WATCH YOUR GRAMMAR

I believe that the abolition of Grammar Schools in the 60s was the most regressive step in the history of education in this country.  It resulted in the levelling down of education in general, and ensured that the old Public School system of election and promotion in politics, banking, media, Civil Service, business etc. would continue for generations to come.  In all walks of life we see people ruling over us whose only qualification for office is a rich or famous or noble family able to buy into the old boy network.  People with twice the intellect and ability are overlooked simply because they are from poor backgrounds and were not able to for example buy a place at Oxbridge. In other words, their face didn't fit.

In the 'old' Grammar school days, a poor but academically bright child could get an academic Grammar school education purely on merit, the same as any other 11 year old. And there were accessible Grammar schools in all parts of the country, so to live in any particular area was not an issue.  Suitable children could get an academically based education similar to that in the private schools that the priveleged classes have always enjoyed.

Both myself and my Other Half benefitted from such an education.  He was born in Walworth, living in a Church Commissioners subsidised flat, and I was from a Council estate in Lewisham (via Peckham), two of the poorer areas of inner London.  My Dad was a carpenter/maintenance man, and OH's Dad was a shop caretaker.  We both passed the 11 plus; in fact my exam result was in the top 2% in London.  We both went to venerable old Grammar schools and got excellent O and A Level results.  Neither of us then felt able to go to university as we knew our families would struggle to support us, though I did extend my language training at a London college.  OH joined HM Civil Service (which is how we eventually met) and was initially fast-tracked; but when he got too near the top, he was continually passed over in favour of chinless wonders with the magic 'degrees', usually in 'soft' subjects such as media studies or drama, who knew nothing about the job but usually had a private education and a posh accent.

Of course by this time most of the 'old' Grammar schools had long been done away with, so there was nothing to stop the public school chappies promoting their own kind, safe in the knowledge that the hoi polloi would do the actual work, including the remaining 'old' Grammar school alumni who would provide the brains while they took the credit.  And look where this has got us!  The likes of Cameron and his cronies not even admitting that most 'ordinary' working people in this country have no savings, no private pension (we paid for our state pension all our lives, and now they call it a 'benefit'!), and no hope, having been fleeced and made to endure an austerity that the likes of Osborn probably think of as one bottle of champers less per year, but for some means losing their home.

Thus on several levels I cannot fully understand why there are so many people criticising Theresa May's declaration that more Grammar schools will be built.

To make a basic point, she has not yet even explained exactly what she means be 'new' Grammar schools.  Is it::

1.  That those areas already having selective schools which they call Grammar schools will be allowed to open more of the same?

2.  That she will legislate that ALL areas MUST have whatever is meant by Garmmar schools?

If point 2 is not intended, this would be patently unfair and not in accordance with her stated aim of equal opportunity for all.

The next point up for discussion is:  What is the exact nature of these proposed schools?

1.  Are they to be on the lines of the 'old' Grammar schools, which were largely done away with in the 60s? i.e. are they to be populated by the most academically inclined pupils? If so, this raises the further question as to how such pupils are to be identified. Will it be via an exam similar to the old 11 plus, or as I understand is now done in the remaining few 'Grammar' schools, who set their own entrance exams, which means parents with funds to do so can hire tutors to give their child a better chance of success, thereby disadvantaging children from poorer backgrounds who have only their brains to rely on? Or would it be some sort of teacher assessment? (possibility of corruption here?).

2.  Will they be a 'new' type of establishment, the nature of which is yet to be revealed?

Bear in mind that the Prime Minister herself is the product of an 'old' Grammar school of the 60s, though I and no doubt many others have not forgotten that, when it suited her, she claimed to have attended a state comprehensive school, omitting to mention that it was actually a Grammar school when she was a pupil there.

Whatever Mrs May eventually reveals, let us hope that along with the restoration of proper Grammar schools she will also promise adequate funding and reform of the entire education system, to ensure that all children receive an education which will enable each individual to achieve their full potential. Maybe then the end result will be a more fair and equitable society for all, and we will one day no longer be living in a country where the rich continue to get richer and the poor poorer.  But I won't hold my breath.