Camden New Journal

Publications by New Journal Enterprises

Home

Archive

Competition

Camden New Journal - LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published:16 August 2007

What my child has is what your child will be denied

• THE University College London sponsorship of a city academy and Camden Council’s supine acceptance of the whole sorry academy scheme is depressing news.
Why Britain has the highest pre-18 education drop-out rates and teenage pregnancies in Europe is because of its endless attraction to and invention of new educational hierarchies to ensure that children of the privileged do well and the children of the underprivileged are squeezed out.
The only education policy that makes sense is an inclusive one that values every child in every school to the same extent and tries to level the playing field rather than make it full of potholes.
Academies are in the tradition of very divisive public school and grammar school that preceded them.
All start with laudable attentions – to help poor (inner-city) able children in disadvantaged circumstances and so on.
And all end up if they perform at all as bastions of middle-class privilege.
What my child has is what your child is not to have. It is all about selection.
Ed Balls, who trenchantly defended this lamentable development on national radio the other day should be having sleepless nights for the rest of his political career if he cares about children or the future of this country.
And what is UCL playing at: trying to recapture the private school, UCS, it lost in 1907?
Isn’t UCL’s business supposed to be higher education and university students, not GCSEs and school kids?
JOHN BRYNNER
Mansfield Road, NW3

Send your letters to: The Letters Editor, Camden New Journal, 40 Camden Road, London, NW1 9DR or email to letters@camdennewjournal.co.uk. The deadline for letters is midday Tuesday. The editor regrets that anonymous letters cannot be published, although names and addresses can be withheld. Please include a full name, postal address and telephone number. Letters may be edited for reasons of space.

Comment on this article.
(You must supply your full name and email address for your comment to be published)

Name:

Email:

Comment: