My journey from a council estate to a PhD

The gap between a Blackbird Leys upbringing and a university lectureship is considerably bridged by a private school education in this testimonial. While I don’t belittle the journey described, it’s a pity the author offers no real discussion of (or concern for?) the massive under-representation of state school pupils among academics in this piece.

Just to say that the journey from Blackbird Leys to university lectureship took 20 years, 2 kids, evening classes in a local college, a Cert HE in continuing education, plus the usual BA, MA, PhD business. It's easy to criticise what is essentially a memoir of growing up feeling different/out of place for not tackling a range of (also important but beyond the scope of a memoir) subjects. I would always advise reading the original piece (as the THE version was heavily edited) and punching up instead of down.