As a retired Secondary School Headteacher I know that every parent wants the best education for their child. Every parent believes their child is special and deserves the best.
Grammar schools are elitist, divisive and detrimental to all our children.
Unfortunately selection at the age of 11 years of age is a very blunt tool. Many very able children are missed.
Selecting 10% of the children for a grammar school education means that 90% of our children are labelled as failures.
Most of the parents who imagine their child getting into a grammar school and gaining a superior elite education would be disappointed. Their children would not only not get in but would then suffer an inferior education.
If you label children as failures most of them will behave according – they will give up trying.
Not having role models for that 90% would put them at a huge disadvantage.
Unfortunately children who are not so academic are not always ‘good with their hands’. If brains are working efficiently they tend to be effective in all areas. Many academic children are also good with their hands and at sport, and at art, and at creativity etc.
Surely all our children are equally important? Surely it is best for our children to have the experience of the working with children of all abilities? Surely sacrificing 90% for the benefit of the top 10% is not a good idea?
My own experience of working in a comprehensive school showed that it is perfectly possible for children of all abilities to reach their potential in such a school. 80% of the boys in my school achieved 5 or more A*-C grades at GCSE. 100% gained 5 GCSEs. Nobody left my school without being able to read, write and perform basic mathematics. A number of my students went to Oxford and Cambridge each year.
There is no sound education reason for Grammar Schools. They are elitist, divisive and detrimental to all our children!