Private education wins?

One of the greatest failures of the Blair/Brown area has been the failure to promote social mobility, the process by which children from poorer homes are able to increase their life chances by their own creativity and ability, aided by the educational system. Social mobility now is, in fact, less than before 1997

Advocates of grammar schools will point out endlessly how they, and others, were able to rise from severe deprivation to success because they won a place in a grammar school. Such schools were the greatest promoters of social mobility devised by man, and social mobility has diminished since ideologues succeeded in closing so many.

Now, as many people have pointed out, success has been to the private schools (curiously called public schools). This could well be reflected by the next intake of MPs in 2010, and the cabinet formed, that those who are confined to the (failing) state school system are unlikely to be reflected in great numbers.

In the period from 1944 until the late 1960s, grammar schools produced men and women of ability, and a series of our prime ministers, - Wilson, Heath, Thatcher.Now we seem destined to have prime ministers and cabinets overwhelmingly from the 7% of children who attended private schools and achieved results which took them to the best universities.

There are still many state school educated who achieve a mark in industry or commerce, but even there too the private schools are over represented.

The end result of the failed experimentation with comprehensive education has been the victory for private schools.