Oxford is right to reject academies

Michael Sweeney comments on Oxford's attitude towards academies.The news that Oxford and Cambridge have decided to snub the government’s initiative to forge greater partnerships between universities and city academies will no doubt compound negative public conceptions of the universities’ snobbery. When combined with static entrance figures for its state school intake, which continues to make up below half of undergraduates, it’s clear neither institutions are doing themselves any publicity favours. One question few are inclined to ask, though, is whether the university should be concerned with these things at all.Doubtless, it all comes down to money. “City academy” is the euphemistic name for struggling schools that need major cash injections and some extra TLC, so secretary of education John Denham’s appeal to universities to twin with their local academies is essentially a bail-out request. Clearly, added funding is not the answer to all of societies ailments, but where teachers cannot contend with the multitude of problems that spill into the class-room from working class estates, it is usually the only way to obtain the required services.Denham wouldn’t put it this way, of course. At a conference in October he cited universities’ ‘educational expertise’ as the key to improving schools problems. Really? You would hope they were pretty good at running a nine hundred year old intellectual factory with 40,000 members, but whether they are well placed to decide what to do about Wayne’s disruptive behaviour is left to the imagination. The truth is that such partnerships will result in the university hiring experienced secondary school heads to deal with schools on individual bases -which means, yes, more money.The job of a university is to produce people who are well qualified to contribute to society. It is not to fix societies problems. That is why the university is right to keep its cash. It is also the reason that Brown’s government should stop pressurising Oxford to do something about its admission figures. Isn’t it obvious that the reason fewer state school educated students attend this university is because fewer of them are capable of doing so? Not surprisingly, sending your son or daughter to Eton or St Paul’s does tend to make them better educated, and so better equipped to succeed at admissions.The problem is that politicians are looking too high up the educational ladder. The only way to help state school students is to help their schools, and the way to help schools is to help working class estates, not just by alleviating crime and antisocial behaviour, but also by assisting programmes like Sure Start.Thankfully, the university seems to realise this, so their inevitably unpopular decision should be commended.