The news about university admissions needs some thinking about. At first sight it seems wrong. The parents background shouldn't be taken into account. But further thought and it can be seen a different way. Is a "B" achieved in a school with hardly any facilities only equal to a "B" achieved in a school with everything. Does it not show a greater level of ability? To achieve when all is against you has to be rewarded. I could even go as far as saying a "B" from a poor school could equal an "A" from a top flight school.
Mind you, talk about the sins of the fathers being visited upon their sons
1 comment:
See we do think alike at times ;-)
A very difficult area with no easy solutions.
Having done voluntary work in local schools I remember seeing the difference so starkly, when in the space of one week one secondary modern told me "I think we had 2 pupils go on to sixth form college last year" and the independent school (I didn't know it was a fee-paying school when I took the booking) told me blithely that 90% of their kids would go on to university.
Mind you neither of my parents or their parents etc even dreamt of the possibility of going on to further education, but I was lucky to go to a state school where the question, the possibility of polytechnic or university was presented and encouraged as an option.
Neither my brother or I are smarter than our parents, but a desire on their part for us to have more opportunities than they had, coupled with good schools and state financial support, meant we both got degrees (in fact my brain-box brother got a PhD).
It's not straight forward.
I don't know what the answer is, but when I see the vast majority of kids locally not having further education on even the outer reaches of their radar, something isn't right. Smart kids are missing out on the 'option' of fulfilling their potential, which isn't good for them, and ultimately as a society, isn't good for us either.
Makes me wish I still had the time to do local voluntary work with schools or youth clubs etc, sigh...
No easy answers, that's for sure.
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