Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Bob Russell on the 11-plus

From Notebook in today's Guardian Education section:
The week that Comprehensive Future - which campaigns against the 11-plus - held its annual conference was the week that the Liberal MP for Colchester, Bob Russell, told the Education Journalist of the Year reception: "The best thing I ever did was to fail the 11-plus. I had four years at secondary modern school and had a fantastic time."
I can't help thinking Bob is a bit confused here. Surely the case against the 11-plus is that secondary moderns were awful? If they were as good as he implies, it is hard to feel too exercised about the exam.

2 comments:

  1. Doesn't that presume that Bob is anti-grammar? Given that he's MP for one of the places that still has grammar schools, he'd be a reasonable candidate for a pro-grammar Lib Dem MP

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  2. Bob is currently campaigning against an academy in his constituency, which would lead to the closure of two former secondary moderns. Hence his remarks.

    I doubt many of his constituents would be surprised he failed the 11-plus, though ...

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