I have been revisiting some of the statistics quoted in 'The Welfare State We're In' to see how the picture has developed since the book went to print.
One of them was on the subject of degrees awarded by Oxford University. As with quite a lot of other statistics, updates make the points made in the book look all the stronger.
In 1955, for every three third class degrees awarded by Oxford University, there was only a single first. Fast forward fifty years and in 2005, for every three thirds there were nine firsts.
Posted by James Bartholomew • Indexed in Education
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The point is a good one, yes. (In Tony Benn's diary, he records his daughter being awarded a First in History from the LSE, that it was the only First awarded in History that year, and that she was the first woman to be awarded one in seven years!)
But remember, there were some really dense people going to Oxford in the Fifties. The Sebastian Flytes don't get in any more, so they don't get their 'gentlemen's fourths'.
Posted by: Tom at February 16, 2006 11:30 AM
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Actually, those figures are likely even worse than they appear. In 1955, Oxford also awarded a fourth class degree as its lowest classed result; fifty years later this had been abolished.
Posted by: Professor John Kersey at November 24, 2005 10:15 PM