Selective schools

Once upon a time, schools in the UK were selective on academic abilities rather than parent's salaries. It meant that all pupils had access to a good education regardless of their parent's wealth or income. However, such schools were clearly elitist and should be scrapped. So they were, except that some areas doggedly held on to selective education.

This stubborness frustrated many liberals and left wingers who wanted a comprehensive education for all (except for their own offspring off course), so they did everything they could to close them down.

Now many years passed, governments came and went, school league tables were introduced to show how well they performed for the benefit of local parents. A new problem arose, the top schools were nearly all grammar schools or independents. This was not good news for the liberals or left wingers, there must surely be a better way of demonstrating that a comprehensive education was superior for everyone but how to achieve this? The solution was quite simple in fact, grammar schools and independents clearly have a head start because their pupil intake tends to be academically superior, they are therefore bound to achieve more. A new league table was devised to demonstrate that the "Value added" would be greater for comprehensives than grammar schools.

This morning, 13th January 2005, the latest value added reports have been published in the UK. Who heads the top of the league tables? Grammars and Independents, as they stretch their pupils' abilities further!!

Any apologies from left wingers and liberals for the educational experiement that has failed a generation of children will be appreciated.