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lazy toad: User Posted Link

I don't know where I am on this one. I'm ex-Grammar, first family member to Uni, probably would have been bullied to s**t in a comp for being a boffin. Given my parents' work ethic and Dad's job (civil servant after joining Army at 17) I'd have have probably done ok even without the Grammar education.

Of my intake, most were first generation uni types (well, those that made it that far were anyway) from working class/lower middle backgrounds. Very few free school meals (and most of those that were on them we kids of divorcees) but all that meant was that at least one parent had a job of some sort - I think it's a pretty poor determinant of 'social mobility'. Lots of kids there from 'poor' backgrounds that have achieved more than they would have done at the local tech college - eg the mechanic's son who would have gone into his father's garage business had he not got to Uni, where he got a first and is now an F1 engineer.

I absolutely think that school's selecting pupils based on academics is better than parents effectively selecting based on their ability to buy a house in the right catchment area. I think the current system has ended up with many of the problems that the old grammar school system had, by virtue of better off parents being able to buy their way into them. In some ways that's worse than Grammars because at least under the 11+ there is an ability for those less well off kids getting in on merit.

The problem with grammars isn't so much the grammar schools, it's what happens to the other schools. If they are left to languish then of course re-instating grammars is going to be bad. If they are given just as much (if not more) attention then I don't have any strong objection to Grammars.

If Grammars are brought back on a large scale, then tutoring for the 11+ needs to be addressed. It wasn't something I was aware of 20 odd years ago as few families at my school would have had the financial means to hire tutors. The modern world is very different - more money sloshing around and more Uni grads offering their services so tutoring is more accessible.

My own preference would be a fully 'comprehensive' system with internal streaming and a total abolishment of catchment areas, with placement being by lottery. Only when schools are totally randomly socially mixed will we see middle class parents and the powers that be truly care about improving inner city comprehensive schools and the like. (In an ideal world you'd fold the private system into the state system to make it even more socially equal but I accept that that will never ever happen.)

Posted By: CWC on September 10th 2016 at 09:00:50

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