Are grammar schools good for children?

I HAVE just listened to a discussion on the Daily Politics show on TV. When will those in authority realise that the worst thing we can do is to put children in different types of school? And I mean for educational ability and religious reasons. Do we need grammar schools? No we don’t. They are divisive and unnecessary. What we need are schools that provide grammar school-standard education for those who need it. Seventy years ago, I went to an excellent school, where at the age of 11 we all sat what was called the qualifying exam and were then streamed into the appropriate classes. What politicians seem unable to grasp is that children are different and need different forms of education, but it should not be inferred that one is superior to another.

uRIEl THoMPSoN, Greenock. IT’S not true that any pupil who passed the 11-plus exam was eligible for a grammar school place. I passed, but so many of us passed that due to a lack of spaces, we had to retake. On passing the exam for a second time, the problem remained, so we had to go for interviews where the better-off pupils passed and us poorer ones failed. This was a fact in 1947 and no doubt would be repeated under similar circumstances today, because the better off would always be selected.

GERAld GREEN, Banbury, oxon.

CATEGORISING children by their parents’ income does not create an equal opportunity for all. In fact, it does just the opposite and discriminates against potentially clever children. Equal opportunity means all children get an equal chance of an excellent education. Is this, after all, not the main reason for bringing back grammar schools?

CHRISTINE VAN KAMPEN, Morecambe, lancs.