Latest news with #English-speakers
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
White pupils are the least likely group to get into a top university - with just one in 10 expected to land a spot
White pupils are the least likely group to get into a top university for the third year running, analysis suggests. Official data from the Department for Education (DfE) shows only 11.7 per cent of white pupils are attending the highest-ranking third of universities by age 19. This compares with 12.1 per cent of black pupils, 15.5 per cent of those who are mixed race and 18.6 per cent of Asians. The underperformance of white students is partly driven by British pupils from low-income families – one of the lowest-achieving sub-categories. Only 3 per cent of these pupils made it into 'high-tariff' universities – defined as the top for entry requirements. It comes after Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson pledged last week to make raising standards for white working-class pupils a priority. She said it was a 'national disgrace' that so many were 'written off' at school and failed to achieve their potential in exams. Alan Smithers, professor of education at Buckingham University, said: 'It is striking how well young people from the ethnic minorities do in education in this country. The underperformance of white students is partly driven by British pupils from low-income families – one of the lowest-achieving sub-categories. Only 3 per cent of these pupils made it into 'high-tariff' universities – defined as the top for entry requirements (file image) 'Some of those who were born abroad come from countries where if you don't earn, you don't eat. 'They understand the crucial role that education plays in living the good life, whereas young people in this country have grown used to being supported by the state.' The rate of entering university was also lower for British-born pupils than for those who had a migrant background. Entry for native English-speakers was 42.8 per cent, while for those whose first language is not English it was 60.9 per cent. Professor Smithers said the data suggested universities were welcoming to ethnic minorities, following claims from some campaigners that they are institutionally racist. He added: 'The myth of university racism comes from the US and has been taken up by sociology departments in this country, which can become training grounds for activists who spend their years on campus seeking out every small sign that can be interpreted as racism.' The rate of entering university was also lower for British-born pupils than for those who had a migrant background. Entry for native English-speakers was 42.8 per cent, while for those whose first language is not English it was 60.9 per cent A DfE spokesman said: 'This Government is committed to supporting the aspiration of every person who meets the requirements and wants to go to university – regardless of their background. 'We know baked-in inequalities remain in our education system, which is why universities must do more to expand opportunity and improve outcomes for disadvantaged students.' The analysis of 2023/24 data – the latest available – covers pupils who attended English state schools, not those in private schools or Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Otago Daily Times
7 days ago
- Politics
- Otago Daily Times
NZ mum 'locked in a cell' hopes 6-year-old son will be released by ICE soon
By Kate Green of RNZ A friend of Sarah Shaw, a New Zealander detained at the US-Canada border, says they're expecting to hear today whether her six-year-old son will be released. Shaw and her son Isaac, who live in Washington state, were detained three weeks ago after dropping her other children off in Vancouver to catch a flight. Victoria Besancon said Shaw was "absolutely terrified" when she and her son were bundled into a giant white van with no markings on it at the Canadian border. "I remember her on the phone being absolutely panicked. She originally thought she was being kidnapped, she didn't even realise she was being detained originally." The conditions she was being held in were "very similar to a prison," Besancon said. "She is in a locked room with five bunk beds, she's allowed to walk around the facility from 8am to 8pm, but outside of that she is locked in a cell with other families." They were among the only English-speakers at the facility. A graduate student working towards her masters degree and working for the state in corrections, Shaw had lived in America for the past three years. Besancon explained that there were two parts to Shaw's visa, known as a "combo card" - first, an I-360 visa (the kind granting immigration status to a widow or, in Shaw's case, a victim of domestic violence), and second, an employment visa, which Shaw was granted when she was employed by the state. Shaw was waiting on both parts of her visa to be renewed, but long wait times on I-360s meant this part was not renewed at the same time as her employment visa - but Shaw did not know that, Besancon said, assuming the visa card she received in the post meant she was fully approved. Besancon said ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) officials at the border could have allowed Shaw to return anyway by filing for humanitarian parole, but due to increased detainment quotas and "the atmosphere in America right now", many people were being detained who normally would not have been. Isaac, however, was being held illegally, she said, as he possessed all the right paperwork to re-enter the country. They were expecting a decision today on whether ICE would release him into her care. The Foreign Minister's office has confirmed to RNZ that New Zealand's embassy is working on the case, after only just finding out about it. Winston Peters' office said it was through the media that staff heard about the case and nobody made contact beforehand. Peters' office said the minister was aware of the detention and would let consular officials do their work. Detainment in another state making legal battle difficult Despite Isaac's paperwork, he was still detained along with his mother, which meant they needed to be kept in a family detainment centre - of which there are only three, with the nearest option to Washington state in Texas. "Instead of being detained in her state of record, which is Washington, where her legal attorney would have had a much easier time defending her and requesting information, they took her multiple states away," Besancon said. If Isaac was released, it would hopefully mean Shaw could be transported to a facility in her own state. Retaining legal counsel in both states was expensive, on top of Shaw not being able to work. The GoFundMe page Besanon set up for her friend had topped US$37,000 - that is, nearly NZ$64,000 - by Tuesday evening, leaving her "speechless". "I was hoping to just get her rent covered for a month, I had no idea that this was going to get so much support." As well as donations, they had also been receiving stories from other families who had experienced similar situations. "I know it's really high on Sarah's priority list that when she does get out, to try and find a way to advocate for this."
Otago Daily Times
7 days ago
- Politics
- Otago Daily Times
'Terrified' NZ mum detained by ICE hopes son can be released
By Kate Green of RNZ A friend of Sarah Shaw, a New Zealander detained at the US-Canada border, says they're expecting to hear today whether her six-year-old son will be released. Shaw and her son Isaac, who live in Washington state, were detained three weeks ago after dropping her other children off in Vancouver to catch a flight. Victoria Besancon said Shaw was "absolutely terrified" when she and her son were bundled into a giant white van with no markings on it at the Canadian border. "I remember her on the phone being absolutely panicked. She originally thought she was being kidnapped, she didn't even realise she was being detained originally." The conditions she was being held in were "very similar to a prison," Besancon said. "She is in a locked room with five bunk beds, she's allowed to walk around the facility from 8am to 8pm, but outside of that she is locked in a cell with other families." They were among the only English-speakers at the facility. A graduate student working towards her masters degree and working for the state in corrections, Shaw had lived in America for the past three years. Besancon explained that there were two parts to Shaw's visa, known as a "combo card" - first, an I-360 visa (the kind granting immigration status to a widow or, in Shaw's case, a victim of domestic violence), and second, an employment visa, which Shaw was granted when she was employed by the state. Shaw was waiting on both parts of her visa to be renewed, but long wait times on I-360s meant this part was not renewed at the same time as her employment visa - but Shaw did not know that, Besancon said, assuming the visa card she received in the post meant she was fully approved. Besancon said ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) officials at the border could have allowed Shaw to return anyway by filing for humanitarian parole, but due to increased detainment quotas and "the atmosphere in America right now", many people were being detained who normally would not have been. Isaac, however, was being held illegally, she said, as he possessed all the right paperwork to re-enter the country. They were expecting a decision today on whether ICE would release him into her care. The Foreign Minister's office has confirmed to RNZ that New Zealand's embassy is working on the case, after only just finding out about it. Winston Peters' office said it was through the media that staff heard about the case and nobody made contact beforehand. Peters' office said the minister was aware of the detention and would let consular officials do their work. Detainment in another state making legal battle difficult Despite Isaac's paperwork, he was still detained along with his mother, which meant they needed to be kept in a family detainment centre - of which there are only three, with the nearest option to Washington state in Texas. "Instead of being detained in her state of record, which is Washington, where her legal attorney would have had a much easier time defending her and requesting information, they took her multiple states away," Besancon said. If Isaac was released, it would hopefully mean Shaw could be transported to a facility in her own state. Retaining legal counsel in both states was expensive, on top of Shaw not being able to work. The GoFundMe page Besanon set up for her friend had topped US$37,000 - that is, nearly NZ$64,000 - by Tuesday evening, leaving her "speechless". "I was hoping to just get her rent covered for a month, I had no idea that this was going to get so much support." As well as donations, they had also been receiving stories from other families who had experienced similar situations. "I know it's really high on Sarah's priority list that when she does get out, to try and find a way to advocate for this."
New Indian Express
27-06-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Language row: Whose tongue is it anyway?
Language remains an attractive business opportunity in Indian politics. Union Home Minister Amit Shah joined a long line of political entrepreneurs when he recently said, at the launch of a book by Hindi poet and administrator Ashutosh Agnihotri, that the days of English are numbered, and that English-speakers in India would soon 'feel ashamed'. But what exactly was the venture about, and was it a losing proposition? In the language business, north Indian politicians usually propose to replace English, the working language of the British Raj, with Hindi, the language in which governments after independence hoped to bind together the states, which were demarcated on linguistic basis. Indira Gandhi established the department of official language in the 1970s to give teeth to the Official Language Act, 1963. Its core project was to promote Hindi in the work of the Union government. The first step was to create vocabularies to describe the functions and processes of government. Words like nyayalaya (court) were not in common use in the 1970s. The Urdu adalat prevailed. And newfangled terms like urja mantri (minister for energy) sounded unnatural. Delhi's governments had always relied on English, Urdu and Persian to conduct affairs of the state. Now, a new Hindi vocabulary had to be assembled quickly―and awkwardly. The news on state-controlled media baffled millions. State-sanctioned school curriculums featured monstrosities like vismaya dibodhakchinh, Hindi for the exclamation mark. Only a language bureaucrat could have dreamed that one up. But yesteryears' monsters are now familiar friends. Across the land, we know what a nyayalaya is. Sporadically, political leaders from Devi Lal to members of the present government have even sought to make technical education accessible in Hindi, But the task of making up a fresh vocabulary is challenging. What's the Hindi for albedo? For the sternocleidomastoid muscle? It's better to teach children English, the language in which most of the world's useful knowledge is encoded today. The children of so many people in government have been educated in precisely that language, often overseas, and they do not want to be ashamed.
Express Tribune
22-06-2025
- General
- Express Tribune
Americans rudest on the internet
Almost two billion words — just under 600 of them swear words — were carefully assessed, and the United States then handed the dubious honour of being the most cursing country in the English-speaking world, at least online. For the Australian duo behind the research, it came as a surprise that the inhabitants of their own country did not lead the way, such is the stereotype that Aussies are easy-going and relaxed, in actions and words. But Australians were only the third-most likely citizens to drop a swear word in conversation online. The reason that America — viewed by some to be a more conservative and polite culture among English-speakers — is the most profane community online may be the anonymity of the screen, according to the study's co-author Martin Schweinberger, a linguist at the University of Queensland, Australia. "Especially when you're not tied to what you write with your name, for example," said Schweinberger. "There are also cultural differences on what is allowed in social situations." "Different cultures have different norms on when and what is permitted. It seems as if the Americans, basically, are more forgiving online," he said. Billions of words Schweinberger and collaborating linguist Kate Burridge evaluated 1.7 billion words used in online news stories, company websites, institutional publications, blogs and other web sources, across 20 English-speaking regions. From these sources, they created a list of around 600 obscenities, including modified words and abbreviations, like "WTF", and dozens of variations of the "F" and "C" words and other vulgarities. They then analysed how frequently those vulgarities appeared in the documents they had found online. In their results, Americans topped the list with a curse word appearing 0.036 per cent of the time. That is equivalent to 36 curse words in a 100,000-word text. The British were next, with 25 curses per 100,000 words. Then the Aussies with 22, Singaporeans with 21 and New Zealanders with 20. Bangladeshis are the politest among English-speakers — just seven vulgarities per 100,000 words. Polite in the real world While a broad range of internet sources were used for the study, social media was excluded from the dataset. That was done deliberately, said Schweinberger, because social platforms require more "weeding" of material that is not suitable for analysis. However, he said they have analysed the use of vulgarities on social media — compared to face-to-face interactions — in a separate study. The results, which have yet to be published, are quite different: On social media, New Zealanders top the list, ahead of the Irish and Australians, said Schweinberger. And in face-to-face interactions, the American stereotype for conservatism is evident. "Face-to-face, the Americans are way down the list," Schweinberger said. "But social media basically had the same pattern that we find in general online data." Swearing culture For linguists, a data-rich analysis of the use of language online provides insight into how humans behave and interact. Andrea Calude, a linguist at the University of Waikato, New Zealand, who was not involved in the study, said it was important to have a scientific approach to how words are used. "Sometimes you think you know things which you don't, so you have to look at [the] data," said Calude. "We think of English as one thing — one language — but look at how different English [is used] around the world," Calude said. In particular, the context in which speakers use vulgarity is a useful way to help non-native speakers integrate into a new environment. "Even in this connected world, we each have our own idiosyncratic way of speaking locally," said Calude. "If you break those patterns, you identify yourself as not one of the locals. It speaks to this idea that there are local communities, even when you have a globalised world." Schweinberger, who hails from Germany, knows it from personal experience. He once used vulgarity in the company of American colleagues and said he "could see their faces shift completely, as if I'd said something really horrible. I just wasn't aware of these cultural constraints." Analysing vulgarity, he said, was not only a valuable tool for linguists but for people in all walks of life. "When we think of these bad words or bad language, it's not that you need to avoid it, it's to learn when to use it appropriately," Schweinberger said, "and then it can be really effective for improving your communication style and skills."
