I just don’t understand the hate given to Scotland by students who have made a conscious decision to go to a university in… Scotland.
When I first arrived in St Andrews as a fresher, I was told that housing outside the three main streets was considered the Badlands, and that the further-afield Dundee was so lovingly dubbed Scumdee. It was perceived as a whole separate world, miles and miles away – even the thought of living there would cause an involuntary shudder from students. What’s worse, as the naïve little fresher I was, I listened, absorbed, and parroted the idea of Dundee as a post-apocalyptic dump.
Noting the horror stories, it took me a few years to commit to the 32-minute bus trek into Dundee. And, when I got there, I was surprised. This wasn’t the terrible, grimy place it was painted to be, an urban jungle of drugs, dirt, and unsafe people.
Dundee has some really cool places: quirky cafes, large leafy parks, charming old architecture and, of course, the V&A Museum (no, it’s not quite the London V&A but size isn’t everything). What’s more, it has a large array of shops, and clubs, something unimaginable in St Andrews. It has lots going on, who knew you can go see brown bears there? Sure, it’s not perfect – no city can be – but it has its decided perks. The world isn’t all as sheltered and shiny a bubble as St Andrews, with its beautifully skewed perspective on walking distances and flat prices.
This snobbishness exceeds place, and isn’t a problem unique to St Andrews. The Edinburgh Tab, an online news outlet for Edinburgh universities, faced controversy when they commented on the lack of Scottish students at the University of Edinburgh, declaring it “as God intended.”
I can’t speak for God, but the stats speak for themselves. At both universities only about 30% of the student body is Scottish, likely due to the fact that higher fees paid by international students appear more attractive to the universities. Scottish students at both Edinburgh and St Andrews have felt the brunt of anti-Scottish sentiment, similar to that from The Edinburgh Tab, leading to the formation of the ‘Scottish Social Mobility Society’ at Edinburgh. This society is addressing how the Tab has “highlighted deep-rooted classism and the exclusion faced by Scottish students, especially those from working-class backgrounds.”
So where is this distaste for Scottish people and places coming from? In part it is perhaps due to classism, judgment against anything that doesn’t fit an elitist mould, whether that be a town, a building, or an accent. There are definite occasions of classism in St Andrews; see Overheardrews’ recent, now pinned, post of overheard ‘pervasive classism’ comments.
These are just a few examples of a larger issue – you know there’s a problem when ‘povo’ is an insult and the term ‘impoverished’ is thrown around as some sort of fetish. It seems some people have mistaken contempt as humour.
With Instagram pages such as the Scottish Social Mobility Society or Overheardrews using their platforms to spread this awareness, there is perhaps hope that people will realise these kinds of comments aren’t ok. Just be nice. Be openminded. Let’s raise the humour bar to something that resembles inclusivity and kindness – and actually makes people laugh.
Fundee, anyone?
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