Bikejacking on Kingsland Road

I've taught at Cambridge, and I currently teach at a good university in London, in a very 'middle-class' subject. The intake is 60% privately educated kids - in fact it might be more now. Every single academic is aware of the problem. What you are up against is nothing so simple as 'accent', but a sort of middle-classness that, when lacking, is explained away as kids 'not really fitting in', or being 'inarticulate'. At interview, the very attributes you are looking for - articulacy, evidence of wide reading, a certain confidence in the way they speak about the subject - these are hardwired in to kids from privileged backgrounds, kids with books in the house, kids whose parents encourage them from an early age to participate in culture. The academics know this, and struggle really hard with the inbuilt prejudices we all have - what management consultants bang on about in terms of the attraction of sameness. The view that all of this stuff can be reduced to 'accent' is staggeringly simplistic.

^ This reminded me of that Ch4 program about race and IQ, they came to the conclusion we can all succeed but its down to the environment in which we live and learn. a child from a bog standard state school has the ability to achieve good grades and become what ever he wants, many choose to hang around in gangs and speak lik dey is on da hip hop mtv channel init ya know. but a lot don't. a lot don’t hang around parks in the evenings looking for teenage buzzes, a lot take up after school classes or government/council run initiatives and play sports/music/theatre. Some read books in place of playstation, talk in place of shouting and hitting.
I refuse to believe a kid who is born in poverty doesn’t have a chance, from what I have been exposed to I have seen parents who know no better, bitter angry and owed. Kids got no hope.

This accent bull works both ways, I could never get a job in voice over’s as I am not a Geordie, the jury is out; I think its fair to say you need an idea of what was said in the interview over how it was said.