Vote totals:
Yes:
67%
No:
33%
Neutral:
0%
DEBATE: THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL SYSTEM SHOULD BE REINTRODUCED IN THE UK.
THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL SYSTEM SHOULD BE REINTRODUCED IN THE UK.
Grammar schools allow disadvantaged children access to excellent education.
Grammar schools create the opportunity for talented but financially unprivileged children to access academically excellent schools. The majority of parents are unable to afford private education and it is unfair to condemn children to a second rate education because of their parent’s earning power.
For disadvantaged children to access the benefits of a grammar school requires that they pass an exam in the first place, demonstrating their ability, before receiving the education they so desperately need – a catch-22. The exam entry system merely keeps out those who need to get through, because they won’t come from privileged backgrounds that groom them for passing the entrance exam.
THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL SYSTEM SHOULD BE REINTRODUCED IN THE UK.
Without grammar schools the rich will stay rich and the poor will stay poor.
Generally speaking the better a person’s education, the more money they are likely to make in the future. If the best education in the form of private schools is only given to those with rich parents, they will become the people with the higher earning jobs, while those without money to support them will be denied opportunities to change their situation.
As noted below, the grammar school system partly gives the middle classes an advantage in the first place, as they can afford extra tuition in the run-up to entrance exams and interviews. This then entrenches the rich/poor divide, as opposed to closing it – grammar schools do not help the poor out of poverty.
THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL SYSTEM SHOULD BE REINTRODUCED IN THE UK.
It is wrong to categorise children at age 11.
I’m a grammar school alumnus and I can’t sing its praises enough, although I will in no way give a biased view. I received a grammar school education for academic years 8 to 11, whereas a friend of mine did not. Both of us are drawing close to the end of our degree courses at university, although mine is of a practical/artistic nature and my friend’s course is far more intellectually/theory based. Thus I suggest that the notion of grammar school "dictating the course of their lives" and greatly affecting a child’s future is quite unfounded.
At the age of children beginning a grammar school education (usually 12) I doubt that they are inclined to discriminate against children with comprehensive school education, I have certainly never found any friction between the two, which are almost identical in nature, the only difference being in the willingness to work which is my next major point.
There are children who are willing to learn and those who are not, the reasons for either are not for me to say, but the fact is that there are children of the same "intelligence" (hardly measurable) who want to learn, and those who don’t. So the grammar school system is just allowing the children who are willing to learn and work to do so in a supportive environment, with pupils with similar aspirations.
The only aspect of grammar schools that I’m not sure is beneficial are the entry tests ("eleven plus"). These assess verbal, maths and non-verbal reasoning skills, and not willingness to learn or reception and retention of the seven years of education already received.
The grammar school system has proved its worth since the 1940’s, why forsake this useful tool for aiding our children through their mandatory education?
It is impossible to categorise children correctly at age 11, and doing so dictates the course of their lives and possibly creates a self-fulfilling prophesy in the form of "you are not bright enough to go to a grammar school," causing the child to think there is no point in paying attention to school.
THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL SYSTEM SHOULD BE REINTRODUCED IN THE UK.
Grammar schools create a two tier system.
There are already very differing levels of quality of education depending on where you live in the UK. Inner city schools tend to do worse, and there is something of a postcode lottery in existence.
In the areas of the UK where grammar schools still exist, a two tier system can be noted. Money is often focused on grammar schools to the detriment of the other schools in the area, and stereotypes are created about the students of the different types of school.
THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL SYSTEM SHOULD BE REINTRODUCED IN THE UK.
Middle and upper class families play the system.
Presumably if a government were introducing a scheme such as this it would encourage state primary schools to improve the chances of those students who could go to grammar school.
Many middle and upper class families send their primary school age children to "prep" schools, or private primary schools which educate children intensively in verbal reasoning – the focus of the grammar school entrance exam. This creates an unfair advantage for upper and middle class children and the children from less well off backgrounds, the group that the system is meant to benefit the most, are once again at a disadvantage.
