eh?
I can hardly be much older than you and I did the 11+
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Tue 23 Nov 2010, 14:26, 2 replies, latest was 15 years ago)

I did the 11+
and I'm younger than him
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Tue 23 Nov 2010, 14:27, Reply)

Me too

(berk, Tue 23 Nov 2010, 14:28, Reply)

Really?
I thought the 11+ determined if you went to grammar school
( Colonel Dracula Two manky hookers and a racist dwarf, Tue 23 Nov 2010, 14:28, Reply)

I did go to grammar school...

(berk, Tue 23 Nov 2010, 14:30, Reply)

But...but...but...
I didn't think they existed anymore...

Goes to show what I know, FUCK NUFFIN
( Colonel Dracula Two manky hookers and a racist dwarf, Tue 23 Nov 2010, 14:33, Reply)

They don't, in mainstream education
the 11+ is a voluntary entrance exam for grammar schools. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/11%2B
(berk, Tue 23 Nov 2010, 14:35, Reply)

yeah they only exist in about five counties now
a lot of schools known as grammars are now fee-paying
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Tue 23 Nov 2010, 14:36, Reply)

I did go to grammar school for a bit
12 or 13 different schools in total. Couple of them were grammars
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Tue 23 Nov 2010, 14:30, Reply)

That's a lot of schools
I bet it was fun being the new girl lots of times...
( Colonel Dracula Two manky hookers and a racist dwarf, Tue 23 Nov 2010, 14:34, Reply)

Not so much
but you get used to it, and it taught me handy skills
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Tue 23 Nov 2010, 14:37, Reply)

yeah, it did
and I went to Grammar school.

I think some education authorites dropped it in the early eighties but as long as there was still a grammar school around, and there were plenty until grant-maintained status kicked it, you could take it if you asked.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Tue 23 Nov 2010, 14:34, Reply)

I see
I could have gone to any school I liked, as long as it was the local comp.
( Colonel Dracula Two manky hookers and a racist dwarf, Tue 23 Nov 2010, 14:35, Reply)

I went to grammar school because the local comp wouldn't let me in.
I was only 10 when I went to secondary school, and the comp made an arbitrary decision (without speaking to me or my parents) that I wouldn't be mature enough. My primary school flat refused to teach me for another year, said they didn't have the resources and I'd done everything they had, so I took the 11+ as a last resort and basically got 100%, more or less.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Tue 23 Nov 2010, 14:47, Reply)

I'm 33

( Colonel Dracula Two manky hookers and a racist dwarf, Tue 23 Nov 2010, 14:27, Reply)

OK, I'm 35 but Berk and Amberl are definitely younger than both of us.

( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Tue 23 Nov 2010, 14:35, Reply)

And better educated it would seem

( Colonel Dracula Two manky hookers and a racist dwarf, Tue 23 Nov 2010, 14:36, Reply)

I thought you did more or less the same degree as me?
and then went and became an accountant? Doesn't exactly qualify as undereducated...
(berk, Tue 23 Nov 2010, 14:39, Reply)

But I didn't make friends with Lord Huffington-Smythe at rugger practise
(I really have no idea what i'm talking about)
( Colonel Dracula Two manky hookers and a racist dwarf, Tue 23 Nov 2010, 14:43, Reply)

Yes, but what difference does that make to one's education?
[it was a fee paying grammar but it wasn't that posh]
(berk, Tue 23 Nov 2010, 14:45, Reply)

Grammar's really aren't posh!
The whole point of being selective is that you take across the ability range, rather than the economic, so you generally get a wide range of people. It tends to be middle classish usually- the pushy parents, but upper class send their children to private schools anyway.

Edit: as berk points out, whether they're feepaying or not makes a difference but not a huge one. It's pretty much like being in a school in a really good economic catchment area
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Tue 23 Nov 2010, 14:45, Reply)

This
Alright, so my school has pretty good results because it's selective about whom it lets in - but equally, there are other schools in the area whose results are better and the parents richer, simply because of the catchment areas they serve.
(berk, Tue 23 Nov 2010, 14:49, Reply)

A fair number of Grammar schools were free when I went
including mine. Just intellectually selective. Luckily successive governments have sorted that out in the public education system, god forbid we allow intelligent children to use their intelligence, after all.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Tue 23 Nov 2010, 14:49, Reply)

Ugh, don't get me started on this
I firmly believe that above average intelligence children are just as entitled to the extra support that below average intelligence children get. After all, it's the bright ones that are likely to make a difference, but if you don't challenge them at school they just get bored and disillusioned and then they don't achieve anything like what they're capable of.
(berk, Tue 23 Nov 2010, 14:53, Reply)

It doesn't even make sense
to focus all your support on dragging up below average children just so they can pass a standardized test and prove to the government your results are going up. It's not fair and it's not right to value any child over another, but that's what happens when you abandon the average and better than average.
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Tue 23 Nov 2010, 14:58, Reply)

I know
even if you spend all the possible time in the world nurturing the below average, the most they're ever likely to be is...average.
Why not spend that time nurturing the above average ones who could be brilliant, instead of abandoning them?
*belms hard*
(berk, Tue 23 Nov 2010, 15:02, Reply)

I suspect a lot of people on here
found this during their school days. The one thing I can tell you is I never won anything during school, because most places had switched to giving prizes for 'effort' rather than achievement, which meant the thickest kids got stuff for scribbling with a crayon.
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Tue 23 Nov 2010, 15:08, Reply)

What? What?!
That is utterly STUPID.
(berk, Tue 23 Nov 2010, 15:11, Reply)

Absolutely
happened all the time.
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Tue 23 Nov 2010, 15:16, Reply)

If I'd have gone to comp
I genuinely think I'd have struggled. My parents were brilliant, but I just think it would have been to easy to succumb to the social stigma of being clever in a shit school. And jesus, my local comp was shit.

I really, completely, don't see the problem in streaming. But the people in charge of education policy need a fucking good kicking. They are so petrified of seeing one stupid child fail that they will willingly let hundreds of bright ones fail to fulfill their potential.

Mind you, it's no better here. I'm actively discouraged from marking ... sorry, "giving feedback" using red pen because of "negative connotations" and I can't be negatively critical. This is to, allegedly, adults. and intelligent adults at that.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Tue 23 Nov 2010, 14:58, Reply)