GRAMMAR SCHOOLS : TIME TO RE-BOOT THE SYSTEM.

At long last, it seems that Grammar schools are set to make a return. Hurrah, I say, but 'Over my dead body' is the cry from the those on the left who hate the whole idea of ever acknowledging that some children are simply smarter than others.

Actually 'smarter' is not the right word. The truth is that different children have different abilities and aptitudes and they need different environments in which to flourish. It's also true that children from different backgrounds have different upbringings and expectations and this can undoubtedly affect their academic progress.

Little can be done to change the second of these issues in the short term. While children from forward looking and involved family environments are likely to prosper, those whose parents were poorly educated are likely to be poorly educated themselves. They are likely to see little benefit in schooling, will gain little from it, have little ambition and will, more than likely, follow their parents into the same dead-end lives. While you can take the children out of the environment, you can't easily take the environment out of the children.

On the first point above, something can, however, be done. Our education system needs to stop treating all children as if they're the same and treat them as individuals instead. What is needed is a system which identifies children's specific aptitudes and abilities and helps them to develop these to their ultimate. Whether a child is good at sciences, languages, or other academic  'Grammar school' subjects, is brilliant with their hands, has a wonderful ability in music, or has no great ability but loves to be outdoors, the system should find ways of developing them to the utmost.

To decry Grammar schools as 'elitist', as those on the left of politics habitually do, is to accept that the offering to children who are not academically inclined is pathetically inadequate and the only people to blame for this are the very same self-proclaimed 'educationalists' of the Left. For decades now, our children have suffered the horrors of 'Comprehensive education' and all we have to show for it is millions of poorly educated people and a desire amongst many to bring back Grammar schools. The system has failed and needs to be re-booted.

Sadly, it will take time to turn things around but, if we start today, the children of today's 5 year olds may actually look forward to a far better education than most have received over the last 40 or 50 years.