Universities should demonstrate the high standards of further education Britain has to offer.
Secondly, the term “elitism” is often brandished without being properly defined. Any university should be elitist to the extent that it seeks only the academic elite of those who apply. In this respect, Oxbridge is proud to be elitist. However, the meaning usually given (or confused with the above) is a sense of snobbery. People thus focus on the number of public school entrants and the lack of state school oarsmen. (Something that is hardly surprising given that rowing is rarely taught in state schools and indeed often shunned as “posh” by those who attend.)
The real problem with Oxbridge admissions is the unwillingness of state school students to chance their arm for fear of being rejected for the first time
Anybody wishing to be eligible for selection to a boat must first pass the academic rigour of the admissions process. Whatever the press may think, this is blind to both nationality and rowing ability. Once this hurdle is passed, the demands of perhaps the most intense degrees in the world must be balanced with over 10 training sessions a week and a diet of more than 4,500 calories a day. Whilst such a training regime is as tough as any in professional sport, it is made all the more difficult as it must be fitted in around lectures and supervisions – this means early starts and late finishes.
There are obvious examples of those who fall short of these demands. Some drop out or fail their exams, the most famous recent example being Thorsten Engelmann who stroked the Cambridge boat in 2007. These failures are seized upon, as we British love nothing more than seeing those who seem like they have it all fail.
But perhaps we should take a second to consider what we could take from the Boat Race. These are young(ish) people who have proven what can be achieved by reaching out. If this example was followed by more of the state school pupils (accustomed to being a big fish in a small pond) who tell themselves “Oxbridge is not for them” out of fear of failing, then Oxbridge would become less “elitist” and the population of foreign and public school students would fall.
I, for one, advocate that only the brightest and best be admitted to Oxbridge regardless of their background (an opinion I have held only since I arrived at Cambridge), and see the real problem in admissions being the unwillingness of state school students to chance their arm for fear of being rejected for the first time. The coverage of the boat race highlights these problems. Instead of holding up those who take part as examples of what can be done, we focus on those who fail and in the process debase the achievements of those who succeed.
Whilst it is not a traditionally British thing to do, maybe we should focus on those who succeed as an example of what can be done with determination and skill instead of finding ways to reduce their achievements in order to mitigate our own shortcomings.
Related posts:
You are all stupid fucks. The terrorists saw this recipe how it;s called but.. they wouldn’t do that? Our politicians didn’t you see any difference betwen the two?
I have a tom tom and if I only listened to the voice commands it would have sent me into the ohio river by now. I still like it, I like knowing exactly how far I have to go and what time I’ll get there.
Hi Grace, .The building looks nice at night- a bright light in the dark! I’ve done plenty of Christmas light-stringing, but I’ve never had to go on our roof! .Merry Christmas! .Laura
Time spent reading your post is worthwhile. A lot of people should surely read this!
obviously like your web site but you need to test the spelling on several of your posts. Several of them are rife with spelling issues and I in finding it very bothersome to inform the truth on the other hand I will definitely come again again.
I like your site plain and simple. Keep up the good work and I will keep reading you.
First of all, thanks for providing us with an English version of Duokan.
I am new. I tried it, but it didn’t work. .What worked was finding the resolutions of the two screens and changing the “Absolute” and “to right of” to something that made sense to me. .I now have one desktop across two screens. .I love this stuff. .Thanks. [Reply]
FABulous! i love the one of paul and shannon together…and the last one, reading! what a wonderful job kristen! thank you for posting!
Peter, I have to say this is one of the finest pieces of writing I have ever read. I mean that, seriously; you have fleshed out the essence of what I think many of us have experienced over the last few years. I can only hope that this essay (I hope you don’t mind if I call it that) will stimulate heaps of discussion — something long overdue.
Great tool indeed. I almost use many seo tools for my seo projects like Chrome SEO. You have shared such a useful tools. Thanks Reply
Living on less is a very good and original idea, especially when we are used to ask fore more and more from life these days.
i don’t care how you look today. you will always be my princess fucking leia!
Hey, I remember you from Ethnic Studies (Latino/ and Chicano/a) last year. It is great that you are able to share your story with the University and everyone that sees this. You were a great influence on that class. Let me know how classes are going and what you are working on. Good Job! Jacob Boileau
They deserved to win. The album is some brilliant. Nice worked Guys.
Something I do not see the feedback form, or other co-ordinates the administration of your blog.
[...] who took over the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences for thirty-five days last year, is online now. Here is an excerpt from Boris Buden’s [...]
Are special characters (for example the german “ö, ä, ü, ß”) working?
I absolutely loved the doco. it really made me think….
Hi, I just applied for a new passport with my married name. I realized when filing my taxes today that I have not changed my name (Due to marriage) with the SSN office. Will that delay the processing of my passport?
I was just searching for this information for some time. After 6 hours of continuous Googleing, finally I got it in your web site. I wonder what is the lack of Google strategy that don’t rank this type of informative web sites in top of the list. Generally the top web sites are full of garbage.
What I find odd is a billionaire financier that has crashed currencies and made huge wealth at the expense of public money becomes this either good or bad guy in US politics based on some team allegiance. He definitely funds some good stuff, but that is not the whole story and it being reduced to Fox vs. Dems ill serves an appraisal of what this billionaire is doing. What riles the GOP noise machine is he doesn’t give them enough money for their liking, the rest is noise for propaganda purposes, if he forked out for them he’d be a saint (or more likely you’d never hear about him). How he chooses to spend money does have a huge effect where it is spent and that needs attention beyond the partisan mainstream fighting which is childish nonsense, no true progressive should be comfortable that billionaires even exist.
I’ve always been a fan of New Balance. I have to pick up some of these sneakers soon.
Comfortabl y, the article is in reality the best on this laudable topic. I harmonize with your conclusions and will eagerly look forward to your future updates. Saying thanks will not just be adequate, for the wonderful clarity in your writing. I will at once grab your rss feed to stay privy of any updates. De lightful work and much success in your business dealings!
Hey I just finished reading the post. I comment to say that I liked it good job and keep it up man! See ya
Hi. Cool post. There?s a difficulty with the web site in chrome, and you may want to check this? The browser may be the marketplace chief and a big component of other folks will miss your superb writing due to this difficulty. I like your Post and I am recommend it for a Web site Award. 364909
It is hard to find knowledgeable people on this specific topic, but you sound like you know very well what you’re writing about! Cheers
Thanks for a nice share you might have given to us with such an big collection of details. Excellent perform you have carried out by sharing them to all. basically superb
Great piece of writing, We are checking back again on a regular basis to discover updates.
I need to thank you such a lot of for that job you have made in writing this blog post. I am hoping the same most effective work by you later on too.
Undeniably believe that which you said. Your favorite justification appeared to be on the net the easiest thing to be aware of. I say to you, I certainly get annoyed while people consider worries that they just do not know about. You managed to hit the nail upon the top as well as defined out the whole thing without having side effect , people could take a signal. Will probably be back to get more. Thanks
Good work. Waitin’ for a sequel!
hello there and thank you for your info – I’ve definitely picked up anything new from right here. I did however expertise a few technical issues using this site, since I experienced to reload the website many times previous to I could get it to load correctly. I had been wondering if your hosting is OK? Not that I am complaining, but sluggish loading instances times will sometimes affect your placement in google and can damage your high quality score if ads and marketing with Adwords. Anyway I’m adding this RSS to my email and could look out for a lot more of your respective exciting content. Make sure you update this again soon..
Terrific work! This is the type of info that are meant to be shared across the internet. Shame on Google for now not positioning this post higher! Come on over and discuss with my site . Thank you =)
Opposites attract.
Whats Going down i’m new to this, I stumbled upon this I have found It positively useful and it has helped me out loads. I’m hoping to contribute & aid different users like its aided me. Great job.
Fantastic document, I really look forward to fresh news from you.
Thanks a bunch for sharing this with all of us you really understand what you are speaking approximately! Bookmarked. Please additionally consult with my web site =). We could have a hyperlink exchange agreement between us!
Of course, what a fantastic website and revealing posts, I surely will bookmark your website.All the Best!
You made some clear points there. I did a search on the topic and found most guys will approve with your site.
I wish to express my thanks to the writer for rescuing me from this crisis. After searching throughout the internet and getting notions which are not pleasant, I was thinking my entire life was well over. Existing without the strategies to the issues you’ve resolved all through your main article content is a critical case, as well as those that might have badly affected my career if I hadn’t encountered your blog. Your actual expertise and kindness in taking care of all the pieces was vital. I am not sure what I would have done if I hadn’t discovered such a thing like this. It’s possible to now look ahead to my future. Thank you very much for this skilled and amazing guide. I won’t think twice to refer your blog to anybody who should receive recommendations about this matter.
Hey there, You have done a fantastic job. I’ll certainly digg it and personally suggest to my friends. I am sure they’ll be benefited from this site.
I’ve read some just right stuff here. Certainly price bookmarking for revisiting. I surprise how much effort you set to make the sort of wonderful informative website.
Your design matters to your visitors. WIthout a perfect logo, your customers will lose interest in your webpage. We can prevent this from happening.
There are some interesting cut-off dates on this article however I don’t know if I see all of them center to heart. There is some validity but I will take maintain opinion until I look into it further. Good article , thanks and we want extra! Added to FeedBurner as effectively
I should test with you here. Which is not 1 thing I normally do! I enjoy studying a submit that will make individuals believe. Also, thanks for allowing me to comment!
So I think you can see a development here that the truth is the reason a good photography business can be so expensive
Hey there, I think your blog might be having browser compatibility issues. When I look at your blog in Chrome, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other then that, great blog!
Just a smiling visitant here to share the love (:, btw outstanding layout. “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler.” by Albert Einstein.
Hey! I just wish to give a huge thumbs up for the great data you have here on this post. I might be coming back to your weblog for extra soon.