Robert Crampton: “Can a crisis be turned in to an Oscar-winning drama?”
Can a crisis be turned in to an Oscar-winning drama? Not for state school pupils, writes Robert Crampton
In his article on March 12th he says: “Keir Starmer points to a 47 per cent fall in arts subjects taken at GCSE between 2010 and 2023. That’s partly because of cuts in budgets, but it’s also partly because for a quarter of a century, first encouraged by a Labour government, the fashion in many urban state schools has been for hyper-strict, conformist structures dedicated to improving exam grades in a narrow range of subjects.
The after-school drama clubs, the holiday workshops, the darkrooms where many of my pals first fell in love with photography, they’ve largely gone. Meanwhile, many independent schools have discarded the draconian punishments and traditions of popular imagination and offer a liberal, rounded creative education, because that is what many rich people want for their children.
Post-18, cuts in grants for potential drama school applicants penalise the less well off while favouring those with money, connections and free accommodation in London. The effects of this polarisation are now feeding through, not just in film and TV, but also in music, fashion, even sport, which you’d think being measurable ought to be meritocratic, yet isn’t. Not only were 35 per cent of UK medallists at the Tokyo Olympics privately educated, the stats are rising even among professional footballers, thanks in part to the sons of mega-rich pros being sent to posh schools.
When state school kids do come good in the arts, it’s often in spite of, not because of their alter mater. Steve McQueen has spoken about this publicly, as have two of my comprehensive classmates, Sharon and Tracey, privately. Sharon became a dancer and choreographer, Tracy a film producer. Both did so in the teeth of not just opposition but downright mockery from our school. Now, 45 years on, I wonder how much things have changed.”
Author: Robert Crampton
Published by The Times, 12th March 2024
