It’s true: grammar schools HELP the working classes
Proof that poorer pupils do need more grammars
ThE subject of whether we should have more grammar schools has come up in the General Election campaign.
Few people today, apart from old ones like me, remember the excellent education system we used to have in the UK.
my parents were working-class, but I was fortunate to be selected for a local boys’ grammar school.
There was a boy in my first-year class, brighter than the rest of us put together, who took the 11-plus at ten. In my third year, we were joined by boys from the local secondary modern schools who had passed the 13-plus.
Those children who remained at a secondary modern school mostly took the CsE exam, but some who were able took GCE o-levels.
of the latter, if they did well, they had the opportunity to go to grammar school to study a-levels. so much for the argument that children who failed the 11-plus were thrown on the scrapheap.
It’s fashionable to consider grammar schools to be elitist, but nothing could be further from the truth. They were set up to give working- class children like me the opportunity to move into the professions.
Without grammar schools, we were destined to work in shipyards, mines, factories, shops or offices like our parents before us.
now we have a one-size-fits-all education system that focuses on quantity, rather than quality. It’s no surprise that we are falling down the international education league tables. ALAN SMITH, South Shields, Tyne & Wear.
Pampered youth
aFTER the letter from Chris Wild about why youths turn to knife crime, it’s time we stopped making excuses for teenagers.
Pressures on the young when I was growing up from 1941 onwards were far greater, and it wasn’t just because we were at war.
There was real poverty after the war years, overcrowding, shortage of goods and more rationing. I shared a bedroom with my mother, brother and sister, three of us in one bed. We were very cold in winter, had no heating and only cold water and an outside toilet.
shortage of clothes meant we had one set of clothes, which had to be washed and dried overnight in order to try to keep ourselves clean. Food was the minimum and there were very few treats.
This situation lasted until I was 12, when we found better accommodation. my mum went to work from 5.30am to 5pm, so I had to bring up my brother and sister.
That’s real hardship. But the attitude then was we got on with our lot — putting the effort into trying to better ourselves — not hitting back at society. no one forces you to carry a knife. MARIE ALDRIDGE,
Horncastle, Lincs.
Passport control
REadInG the letter about visa abuse took me back to 1970 when I met and married a young man from Italy who had come to work in the UK to improve his English.
after marrying, we lived with my parents for two years, and every six months without fail two detectives would come to the door to ascertain whether my husband was still at that address and if he was in gainful employment.
had he not been, I am sure he would have been sent back to Italy. although at the time we considered it an intrusion into our lives, how I wish the same vigilance was being applied today.
LYNN BRuCE, Suffolk.
Not at all prudent
shEIla EnnIs (letters) has not learned any history.
labour has always plunged the country into serious debt while in power, which results in votes for the Tories at the next election. new labour fooled us with Gordon Brown’s mantra ‘Prudence’.
PAuL RuANE, Leeds.
Labour spies
IF YoU are a homeowner, beware. labour could revive the plot it dreamed up when it was last in power, to spy on your home.
ministers were intent on introducing a levy on council tax for amenities such as views of lakes, rivers, golf courses, beaches and so on — anything, in fact, that could be used as an excuse to increase property valuations.
They had also recruited snoopers to check on added sundecks or extensions and told them to look for signs of new brickwork.
so if you live in the lake district or areas such as the Peak district or the Cotswolds, heaven help you. Even if you are a poverty stricken oaP living on your own, you would be charged.
so if labour gets into power, expect the worst. It wants your money and national privileges. W. M. WINTERBoTToM,
Glossop, Derbyshire.
Spare our foxes
WhaT a lovely photo of the family of fox cubs and vixen, which are far safer in the Birmingham garden than they would be in the Cheshire countryside where I live (mail).
Come early september to the end of october, fox cubs will be surrounded by adults and children on horseback, quad bikes and a pack of 20 or more hounds.
should the fox cubs find an open earth to escape into, people with terriers and spades will come to dig the terrified animals out to be thrown to the awaiting hounds and ripped apart.
Foxes are among our few remaining native wild animals and are better off in urban areas than the countryside. Cub hunting is one thing that pro-blood sports organisations will not admit to. BERNADETTE HARDERN,
Tiverton, Cheshire. ThE Pm has pledged to hold a free vote on overturning the fox hunting ban. But 85 per cent of people in England and Wales want fox hunting to remain illegal.
If indeed the Pm’s pledge takes place — and I hope it will not — I would expect mPs on all sides to listen to the wishes of their constituents and not rely only on their own opinion.
Why would anyone want to return to cruelty in the name of sport?
BERYL JENKINS, Risca, Gwent.
Moore memories
I haVE one special memory of Roger moore: as a 19-year- old junior secretary at his agent’s office, I was asked to make him and the md coffee after they had signed his contract for his first James Bond film.
I made my way into the office and managed to put the cups down on the desk without spilling anything (quite hard, as I was shaking with nerves) and was about to make a hasty retreat when my boss introduced me.
Roger moore stood up, walked towards me and put his hand out to shake mine with a heartstopping smile and to express his pleasure at meeting me.
What a charming and kind gesture — I will always remember the special feeling of being on the receiving end of that magic. I am so sad he has passed away.
JENNY BAKER, South Harrow, Middx.