Letters: Why is the problem of working-class white boys not considered worth solving?

Left-behind boys

Sir: Christopher Snowdon’s perceptive and informative article (‘The lost boys’, 18 July) reflects perfectly my own experiences in trying to highlight the under-attainment of white working-class boys in higher education, particularly in chemistry, a frontline Stem subject. I was elected to the Inclusion and Diversity Committee of the Royal Society of Chemistry to investigate this matter. Despite strong acknowledgment of the under-representation of ‘white working-class males’, any positive action remains painfully slow.

It is abundantly clear that while white working-class males are the largest group of disadvantaged young people in this country, their cause is the least fashionable and the problem not considered worth solving. Equally disturbingly, my enquiries relating to this situation are often taken as a ‘front’ for hard-right political thinking.

I can only hope that the government commission on racial inequality will include an urgent examination into the under-performance of working-class white boys. Widening access to UK universities — particularly in the Stem subjects — is not only a way of increasing social mobility, but also ensures the flow of talented young people into these key areas and their associated technologies.

I myself am the product of Toxteth, Liverpool, and a grateful recipient of free school meals, going on to Salford University before occupying positions at Cornell, Cambridge and now Oxford.

Peter P. Edwards
Statutory chair in chemistry,
University of Oxford

The threat to the Union

Sir: It seems that unionists are waking up to the nationalist threat in Scotland (‘The state of the Union’, 18 July), but all is not lost. Yes, polls have nudged over 50 per cent for independence. But those who live here understand the volatility of politics, and know that some of this nationalist vote is soft and can be reduced with some decent campaigning (sadly lacking from the unionist side).