THERE'S almost a poetry to it, it's so perfectly symbolic of modern Britain's issues.
In London's Lambeth borough outrage is bubbling over a housing development where children of owner-occupier parents and children of socially renting parents were not allowed to play together on what should be a shared playground.
Planning applications for the mixed use development said the playground would bring everyone together but, rather, the property managers erected an imposing hedge to block access from the social housing part of the site.
Siân Berry, co-leader of the Green Party, said another site in Camden, north London, also features segregated play areas.
“The worst thing was," she said, "They were both rooftop play areas and the better-off kids were looking down on the poorer children with no way to reach them."
After some negative publicity - including a round drubbing from Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and London mayor Sadiq Khan - the hedge is to be felled and the housing management says no segregation was ever intended, despite strong evidence to the contrary.
Outrage is absolutely the right response to such stark discrimination, and of children. The management company said that only the private residents paid towards the maintenance of the grounds so why should social housing children be allowed to take advantage? Well, because it's for the good of everyone that children should mix between social classes.
Because children can't pay their way and so shouldn't adults all chip in for their collective benefit.
The notion that children be segregated based on their parent's income, or lack of, is outrageous and the implementation of this policy grotesque. But doesn't this sound a little familiar? Isn't this just a neat synonym for our school system.
Research from the Sutton Trust certainly would say so. The thinktank released a report on Tuesday looking at social segregation in schools in Scotland and Wales, having previously conducted the same research in England.
What it found was that Scotland has a "highly socially segregated school system" and in doing so, produced conclusions we're already well aware of.
Last week's Herald league tables showed just that. The Sutton Trust report found that an average of just eight per cent of pupils at the country's top 70 schools are registered for free school meals, compared to 16 per cent of all pupils in Scotland while the league tables show a direct correlation between low levels of deprivation in a school population and high exam success.
What makes the Lambeth tale really lean to the poetic is that the housing development is on the site of the former Lilian Baylis School.
This is the school that found itself suffering a visit from then-Prime Minister Tony Blair as he attempted to shame Eton-educated Conservative Sir Oliver Letwin - current unlikely Brexit rebel - who said he would rather "go out on the street and beg" than send his children to the inner city comp.
Head teacher Gary Phillips, speaking in 2003 when Sir Oliver's remarks made headlines, said, "Has Mr Letwin ever wondered if a 100 per cent record of A-C grades at a school which only accepts gifted children from wealthy homes is as much of an achievement as a 10 per cent record of A-C grades at a school where the children can't speak English when they start there? I doubt it."
Plus ça change.
In Glasgow, the city council's education motto is to support your local school. But if you move out of an area to get away from the local school and buy overpriced property in a catchment area for a specific "high-performing" secondary then you're not supporting your local school, are you?
There's a distinct horror to seeing a physical barrier between children of different financial backgrounds who just want to play together. Why not at the barriers erected between children who all deserve the same standard of learning together?
We segregate children by their parents' religion, wealth and, at Scotland's last remaining girls' state school in Glasgow, by sex. With changes to business rates that will remove charitable status from private schools, the Scottish Government has aimed a sling shot at those who segregate their children by throwing money at the problem.
What of those who move for the schools? What deterrent there?
Despite the fact we're well aware of this class imbalance in our schools, it's rare to find a middle class parent willing to put their child where their mouth is when it comes to education. The Sutton Trust suggests a ballot system where some school places are left up to chance, rather than the guarantee for those able to afford a large mortgage. That would need a radical overhaul of shared council areas - Greater Glasgow, rather than Glasgow and its suburbs.
A ballot system would undermine the sorts of prejudices that sees certain parents relocate and shore up class-based enclaves around certain schools and a more mixed school community would become the norm.
My friends sent their child to their local school knowing they could move to a more middle class catchment area. They wanted, he says, to give their daughter a fully rounded education where she mixes with as many types of people as possible. If she drops a grade, it hardly matters because she's turned out such a decent, non-judgemental girl.
There won't be change while there's no appetite for change. Instead, the middle classes will do for themselves while Glasgow's schools will continue to face a battle against poverty and for respect.
One of the Lambeth development residents, a girl of 13, described her frustration at the physical hedge. "It’s really rude," she said. "We are living on the same planet and no child cares about who pays rent and who doesn’t.
"I think they should take that hedge down and let us in.”
Would we all had her passion and the desire to use it against the metaphorical hedge segregating our children.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel