Coming to university in one of the central cities in the UK, I had imagined that students would come from all around the country in order to study in Birmingham. Instead, I would struggle to think of a household that is not primarily made up of people raised in the South East.

Today in Britain, more people than ever are choosing to attend university. This has been a recent increase; statistics from Labour Force Survey ONS show that student numbers have doubled since 1992. In 2019, more than half of young people went to university. It may seem possible for young people from all backgrounds to access higher education in the UK, but this does not necessarily mean that alongside this the class divide is shrinking.

I can think of no better example of this continual double standard than the 2020 A-Level results day scandal, in which an allusive algorithm was used to grade students, unable to sit their exams due to the COVID-19 lockdown. The controversy stemmed from a ‘standardised’ grading system that calculated grades based on a combination of teacher predictions for each student, where the teacher placed each student’s performance against their peers and the school’s previous performance in each subject. This hugely favoured private school students over that of state schools. Although this was later revised to be based on teachers’ predicted grades for each student, it resulted in many state school students feeling robbed of their places at top universities. This provided many prospective students with an insight into the university system’s bias.

Should a state school student defy the odds the algorithm has placed against them and secure their place at university, a regional accent could mean that their experience is unlike students who have been raised in line with BBC RP English. From my first day at University, I was told that I am a ‘Northerner’ despite coming from the Midlands. My friends who told me this argued that it was the only explanation since I pronounced words differently to the majority of my course mates.

Before coming to university, I had never thought about myself as having a particular accent but now I cannot imagine being unconscious of the way I speak

While I have no doubt that this was all done without malice, it highlights university culture’s classists attitude. Before coming to university, I had never thought about myself as having a particular accent but now I cannot imagine being unconscious of the way I speak. As London School of Economics, professor Earl Hopper said, an accent is the ‘most visible aspect of the class system‘ suggesting that this mocking is an indicator of the classism that endures in Britain today. While this may not seem serious, it should be recognised that if students carry this attitude with them in the future, the negative implications on the country’s culture are overwhelming.

One way this has filtered into the wider British consciousness is through trainee teachers with regional accents being encouraged to speak without them. Supposedly, this is in order to be considered better ‘role models’ for students, however it perpetuates the harmful stereotype that regional accents are considered undesirable. This cycle of condemning regional accents must be stopped in order to preserve diversity within Britain. If children are brought up to distinguish who is a role model based on surface-level attributes like their accent, they are more likely to grow up to be less tolerant. This cycle is dangerous and serves to covertly homogenise the population.

While harmless teasing between friends in universities may seem unworthy of note, it reflects on a much larger problem society has with denouncing distinctive accents which only serves the increase the class divide.

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