Best long reads of 2021: The student and the algorithm: how the exam results fiasco threatened one pupil’s future

The Audio Long Read

The Guardian

Society & Culture

4.3 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 27 December 2021

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the second instalment of our series looking back at the best audio long reads of 2021, editor David Wolf introduces another of the long read team’s favourite pieces of the year. Josiah Elleston-Burrell had done everything to make his dream of studying architecture a reality. But, suddenly, in the summer of 2020, he found his fate was no longer in his hand. By Tom Lamont. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the Guardian.
0:09.2	Hi, my name is Jocelyn Thompson-Roll. I'm a peloton instructor and I teach running and bootcamp
0:13.6	classes on the peloton tread. Don't get caught up in the amount of time that you have to spend
0:17.9	doing something. You don't need to do 30 minutes or 60 minutes for it to count. Five minutes
0:22.0	can make a big difference, even like a simple walk or a stretch or something just to get you started.
0:27.6	Start small and don't shortchange yourself. The Guardian Labs has partnered with peloton to help
0:32.5	you find motivation that moves you. To find out more, visit thegardian.com-forthslash-motivationwithpeloton.
0:39.2	This message was paid for by peloton.
0:46.8	Hi, my name is David Wolff and I'm the editor of the Guardian Long Read. For the last few podcasts
0:51.9	of the year, we wanted to highlight a few of our favourite pieces of 2021. Today's piece
0:57.5	is The Student and the Algorithm by Tom Lamont.
1:02.1	Welcome to the Guardian Long Read, showcasing the best long-form journalism covering culture,
1:07.0	politics and new thinking. For the text version of this and all our long reads, go to thegardian.com-forthslash-longread.
1:15.2	The student and the algorithm. How the exam results, Fiasco,
1:19.4	threatened one pupil's future by Tom Lamont.
1:23.6	Read by Dermott Daly and produced by Esther Apocugeni.
1:29.9	At last, Josiah Elliston-Burrell's last day at school. It was the 13th of August 2020,
1:37.5	a Thursday in the middle of a dismal pandemic-struct summer, an Elliston-Burrell had returned to
1:44.0	St Joseph's College in Croydon for one final visit, to collect his A-level grades.
1:50.0	Tall and Serene, well known on campus for wearing clothes of his own design,
1:55.2	Elliston-Burrell had on a pale grey top that he'd customised with flecks of green and pink dye,
2:01.4	his nikes tactfully coordinated. At 19, he was one of the oldest pupils enrolled at St Joseph's.
	...

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