I think this article is at least in part founded on an erroneous assumption: that everyone acknowledes that going to Oxbridge is indisputably The Best Thing. It is not necessarily the most desirable place to study for everyone, and if a student does not apply that does not imply that he/she fails to do so because of snobbery, inverted or otherwise. Unfortunately the self-perpetuating ex-Oxbridge establishment of England tends to assume that everyone will wish to study in the Oxbridge manner and live in the south of England. Not so. Choosing a different university, including the ancient universities of Scotland, does not make a student inferior to anyone, in any terms.To use Libby Purves' own terms for a moment, if St Andrews (founded in the 13C) was good enough for the ex-Etonian heir presumptive to the Throne, are we to assume it is not good enough for others? Hardly. Oxford and Cambridge are great universities. But they aren't the ONLY universities we have.

Jean Jones, Edinburgh,

I went to Cambridge from a minor public school but my father never went to university having left school at 16. Cambridge had its share of toffs but almost all were bright, hard-working and well-educated. Those from comps and grammers found a way to fit in and I have never met anyone who regretted their time there. Too many teachers continue to fight their class war in schools, keeping children from fulfilling their potential, telling them Oxbridge is socially unjsust and so on. Too many blame failure to get in on biased admissions rather than their own failure to teach and prepare their pupils properly. The problems of our education system start with teachers I'm afraid - well-meaning and dedicated, but also dedicated to an out-dated pseudo-Marxist view of the world.

Tim, London,

As the parent of a student who got three As, as predicted, 2 Maths, and Chemistry, yet didn't get an offer from the Cambridge College she applied to, I found Libby Purves column insulting both to my daughter's efforts and the time her teachers could devote to helping her.

The colleges organise events such as day schools to help schools prepare pupils for interviews, but how could our local comprehensive justify sending a teacher off for a day to Cambridge, when other pupils arguably have more pressing needs.

I asked the college in question why, if they have to have them, they don't put information about these preparation events on the web. No answer came.

Until colleges even up the opportunities for information about the application process so that State schools do not waste scarce resources chasing what is often a chimera of access, then the excellent state school applicants will face the same challenge as the best horses in the Grand National - the heaviest handicap.

JP Hannon, Berkshire,

I think it unlikely, although not impossible, that teachers would avoid recommending children to Oxbridge out of jealousy.

Oxbridge has an image problem which puts off "normal" people from applying and an application system which is so complex as to finish the job.

They need to sort that out, then more people will apply.

Bob, Reading,

The more intelligent you are the more money you are likely to earn. The more money you earn, the more likely you are to educate your kids privately. Intelligence is heritable: intelligent parents will bring intelligent kids into the world. So, the privately educated kids are ON AVERAGE more likely to be intelligent and so more likely to get into Oxbridge. It doesn't take an Oxbridge degree to work that one out.

Matthew, Ringwood, UK

Oh how true. I well remember while studying science A levels at my perfectly ordinary state school turning up at my 'career advice interview' . 'Well dear, ' said the 'adviser' I see you are doing science A levels. I expect you want to be a nurse'. In fact, I wished to do nothing of the kind and said so. 'Well' she said, 'I don't think there's anything else I can suggest'. 'I want to be a doctor' I said - 'Oh no, girls from your background don't become doctors dear- goodbye'

I am now a consultant surgeon!

Doctor J, London,

Let us remember that Laura Spence, the girl rejected by Oxford, went on to Harvard, but did not study medicine. She was competing against a group of equally qualified candidates from both the state and public sector. The interviewers were right in not selecting her as s7he was not committed to a medical career.

There needs to be more support for parents and the state sector to advise students on the procedures to get to Oxbridge. I did not realise that GCSEs were that important so I encouraged my daughter to socialise more at that stage. It was only talking to a parent who knew the ropes that I realised, too late, that I should have pushed her at this stage.

I personally feel that all state students going to Oxbridge should have a tax free bursary of around £20,000 so that they can afford to socialise with their far, far richer public colleagues.

There is some truth in the suggestion that some students from state funded schools find life difficult in Oxbridge.

Paul Mason, Richmond, UK

Let;'s face it, most 6th form teachers in comprehensive schools nowadays graduated from redbrick or plate-glass universities 30 years ago and have a built-in prejudice against Oxbridge. In my day (mid-1950s) Oxbridge was indeed public-school-dominated and rather elitist. Nevetheless, as a grammar school pupil, I got in on a scholarship. I did indeed feel a bit "out of my depth" at first, but I soon made friends with a Jewish boy from Neath Grammar School who was a Major Scholar in History. If Cambridge had been completely elitist at the time, and had his 6th form teachers told him that as a working-class Jewish boy he would have been "out of his depth", he would never have applied. As it was, he was also a talented musician, and he introduced me to the music of Schubert, for which I am eternally grateful. And I have to thank elitist, public-school-dominated Cambridge of the mid-1950s for that. So let's have not more nonsense about dons' bias. It wasn't true then - even less so now.

JF, Canterbury, UK

On the other side of the coin are teachers that 'create' childhood prodigies that aren't...

Equally as sinister, insidious and unpleasant individuals follow. The legal profession is full of them. Who are worse?

Pete Balchin, Solicitor , Bristol, UK

Libby Purves is quite right that there are a number of teachers who do not demonstrate sufficient ambition for the pupils under their charge. Some of the perceptions of the Oxford and Cambridge experience are so misguided and outdated that it is no wonder that some state school pupils are reticent to apply in the first place. If this is backed up by teacher apathy, then you have a self-perpetuating system of under achievement in the state sector. Incidentally, there are also a number of private school underachieving in respect of success in Oxford and Cambridge University entrance as well. The Sutton Trust is a tireless campaigner in the area of educational reform and producing research which is always pertinent to the topic of inequality. There are still nowhere near enough students from state schools attending Oxford and Cambridge universities, as well as a number of other "Russell Group" institutions. It's time for some action.

Paul Schoonenberg, London, UK

I agree with much of this article. I was a straight A student yet was not encouraged by teachers at my state grammar school to apply to Oxbridge. The boy's grammar next door actively encouraged Oxbridge application and coached candidates for their interviews. Needless to say there was only one pupil from my school who went to Oxbridge, and over 10 from the boy's school even though our results were comparable, if not better.
If my teachers had given me assistance and the confidence to apply, I may well have filled in my UCAS form differently. I don't think the prevalence of public school candidates at Oxbridge is due to social snobbery - it's got a huge amount to do with the time and effort those schools spend in helping with the application essays and coaching for the Oxbridge interviews. In this regard, pupils from state schools just can't compete even though they may be brighter.

Natasha, London,

Yes I too feel that there are a large majority of current ' A' level teachers that do not care to be
eclipsed by their present pupils!

DAVID VINTER, Louth, Lincs, , UK.

The article is unfair. Why blame it on the teacher when the culture tells you that to be ambitious is being devious and evil? I find it revolting that teachers are being blamed for this when in fact it is the upper and middle classes who encourages working class to be not ambitious.

I have students who actually did go to Oxbridge not only because I encourage them but their family supported them and ambition is something that they like to eb associated with.

Unless the culture of this country is to change, don't blame it on us.


P.S.

Brian Lewis,
I used to live in Manila. Lovely place but too congested and polluted but nevertheless, lovely.

Donald Keogh, Milton Keynes, UK

Thank you, Libby - what a surprise to find some balance to all the poisonous articles recently written on this subject.

Freddie, London,

Libby, I'm sick of hearing that drama is an "easy" subject. Acting is very, very difficult.

If students who aren't good at it are getting top grades in it, then that's the fault of the exam system, not because it's an easy subject.

It's also not appropriate for bright kids who aren't going to be actors (unless it's taken along with English and History say). It's normal than Oxbridge isn't very interested, they aren't a theatre school, but Rada should be. And Rada isn't going to be interested in someone only doing physics maths and chemistry ..

Shona, Paris,

I went to Lancing and Cambridge, and no doubt the statistics show my background as being elitist. Yet my father and forefathers (uneducated Welsh ploughboys) never went to a public school or a university, and I wonder where I - and others - figure in the educational statistics, which probably paint a false picture. I gather my children may be passed over in future for the best universities (unless I pay) on the grounds of my privilege and to restore social balance. My father thought he was doing the right thing in paying for my education. I sometimes wonder whether he ought instead to have bought a Jaguar car, a house in Florence and holidays in Hawaii! We need to ensure that the most talented boys and girls in England from wherever should have the opportunity of going to the best schools and universities. I have invented a new sort of school which I am going to call "Grammar School" which would accept anyone who can pass the hard examinations, preferably in Latin and Greek.

Brian Lewis, Manila, Philippines

I have to agree. I left school at 14 and was told there was "no way" I could complete the equvialent of A levels without first doing my O levels. At every step of the way, teachers told me what I couldn't do.

I did - eventually - get to university and graduate from Cambridge when I was 28. I would not have gone to Cambridge if I had listened to teachers.

Dale Mills, Sydney, Australia

Libby Purves is right. As a teacher, I came into contact with colleagues who actively steered pupils away from Oxbridge.

Malcolm McLean - quite right, but you are crying for the moon. Until conditions in the profession improve, we are not going to get a flood of able graduates volunteering. It's not just the money; it's the freedom to teach, school discipline and academic commitment which will draw them in.

Michael Bruce, Selby, Yorkshire

Many moons ago, at my grammar school smack in the middle of a working class district of North London, it was the norm for most of the sixth form to go on to Oxbridge and it was the aspiration of most of the younger girls to follow suit. Many of us had fathers in the skilled or semi-skilled trades and few had parents who had been educated beyond secondary level. Yet, from the first, we were encouraged by our graduate female teachers to aim for higher education and a professional career. There was never any suggestion that we, as working class/lower middle class youngsters, wouldn't fit in or make the grade in the groves of academe; the only question was how well we could do. Old girls came regularly to talk about university life, which made our goals seem all the more achievable. At least, those who did not go on to university were not motivated by a lack of self-confidence or a fear of being out of place or not 'posh' enough.

anne, bournemouth,

There's a bit of elementary psychology here. If you didn't go to Oxbridge yourself, it rather grates to see other people doing so. Particularly if they are schoolchildren from a lower social class.
We should have a policy of trying to have a least one Oxbridge graduate in every school to counteract this. That means more money and, probably more importantly, more autonomy for teachers.

Malcolm McLean, Bradford, UK

It would be tragic if two institutions, acknowledged to be in the top 5 in the world, were to change their admission criteria in the interests of social engineering. If we are to succeed as a nation, we must give Oxbridge what it requires, not require it to accept what we give.

David Williams, Eastnor, England