Allsop, women, university and missing the point

So everyone's losing their shit about Kirsty Allsop saying that girls should think about not going to university at 18, but instead working, getting a flat, having kids. Some of the unspoken assumptions in the responses:

1. Kirsty Allsop is worth listening to on this.
2. Her opinion will counteract the (overwhelming) societal pressure to go to university.
3. Having children young is regressive and disempowering to women.
4. Going to university is A Good Thing.

Allsop!

I think we can probably agree that we've all got carried away with (2). A voice suggesting a different path is not going to roll back votes for women.

I'm leaving (3). Obvious that there are different ways to live a happy life.

Now, (4). We tend to think that university is a good thing, that people benefit from it, and the more people we can get there the better. More women, more ethnic minorities: we're on our way to a better society!

However, I have a hunch... Power is increasingly entrenched; more women going to university is a signal not of progress, but of the lessening importance of a university education in amassing real power.

A degree does not increase your options, it changes them. Most graduates will go on to work for big companies and institutions. They will earn steady salaries in return for corporate drudgery. They will do the housework of capitalism, they will not be its masters.

Bet you're glad you did that degree.

Now, on (1), turns out Kirsty Allsop IS worth listening to, on this point, anyway. Not because she is a public figure, but because she is very posh. Posh people have power. They know other powerful people. If they're cooling on university it's not because they have been displaced by bright kids from Tower Hamlets. They know things.

Power's elusive. Any institutional route is a bait and switch.

Here! Have a degree, it's the keys to the kingdom!
Right. Got the key. Now, where's that kingdom?

May as well join the army instead. At least you'll get taught how to ski.

The rules I use to decide which University Challenge team to support

In order of least to greatest support:

• King's College, Cambridge over other Cambridge colleges *
• Cambridge over Oxford
• London over Oxbridge
• Anywhere else over London
• Northern over Southern
• Less "posh" over "posh" (e.g. Glasgow over Durham, but Manchester over St. Andrews)
• New university over old (Sheffield Hallam over Sheffield)
• Mature students over youngsters
• The team with the most ethnic minority members over the other
• The team with more women over the team with fewer
• Distance learning over traditional university
• Open University over all

It boils down to women > men, new > old, poor > rich, age > beauty. 

* Actually, I would probably support one of the women's colleges or newer, more obscure ones -- e.g. Churchill, Girton, Homerton -- over King's.