Selection system is outdated

Letters

Thursday, May 08, 2008

It is a very sad and deplorable state of affairs that a sizeable number of grammar schools are prepared to take such a radical step as setting themselves up as a rebellious separatist group within the education system, just so that they can cling on to the outdated and soul-destroying selection system which has been inflicted on our schoolchildren for far too long.

This despicable system separates children into two categories of passes and failures and moreover, it does this in the full glare of public view and scrutiny. In so doing it has severely blighted the lives of the many children who have been subjected to this dividing process and have thus been relegated to the category of failures for the rest of their lives.

Since all children do not develop at the same rate, it is more appropriate and fitting that they should be allowed to find their own level of capabilities within the school they transfer to after primary school. Moreover, the whole concept of a so-called academic education is really a flawed concept, since there is no definable line between an academic and a non-academic education. So the idea of there being a definite sort of education, which is academic, and which can only be taught at grammar schools, is merely a smoke screen to try and justify selection.

Those who are trying to retain selection here are fighting from a very decrepit moral standpoint. Even the Conservative Party in England does not now support it. Moreover, many grammar schools now take in pupils in the lower non-pass grades. This demolishes their claim that a grammar school education is only suitable for those who obtain a pass grade in the selection exam.

It is now most unfortunate that the vital issue of getting rid of the soul-destroying selection system has become sidelined and descended into a superficial dispute about the methods being used by the Education Minister to eliminate selection and make the opportunities in secondary education available to all pupils on a more equitable basis.

Belfast