There was a dreadful cruelty about the selection process of examining children at such an early age and labelling them as failures.
I know twin sisters who attended the same Primary School.
One passed the Qualifying Exam, one failed !
They then had to attend different schools.
This had such a huge effect on both of them, by especially the one who failed.
I know some children overcame this failure and went on to have successful lives and good incomes but it is not a system that I would ever wish to see return.
I was listening to Terry Waite on the radio last night. He grew up in a small village in Cheshire and he failed his 11 plus, as did all his classmates. In fact that particular school, I think he said, had only one child who passed it in about ten years. That child was a teacher's child who was coached.
My primary school, on the other hand, managed three passes in my year; me and two others. He pointed out that there was a shortage of good tIeachers after WW2 due to the horrendous death toll. I know there was a scheme to get ex-service men into teaching, and there were some in my Grammar school who, with hindsight, had serious problems.
I would describe my English teacher as a complete and utter nutter, to be honest. We could spend whole lessons watching him sweep around the room with his gown flying behind him as he performed Shakespeare without any input from us whatsoever. Perhaps he was a frustrated actor.
