Cameron Gets It Wrong

Prime Minister David Cameron recently stated that Oxford University had only accepted one Black student last year. As we all know, this statement was incorrect, as Oxford accepted 27 African and Caribbean students last year - he was not counting the students from the African continent.

Wow, a whole big 27.

The broadcaster Henry Bonsu, himself an Oxford graduate, has been working for years to encourage and support Black students to apply to Oxford and Cambridge. He takes groups of young people to Oxford for a one-week intensive programme. As he says in Black Success Stories, his teachers encouraged him.

The funny thing is, if you're one of the few Black people in a majority white school, you'll either be the best or the worst. Because if your teacher spots that you are good at something, they'll see you all the time. That's what happened to me. So I was pushed in my Latin, I was pushed in my German, to the point where they said to my parents when I was 15, he could go to Oxford....

The universities are now under pressure to get in students from non-traditional backgrounds. So if you do the work, you'll get a fair hearing now.

So if the teachers spot that potential, they will encourage Black children - at least sometimes. But I still think it's mainly up to the parents.

Mind you, Henry was later sacked by the BBC for being "too intellectual". But that's another story.

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