‘The Educated Underclass: Students and the promise of social mobility’ by Gary Roth

Noël Staples reviews 'The Educated Underclass: Students and the promise of social mobility' by Gary Roth

by Noël Staples 19th July 2019

Having returned to bus driving in 1998, I became a member of ‘the educated underclass’. Simply put, I was educated above my job’s needs, yet economically unable to mix easily with equivalently educated – wealthier – people. There are growing numbers like me in Britain since the backdoor privatisation of UK higher education (HE). Friends’ testimony to equality is now challenged by a kind of inequality relatively new to the UK. You might nowadays be less surprised to encounter a well-spoken graduate postman, coffee shop barista, or lorry driver. Had it not been for my acceptance by Quakers in 1990 I would have been considerably more discontented.