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Jade Franks’s life took a dramatic turn when she moved from working in a call centre to becoming a student at the University of Cambridge. Having always shown ambition and academic promise, she had previously been offered a place at drama school but couldn’t afford the fees. Determined to change her situation, she reached out to a Cambridge outreach worker who helped her secure a place on a theatre and education degree program. Despite being older than many of her peers, it was the differences in social class that made her feel isolated.
At Cambridge, Franks encountered subtle and overt examples of classism that caught her off guard. Formal dinners were conducted in Latin, and there was a clear divide in social norms: male students would drape jumpers over their shoulders, while women refrained from dressing up in the way Jade did, with high heels and makeup. Her Scouse accent was mimicked, and she faced ridicule for everyday things—like bringing grated cheddar to a party instead of fancy cheese. Her background, as the daughter of a carer and a factory worker from Merseyside, made her feel alienated. She explains, “I felt really alone at times and I nearly left. The classism surprised me, I didn’t expect people to make all these assumptions about me.”
One particularly disheartening experience involved Franks’s sister, who visited the university and was reprimanded for her attire at a formal dinner. Wearing heels and an off-the-shoulder blouse
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