The possibility of more grammar schools in England comes as no surprise. It is the inevitable extension of Michael Gove’s consistent undermining of the state sector south of the Border. Some of the Prime Minister’s closest advisers are apparently in favour of ending the embargo on new grammar schools largely because of their personal experiences.
In some ways, I can see where they are coming from. For much of my boyhood I lived in one of Aberdeen’s largest peripheral housing schemes, having been decanted from our city centre tenement. At the age of 11, I somehow managed to “pass” the selection process that was inflicted on all of Scotland’s children at the time. I moved on to the “senior secondary” – the grammar school. Most of my primary classmates were deemed failures at that tender age and transferred to the local “junior secondary”.
The grammar school opened up a whole new world for a boy from the schemes. In prepping this piece I dug out my old class photos and a quick calculation confirms that I was a minority, the vast majority of my peers being drawn from the professional and prosperous middle class. I was rubbing shoulders with the sons (it was a boys’ school) of professors and doctors. The son of the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland was a pal. Those types of people were pretty thin on the ground in our scheme.
My years at the grammar school were a life enhancing and life changing experience. I benefited hugely from the generally excellent teaching and being surrounded by so many high achieving role models. Mature reflection, however, leads to the inevitable conclusion that, for each youngster like me whose life was positively transformed by selection, there were a score of other lives and life chances blighted aged 11.
No matter how Tory apologists for grammar schools try to dress it up, the extension of the system in England would be another example of the establishment tilting the odds in its own favour and against the rest of us. It would also widen existing divisions within society. The absurdity of the suggestion of grammar schools exclusively for children drawn from poorer socio-economic groups defies belief.
Unlike parts of England, grammar schools in Scotland did not survive the introduction of comprehensive education. As a result, our system is more just and the vast majority of our youngsters have a hugely better deal than was the case in the age of selection. That does not mean the system is perfect. While our best schools can match anything grammar schools can offer, too many are mediocre.
No one appears to be proposing the reintroduction of selection at 11 to Scotland. The Scottish Parliamentary elections, however, suggested a flicker of life in the Tory party north of the Border. There will be some in its ranks who believe selection and grammar schools are the answer. It just goes to show they don’t understand the question.
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