Can I ask you something weird? If you don’t feel like answering, it’s ok… I get it. A while ago James McAvoy “complained” during an interview about how elitarian the show business is in the UK. Now, thinking about it, I realized Tom Hiddleston and Eddie Radmayne both went to Eton, I’m reading Leslie Rose’s family is wealthy, so… it’s true? Do private (and expensive) schools make it easier for their students while those who go to public schools are further away from the theatrical scene?

duchessofostergotlands:

Of course, it’s not too weird given the conversation about Rose and Kit. Britain is a class driven society. Imagine you leave school and you decide you want to be an actor. You’d probably have to move to London where rent is astronomically high. For the average person, they couldn’t afford rent in London on an acting salary so they have to get another job. They would probably end up on a zero hours contract or a low skilled job because they need time to do their acting. That means their focus is divided, they have less time to invest in acting, and eventually they’re likely to come to a point where they have to make a choice as the lifestyle isn’t sustainable. But for someone from the upper classes, they’re much more likely to have someone who will pay for their rent or provide a living allowance. That means they don’t have to get that second job, they can focus entirely on acting. They can stay in London for years until they make it big because there’s less worry. Does that make sense? A lot of career paths will require you to do unpaid internships or have a very low wage for various reasons and unless you have a family who can financially support you for as long as it takes to do it then it’s going to be much much harder for you.

There’s also a really interesting difference in terms of aspirations. So for example I was watching Frankie Boyle’s New World Order yesterday (it’s a satirical panel show, not important). A comedian who I love called Romesh Ranganathan was talking about how he used to be a teacher at an Outstanding school (that’s the best rating a school can be given by government inspectors) and gave it up to teach at a school that had just come out of special measures (that’s basically the worst rating a school can have). Anyway, he said that at his Outstanding school he ran a parents evening where they talked about applying for university, bursaries and loans etc etc. Then he tried to do the same thing at the special measures school and all the parents were incredibly hostile as they thought university was pointless and for snobs and that their child should get a job straight away. I’m not saying that those parents are wrong- I think that their concerns come out of a genuine place and are driven by our class based society- but it just shows you how different things can be. I went to private school and the one girl who wanted to go straight in to a job instead of uni was “persuaded” not to by the school staff. But in other schools there’s no expectation that most pupils will go to university. It’s all part of the same issue.