“I have just as much of a right to be here as everyone else.” The imposter syndrome that many of us Scottish students feel at a University that has come to be synonymous with everything but Scottish students.
Illustration by Lydia Kempton @lydiak_arts
The Edinburgh Tab has come under fire recently for several comments – to which they define as merely “jokes” - echoing the long-standing classism and marginalization of Scottish students present at Edinburgh University. The Edinburgh Tab’s efforts at seeming lighthearted and relatable are for a target audience that excludes a massive proportion of the student population.
Amongst the articles they publish many set out to humiliate or patronise, with titles like “From Londoners to Pollockers, these are the 10 most annoying people you'll meet at Edinburgh Uni”, it is apparent that singling out certain demographics of students is something The Tab thrives off of. Scottish students studying at Edinburgh are not excluded from the Tab’s attempts at humiliation, as several comments made by the Tab on TikTok have left Scottish students feeling alienated at a University in their own country. As a Scottish student, born and raised in Edinburgh, the controversy surrounding The Tab in recent weeks has only echoed the feelings I have come to possess in my time studying at Edinburgh University. As such I feel that sharing my opinions on the controversy may bring light to the imposter syndrome that many of us Scottish students feel at a University that has come to be synonymous with everything but Scottish students.
It is a known fact that the population of Scottish students at Edinburgh is low; free tuition provided by SAAS (Student Awards Agency Scotland) means little profit for the University when compared to English or international students. Education is a luxury, and while we are lucky enough to be given access to free primary and secondary schooling, capitalism has ensured that higher education comes with a price. If it wasn’t for SAAS, university would not have been possible for me. I come from a very working-class background and the high fees that go alongside studying at universities across the world meant I had to get into a Scottish university to be able to pursue my aim of higher education. The added costs of moving away from home and the absence of any financial help from my family, meant that for me Edinburgh was the only feasible shot I had at getting a degree. On my own merit and academic success, I was lucky enough to be accepted and I am now in my final year of a history degree. Throughout my time at university I have held down a full-time job, working upwards of 45 hours a week alongside studying. University for me is not just 4 years of fun and living in a new city, it is something I work incredibly hard to be able to do. I chose to study whilst having to contribute to and support my family. I am not a ‘trust fund baby’ and I wasn’t privately educated, but I have just as much of a right to be here as everyone else.
I know my situation is not unique, there will be countless students in the same position who feel alienated in a space where we are not the norm. These feelings are not merely a product of insecurity and imagination by Scottish students, they come from comments made about our accents, our education, our financial situations. Countless times throughout my four years I have been met with shock at the fact I work or simply when I open my mouth to speak in a lecture. For being in my own country, the number of students who are stunned to find out that I am Scottish baffles me. The Tab has recently consolidated the feelings that I and many others hold via a response they made to a TikTok comment. The Tab’s reply to the comment “Not a Scot in sight” was “as god intended”. Whether or not this was intended as a harmless joke it certainly hit home. It heightened that feeling of not belonging and made it seem as though being Scottish is a negative thing at this university. I still can’t fathom where this perception comes from, why is being Scottish marked with some degree of judgement? What confuses me even more is the apparent hate towards Scottish people despite the perks given to English and international students living in Edinburgh. They are entitled to free bus travel thanks to the Scottish government, receive free sanitary products in all university buildings, and enjoy the “aesthetic” of living in Edinburgh. They chose to study and live here, they make use of the free benefits Scotland provides, yet still Scottish students are treated with a degree of hostility. From my personal viewpoint, this hostility stems from classism. Scottish students often don’t fit into the narrative many English students like to create surrounding being an ‘Edinburgh Uni student’. The stereotype that the Tab itself highlights, of posh students with “daddy's money” often cosplaying as the working class. Wherever this generalisation came from it is not relatable, it is not a unifying feature of the student population, and it singles out students who do not fit within its definitions.
Beyond this imagined construct of the typical ‘Edinburgh Uni student’ there is a trend in labelling Edinburgh Uni students as annoying. The Tab itself often self-criticises, with one writer from the tab stating: “As an Edinburgh Uni student, I think I can safely say, we are insufferable”. This self-deprecating narrative is boring and not relatable. You may view yourself as insufferable and you may be right when you join in the alienation of Scottish students, but I myself am not. Neither are the hundreds of other students who have worked hard to get their spot at this University. Every student at Edinburgh belongs at this university. They deserve to be able to appreciate Edinburgh as a city and what it offers, and Scottish students deserve to feel welcome in a place they call home. No one individual's life is the same, we all faced different obstacles to get here and experience ongoing challenges throughout our student lives. Rather than presenting the university as this upper-class English clique, creating content based on imagined stereotypes and excluding or looking down on Scottish students, The Tab should focus on celebrating the diversity that can be found at the University of Edinburgh, but to do so it is clear they have to drop their immature approach to content making and face a reality check. Slagging off “poshos” or Scottish students is not a resourceful use of your time and it just makes The Tab out of touch and unrelatable. With such a large platform there is a lot more good you can do like focusing on real issues rather than the presence of Scottish people in Scotland.
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