About Time!

I read this story in my local newspaper over the weekend...

Bucks Free Press- 11+ reform in Bucks schools

All I can say is... about time! Now, it could be perceived that I'm biased as I went to a non-selective school after taking the 11+ in year 6, but that's okay because I've made of it what I wanted and now I'm in a great situation. I passed all of my GCSEs and A levels and I'm on a great university course- it probably couldn't have worked out better had I gone to a grammar school.

I just feel that if you have that natural flair for being at a grammar school and making that type of education, then great, you clearly deserve a place. But, please explain to me what is the point of sending your child for 11+ training anything up to 18 months before they actually take the test? If your child needs that much coaching for one test, how are they going to cope at a grammar school if they don't have any of that natural ability to pass the test? Because that's the idea of it- to offer those select students 'private' style education for free. The test is meant to evaluate who has the natural ability to cope with grammar school education, because let's face it, it's not always for everyone. The thought of people actually moving to the Bucks area just so their children can take the test and attend a grammar school is beyond me!

Put it this way, from what I've seen during my time at secondary school, 6th form and university, every child has something that they are good at and it isn't always something that is theory or textbook based. A lot of children are very practical in their approach to things and excel at these instead. Whatever secondary school your child goes to, grammar or non-selective, as long as they are encouraged by their parents and teachers to do well and always try their hardest at everything, they will get out of it exactly what they want to. If your child truly wants to do well and proves this through their work and attitude- they will.

This whole 11+ business has gone too far! My brother is 4 years younger than myself and I distinctly remember when it came to his turn taking the 11+ a lot of his peers were having coaching for the test and he wanted to know why he couldn't. So already the coaching is setting students apart from their peers and giving them a sense of more or less importance than everyone else in their class. To add fuel to the fire, parents who were sending their children to coaching actually made a list (call it bets if you will) of children they thought would pass or fail the 11+. Who has the time to do this, honestly, it's just cruel! These are 10 year old children! Isn't it bad enough when they find out they haven't passed and are made to feel like they are stupid because they didn't get into a grammar school (this was the first thing my brother asked me)?!

So this begs the question are the parents really sending their children to coaching for their children's benefit or to make themselves look better in front of their fellow parents at the school gates? Whatever the answer is I believe the 11+ reforms, detailed in the article above, are at least a step in the right direction. It makes for a fairer test and hopefully a lot of this parent and child competitiveness will be lost along the way.

One day I would like to see the whole system abandoned and make it so that all secondary schools are available to all children within the catchment area; with each secondary school having a specialism e.g.: sports, drama, technology, and let the children choose what they are interested in and would like to have a good chance at having an education that can effectively accommodate them? What needs to be considered is that you can be coached for a test as often as you like but in the real world of work throwing money at something in order to make sure you succeed won't get you very far. From what I've seen from my lecturers and all the people around me in different careers, in order to enjoy your higher education/ career you need to have an interest and have partly natural ability in order to be able to be good at what you do.