The same old tired row because commercial schools (how vulgar) might be made to reserve places for the children of the poor in order to retain the charitable status that they inexplicably enjoy despite charging fees.
But nobody ever asks whether they are really all that good. They are prominent among the critics of the gravely deficient and defective examination system. Yet their own appeal is based on being exceptionally good within that system. If the exams are educationally questionable, then being good at putting people through them cannot be said to prove that a school is a centre of academic excellence. If anything, it would seem to suggest the opposite. One does have to question whether the people making these sales pitches are terribly intelligent at all.
Where are the articles and documentaries about private schools and their bullying? Or the highly variable quality of their teaching? Or their Head Teachers who are in fact proprietors? Or their entrance exams for five-year-olds? Or their decidedly questionable employment practices? Or the cosy relationships of a few of them with Oxbridge admissions tutors? (Although who really cares about Oxbridge, anyway? Between ninety and one hundred Etonians admitted each year, so an Oxbridge degree makes you only as good as the ninety-fifth best Etonian in his year, and how good can he possibly be?) Or the fact that the rest are selling a pup?
Meanwhile, did someone say "grammar schools"?
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Talk about extra haddock with those double chips le shoulder.
ReplyDeleteBy the way it was the Swedes who founded the Great Lake states. What Denmark has to with it? Maybe you are getting mixed up with York.
I have allowed this up for general amusement, but ask people to stay on topic.
ReplyDeleteYou know that BDJ is wrong about who founded Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Seattle. I know that BDJ is wrong about who founded Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Seattle. But let's stick to the right post. Oh, and let's enjoy laughing at how long it has taken BDJ to get this wrong anyway.
BDJ is a classic grammar schools opponent who knows that he would never have got into one so supports the current system of selection by parental chequebook for fees, house prices or both.
ReplyDeletecommercial schools (how vulgar)
ReplyDeleteBetween ninety and one hundred Etonians admitted each year, so an Oxbridge degree makes you only as good as the ninety-fifth best Etonian in his year, and how good can he possibly be?
Priceless.
No wonder that the people who hate you do so.