Every secondary school can choose to become a grammar school - so a comprehensive by another name then since there will be no non-grammar schools.
If they admit based on ‘ability’ what becomes of the children that aren’t selected?
If all schools become grammar schools, some no doubt wil be better than others. Wealthier families will gravitate to the areas served by these better schools. So the problem of postcode lotteries won’t be solved.
A better solution would be to throw the money that will inevitably be spent on this reorganisation (see NHS reorganisation) in the way of ALL schools and particularly those that are so under-resourced.
This is like when Marge Simpson is speaking to Bart and assumes that the ‘coolest kids in class’ are the ones who get straight As.
Like, do you seriously believe what you’ve just written is actually how things play out in pratice? Or is it just a case of ‘it-would-be-nice-wouldn’t-it’?
At the end of my primary school, there were kids who at the age of 10/11 (year 6) could not read and write.
I remember it well; Billy, a friend of mine (who god bless him was thick as two short planks) wrote a story for a writing excercise called ‘dandros aleon’ (dangerous alien). that went something like this:
“it haz a gun
it is dandros
it wil kil you an fly hom 2 its planit
dandros aleon.”
Seriously. He wasn’t disabled or anything like that (maybe dyslexia), but the poor lad was just unintelligent. Not his fault in the slightest and though I’ve long lost touch with I hope his life didn’t turn out too badly (though I’d assume he’s behind bars by now, sadly).
Now, poor old Billy was from a poor, single-parent family with a drug-addled mum who didn’t give two hoots about his education. He was exactly the kind of kid that a tonne of handicaps and was just dealt a shitty hand in life.
But what possible advantage would there be in putting him in with the grammar school kids into a one-size-fits-all education system? The best thing for Billy would have been to direct him *away* from anything academic as soon as possible. What possible advantage would there have been to trying to teach him triganomatry or Shakespeare or the cells of a leaf? How would forcing those things down his throat have possibly improved his life?
This is like when Marge Simpson is speaking to Bart and assumes that the ‘coolest kids in class’ are the ones who get straight As.
Like, do you seriously believe what you’ve just written is actually how things play out in pratice? Or is it just a case of ‘it-would-be-nice-wouldn’t-it’?
At the end of my primary school, there were kids who at the age of 10/11 (year 6) could not read and write.
I remember it well; Billy, a friend of mine (who god bless him was thick as two short planks) wrote a story for a writing excercise called ‘dandros aleon’ (dangerous alien). that went something like this:
“it haz a gun
it is dandros
it wil kil you an fly hom 2 its planit
dandros aleon.”
Seriously. He wasn’t disabled or anything like that (maybe dyslexia), but the poor lad was just unintelligent. Not his fault in the slightest and though I’ve long lost touch with I hope his life didn’t turn out too badly (though I’d assume he’s behind bars by now, sadly).
Now, poor old Billy was from a poor, single-parent family with a drug-addled mum who didn’t give two hoots about his education. He was exactly the kind of kid that a tonne of handicaps and was just dealt a shitty hand in life.
But what possible advantage would there be in putting him in with the grammar school kids into a one-size-fits-all education system? The best thing for Billy would have been to direct him *away* from anything academic as soon as possible. What possible advantage would there have been to trying to teach him triganomatry or Shakespeare or the cells of a leaf? How would forcing those things down his throat have possibly improved his life?
Fucking hell, Tramps.
Why not just have him humanely destroyed and all records of him erased?
No fees at grammar schools and yes it is for personal vanity. How would you describe a parent that forces a child into a school they are not suitable for and will feel out of their depth from day one. I have personal experience of these people and they are many.
The nub of the matter is the egalitarian totalitarianism (stick that in your rhyming dictionary) which, when you extrapolate what’s actually being proposed here, is an argument in favour of pretty much _using _smart kids to ballast the failing schools. Such kids will invariably be the poor, working-class kids who’s parents can’t afford to move to nice catchment areas and can’t afford to go private. The middle-to-upper-class kids will still go to the very nice and well-streamed, well-funded comps (like Graveney in Tooting) and private schools just fine.
Dude, there’s a bit of a middle-ground between thrusting Billy into education that he was no more suited to than you or I being taken out of mainstream education to play for a Premier League’s school of excellence in the vain hope of becoming a professional footballer, and erm…having him erased from history.
Something like a trade, or even a remedial school where he could chase his dreams? One example of where me and him had something in common was that we had an interest in sharks. There were a few books about them in the school library that we would often read now and again. Perhaps he could have done conservation work in South Africa or Australia or something? (I’m typing whilst thinking here - but you can have ‘dreamy’ aspirations for a kid whilst staying within the realm of realism).
Anyway. My point is that the one and only purpose society provided for Billy by putting him through a traditional academic education was more-or-less to keep him out of prison until he was old enough to go. That’s all. Education *has* to be tailored. If we do have a tiered education system - I’d be all in favour of funding the special needs schools far more than those further up the chain, but shoving everyone all together is madness that does more harm than good to everyone across the spectrum.
What do you think would be best for Billy? (his is a completely true story btw and I can provide further details).
The Corbyns, McDonnells and Abbotts of this world don’t send their kids to schools with kids like Billy in them. They don’t see first-hand the sheer obviousness of how futile (and actually damaging _ to _ the less intelligent kids themselves) it is to shove them through the meat-grinder of an education system that’s going to provide them with nothing but feelings of resentment, humiliation, dislike and disrespect for society and conflict.
And then, when they drop out at 16 after collecting less than 5 A-Cs at GCSE, they’re told to fuck off and don’t break the law.
I remember it well; Billy, a friend of mine (who god bless him was thick as two short planks) wrote a story for a writing excercise called ‘dandros aleon’ (dangerous alien). that went something like this:
“it haz a gun
it is dandros
it wil kil you an fly hom 2 its planit
dandros aleon.”
Seriously. He wasn’t disabled or anything like that (maybe dyslexia), but the poor lad was just unintelligent. Not his fault in the slightest and though I’ve long lost touch with I hope his life didn’t turn out too badly (though I’d assume he’s behind bars by now, sadly).
in point of fact, Billy changed his name to Roland Emmerich, moved to Hollywood, and made millions. You can never tell.
