Private school vs state school

PP – you are perfectly correct. Examine the augments against grammar schools – the acknowledged ADVANTAGES of the grammar schools were offset by the disadvantages of the secondary modern. Was the solutions to address the disadvantages? Not it was to take away the bit that was working, albeit only partially.

I thought you admitted pages ago that grammar school advantages are unproven?

You thought wrong then.

Where you might be confused is the difference between the clear advantages of grammars historically (widely accepted even in the current oft quoted study that people use to say that they didn’t promote social mobility) and the present academic performance of the small number that are left. In the latter case, the evidence is mixed. I made both points seperately.

Be a good chap and show me where like for like performance was better in the old Grammars then would you.

oh and maybe you could explain why the remaining Grammars are not clearly better when you clearly seem to think they should be.

Ignoring the needs of the majority would be political suicide.

There haven’t been too many education-related political bodies on the floor in the last fifty years. Perhaps that’s because the politically influential and well-educated determine the political discourse of the UK.

Be an equally “good chap” AA and read the quotes already given….If they are not good enough, google Joan Bakewell in the guardian circa 2005 as she writes about the same issues better than most. Why her? She was one of the presenters in the BBC program.

So kona, was “education, education, education”a myth then? We have increased spending on education versus national income consistently since the 1960s, so the silent lobby must have mystical powers. Amazing.

“Quotes are not evidence. ” anagallis_arvensis 2014

True, but since you are in the profession you will know the academic studies that they come from – as we would say to students, time for some independent research! Given how widely quoted they are, it’s not hard.

But IF they did not perform better, you have to wonder what all the fuss was about??? Still it would be odd for critical academics to talk about the unfair “advantages” in that case…….

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2005/aug/12/schools.uk

this is opinion

I’m a teacher not an educational academic. I dont know of any studies showing Grammar schools being better when compared like for like. You claim they were better but are not now for reasons I cannot understand as yet. Leaving aside your complete lack of evidence base. Why would they have got worse at a rate higher than comps? The ones in Reading thrive, why is it not easy to show they are better than the local comps?