IT HAS not been a great couple of weeks for diversity in Scottish education and society.
Yesterday, this newspaper reported how 25 per cent of all students studying medicine at Scottish universities attended fee-paying schools, despite just 4 per cent of the general population being educated privately.
The week before we put a face to this worrying statistic after reading about Joanne Martin, from Possilpark, Glasgow, a thoroughly impressive and committed young woman who struggled to get a place at a Scottish university to study medicine, despite achieving the academic standards required.
On Monday, meanwhile, The Herald revealed half of Scotland's MPs were educated at Scotland's four ancient universities, following a similar report last year that a quarter of MSPs attended just one of these seats of learning, the University of Glasgow, founded in 1453, alma mater of many of Scotland's most influential politicians, lawyers and high-heid yins.
Elsewhere, St Andrews University takes around 40 per cent of its students from private schools, among the highest proportions in the UK. Edinburgh University is not far behind.
Such figures inevitably lead to cliques in certain spheres: the legal and medical professions spring to mind.
It all seems to be leaning towards a depressingly uncomfortable conclusion: Scotland is not the egalitarian society we so often portray it to be.
Like many others, I recently found myself criticising the make-up of David Cameron's new cabinet - 50 per cent Oxbridge, 50 per cent privately educated. So, are we just hypocrites?
Well, there's little doubt more action needs to be taken by universities and the government to ensure all bright young people, no matter what their background, get the chance to study at a top institution.
But I'd also make the point that the University of Glasgow, although an ancient seat, is certainly not rarified and elitist in the Oxbridge sense, thank god.
For evidence, look no further than Scotland's two currently most talked about politicians, Glasgow alumni Nicola Sturgeon and Mhairi Black. I also studied there from 1993 to 1997, and like Ms Sturgeon and Ms Black, I'm a working class lassie from a council house, the first in my family to go to university.
Don't get me wrong, I remember feeling a bit intimidated by the dreamy Gilmorehill spires, but I never once felt I didn't belong there. I worked hard, got my degree and made lifelong friends. I met others from similar and different backgrounds. The daughter of a friend, who went to a not very high achieving school in the east end of Glasgow, is currently enjoying a similar experience there.
I think the predominance of a Glasgow University education among our politicians is actually a positive sign in terms of diversity.
I suspect there are probably quite a few budding Mhairi Blacks and Nicola Sturgeons studying there as we speak: smart, politicised lads and lassies o' pairts waiting to take on the world in different ways. The university's radical tradition, its demographic and, for want of a better term, its vibe, all encourage this.
Only 13.5 per cent of the student body at Glasgow comes from private schools, and although this doesn't adequately reflect the general make-up of society, it is far healthier than the 40 per cent for Oxbridge and some of the other Scottish ancients. Also, 42 per cent of the students at Glasgow come from the west of Scotland, which brings a natural sense of diversity and a healthy "normalcy".
The fact Glasgow is also home to a string of other top educational establishments - the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow School of Art and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland to name three - brings a unique dynamism to the city. Students from these different institutions mix together all the time. They dance at each other's student unions. They form bands. They become political activists. They set up increasingly influential social media groups.
The influence this has on Scottish life has a very different tone to the elitist Oxbridge stranglehold over the London establishment, which remains worryingly corrosive.
I experienced this stanglehold firsthand in Fleet Street newsrooms, where I was naively astounded by how many people had gone to Oxbridge - around 50 per cent at one broadsheet. That was bad enough. But it was also the identical backgrounds of those in question that grated: white, upper middle class, brought up in the south east, public school, Oxbridge, influential parents.
I don't doubt this type of thing goes on in some Scottish spheres of influence, but, as the educational backgrounds of our leading politicians show, our establishment is a different one. Let's fight for the influence of our lads and lassies o' pairts and their more radical tradition.
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