What Oxford taught me about posh people • Hacker News Board

Re: What Oxford taught me about posh people

#11

Post by WastingMyTime89 » Mon, May 31, 2021, 11:14 AM UTC

As an Oxford alumni, I would personally focus on this more: "But Oxford wasn’t like that. The teaching was personalised, flexible and interactive. That kind of system keeps people like me in the room, fired up and engaged. Kids like me, who don’t flourish in school, can benefit from such attention, and focus, and belief. A good society would strive to give it to them."

Oxford provides an amazing environment if you genuinely want to learn and improve and the university actually seems to care about you succeeding. The time I spent there remain a decade later some of the most enjoyable in my life.

Re: What Oxford taught me about posh people

#12

Post by bogle » Mon, May 31, 2021, 11:14 AM UTC

"The Shepherd's Life" is a great book, especially if you know the landscape he's farming. It's only a shame that you've now got a spoiler in discovering that he was so very clever and went to Oxford. Otherwise his is one of the rare stories of lives we tend not to read about.

Re: What Oxford taught me about posh people

#13

Post by douglaswlance » Mon, May 31, 2021, 11:19 AM UTC

CapitalistCartr wrote: post #3

His last paragraph nails it: "I can see why people are sceptical about universities, and angry at the elite ones. They are often now little more than training camps for the stormtroopers of capitalism."

[flagged]

Re: What Oxford taught me about posh people

#14

Post by varispeed » Mon, May 31, 2021, 11:20 AM UTC

gyulai wrote: post #10

I've studied in Cambridge myself, and feel like some context needs to be added here for American readers not to misunderstand something here: Admission to Cambridge & Oxford isn't related to family wealth in the same way as admission to "elite" universities in the U.S. For example: Tuition fees are in line with government-set rates and are no different for these institutions than other British universities (at least…

Do you think universities still offer knowledge otherwise not accessible anywhere else? I mean, there are courses that require "hands on" experience and guidance, but for things like IT, how uni is any better than e.g. Udemy, free lectures from around the world and meetups?

Re: What Oxford taught me about posh people

#15

Post by iratic0 » Mon, May 31, 2021, 11:21 AM UTC

osrec wrote: post #9

As someone who was also raised in the North of England, went to a state school, and also ended up going to Oxford, this article is spot on. It took me a while to realise that the state educated people were often the more talented ones (they've not had anything handed to them on a plate), and our lack of poshness was actually something to be proud of - not something to feel inferior about!

Also comp educated and went to Oxford. I feel like in the last 5 years or so it's become "uncool" to be posh. Feel like this has been instigated by (in the West) Brexit and Trump bringing the Establishment down a notch.

Re: What Oxford taught me about posh people

#16

Post by approxim8ion » Mon, May 31, 2021, 11:22 AM UTC

stablenode wrote: post #8

CapitalistCartr wrote: post #3

His last paragraph nails it: "I can see why people are sceptical about universities, and angry at the elite ones. They are often now little more than training camps for the stormtroopers of capitalism."

[flagged]

> at the expense of whom, exactly?

Everyone they step on along the way.

Re: What Oxford taught me about posh people

#17

Post by [deleted] » Mon, May 31, 2021, 11:23 AM UTC

WastingMyTime89 wrote: post #11

As an Oxford alumni, I would personally focus on this more: "But Oxford wasn’t like that. The teaching was personalised, flexible and interactive. That kind of system keeps people like me in the room, fired up and engaged. Kids like me, who don’t flourish in school, can benefit from such attention, and focus, and belief. A good society would strive to give it to them." Oxford provides an amazing environment if you ge…

[deleted]

Re: What Oxford taught me about posh people

#18

Post by nicoburns » Mon, May 31, 2021, 11:27 AM UTC

iratic0 wrote: post #15

osrec wrote: post #9

As someone who was also raised in the North of England, went to a state school, and also ended up going to Oxford, this article is spot on. It took me a while to realise that the state educated people were often the more talented ones (they've not had anything handed to them on a plate), and our lack of poshness was actually something to be proud of - not something to feel inferior about!

Also comp educated and went to Oxford. I feel like in the last 5 years or so it's become "uncool" to be posh. Feel like this has been instigated by (in the West) Brexit and Trump bringing the Establishment down a notch.

When has it ever been cool to be posh?

Re: What Oxford taught me about posh people

#19

Post by zhdc1 » Mon, May 31, 2021, 11:29 AM UTC

varispeed wrote: post #14

gyulai wrote: post #10

I've studied in Cambridge myself, and feel like some context needs to be added here for American readers not to misunderstand something here: Admission to Cambridge & Oxford isn't related to family wealth in the same way as admission to "elite" universities in the U.S. For example: Tuition fees are in line with government-set rates and are no different for these institutions than other British universities (at least…

Do you think universities still offer knowledge otherwise not accessible anywhere else? I mean, there are courses that require "hands on" experience and guidance, but for things like IT, how uni is any better than e.g. Udemy, free lectures from around the world and meetups?

In person instruction and a large social community of intelligent and - hopefully - motivated people.

Re: What Oxford taught me about posh people

#20

Post by varispeed » Mon, May 31, 2021, 11:29 AM UTC

vletal wrote: post #4

My life goal was to attend one of these elite universities. I desired to work at companies such as Google or Apple. After graduating from the Czech Technical University I realized that 1. I am much less special then I thought 2. There is much more hard working focused average people then the few talented superstars, both usually achieving the same 3. Surprisingly many of the exceptionally smart people in my social bu…

Regarding 6. sometimes companies, especially start-ups hire those people not for their abilities, but to be able to tell investors they hire top uni educated workforce. They are more for PR than actual work. Sometimes it is frustrating, if they get paid the same as people who actually do work.