For a long time, Classics was a field that was reserved for white men in the upper echelons of society. It, unfortunately, is also one that highlights the frustrating “North-South divide” in England.
Classics for All, an organisation that seeks to bridge this divide, reported that in 2010, classical subjects – Classics, Ancient History, Greek, Latin – were taught in 75% of independent schools, compared to a measly 25% for state schools (Classics for All, 2020: 3).
Why does this link to the “North-South divide”? Because more than 71% of UK private schools are southern, compared to 12% in the North (Lilley, 2023). 36% of UK private schools are in London and the Southeast alone. The North is at a huge disadvantage. If 12% of private schools are Northern, 75% of private students in North England can study antiquity compared to 25% of state students. There are more state schools in the North, sure, so we may think that 25% of a larger chunk means they have more opportunity to learn about antiquity, but there are many things to consider.
The quality of learning and resources available plays a huge factor. State schools are underfunded, students are more likely to be socioeconomically disadvantaged, class sizes are larger, and staff are overworked and spread thin between more students. State schools cannot afford to hire staff to teach just Latin or Classics, which is why initiatives such as Classics for All are so important.
I have worked in Northern state schools, and I meet so many students who do not think they are capable because they are not supported properly, which is not the fault of their teachers. It is, in my opinion, the fault of a society that exhibits favouritism based on the geographical location of a school. Opportunity should not be contingent upon location, but it is. 10.1% of the UK students admitted into Oxford were Northern between 2022 and 2024, and that is not even specific to Classics.
My personal experiences with UK education and studying Classics put me in the middle of this tension, for better and for worse. I am from one of the most deprived areas in England, a town in the North-West, but I was lucky enough to be able to get a better education than most in my area. In the town over, a private school was making the transition to become a state school, and so I started (with one year of private fees having to be paid to guarantee a spot for the year after, when it would be free) at a school in which I was able to get a “private education”. The school had Classics and Latin, so I was able to build upon the brief mentions of Greek myth in my (state) primary school.
However, I also saw the gradual change in the quality of education and the school’s standards. I went at the right time, and clearly it paid off as I continued Classics for A-Level in my school’s Sixth Form, straight into an Undergraduate and now a master’s. I’m also in the process of applying for PhDs, and I never would have been able to do these things if I wasn’t educated as I was. I was taught academic skills that some friends who were in traditional state schools were not. Perhaps I still would have found Classics eventually, but it would’ve been more of a struggle to join the field. Some Northerners that I've spoken to do not even know that it is a subject you can do, which is a shame. It’s not often that I meet Northerners in the field, but hopefully with time, more feel comfortable joining!