Rapturous applause resonated around OUSU Council this week after a coalition of three comprehensive schools committed to a landmark ‘outreach’ programme with the University. Labelled the ‘Real People Programme’ (RPP) and supported with £75,000 of government funding, the three state schools plan to “reach out” to some of the University’s most culturally inhibited students.
According to the official website, the programme’s three main aims are to widen social horizons, garner a sense of perspective, and encourage individualism. Trial runs were rolled out across Cambridge and Durham Universities in 2014 with great success, and now the state comprehensive missionaries have set up shop in the city of dreaming spires.
Programme leader Arnold Simpkins passionately told reporters, “The principal observation from our outreach work thus far has been a chronic lack of ambition. There are a number of students who are ambling down the same welltrodden path forged by their parents, attending the same Sixteenth Century boarding school, matriculating into the same Oxford college and ultimately joining them in the City for a career in finance.
“RPP is committed to ‘breaking the chain’ of innovation poverty and explaining to these young minds that there is a world beyond the Home Counties, that life’s journey can indeed deviate from the commuter belt and that there are jobs and lifestyles beyond those already explored by their parents.”
RPP’s second-in-command, Johnny Head, outlined some of the difficulties faced by the organisation. “Reaching out to the underprivileged presents a myriad of unique challenges. We find that many of the students we work with are the human equivalents of a Set Menu – extremely limited and often bland. Only yesterday I was asked, ‘Why think outside the box, when sitting firmly within it will earn me £28k a year, a free zones 1-2 travelcard and private healthcare?’ This type of candour is indicative of the humble backgrounds from which many of our mentees hail, though we feel we are making steady progress nonetheless.”
A representative from OUSU told us, “We’re delighted to be working with RPP and I really believe it will benefit many of our students to no end. Having travelled around India for three weeks last summer, I know better than most about the benefits of being open-minded and worldly-wise. In addition to RPP’s mentorship, I’d fervently recommend my peers spend a period of time travelling overseas – just make sure you go to a place where the people speak English.”
Not everybody shares OUSU’s positive view, however, and RPP has evoked its fair share of criticism. Terence Brush, a student with an opinion, told us, “Considering that 93 per cent of the UK population is state educated, it almost goes without saying that comprehensive schools and universities working together is undeniably valuable, necessary, and worthwhile – but shouldn’t this be underlined by a genuine sense of partnership? The rhetoric surrounding ‘outreach’ sounds more like handof-God interventionism than a mutually beneficial partnership.”
The second year History student was quickly shouted down by RPP, who this morning tweeted, “You don’t know what you’re talking about – outreach work is brilliant for your CV and highly valued by employers.” RPP’s first group workshop ‘How To Deal With Regional Accents’ is to begin in 1st Week of Trinity.
