Finchbearer
Istar
Nothing much has changed in the last 700 years in terms of classism in the UK. Tolkien was strictly middle class, and he probably placed a lot of importance on being learned. The aristocracy probably didn’t have the same concerns on bettering themselves. They’ve never had to worry about that side of things. He probably didn’t have enough foresight to see why working class people won’t know what he was studying. In other words he probably got to a comfortable age and in his comfortable job and forgot what it was like to not have those privileges. His own life was far from easy. But, he’s no longer alive, so we can only speculate as to what his actual thoughts and feelings were. I love how Diane Wynne Jones describes his fumbling, disorientating lectures!