Teaching standards
Sir: I was interested in Vernon Bogdannt,5 statement in 'Education for the real worla' (25 March) that 'the eleven-plus . . • via: also a monitoring mechanism since it standards for the primary schools.' Is Bogdanor not aware of the fact that janal:. schools had to stream children (one waY another) to get some of them through tile eleven-plus, and that all the examinatirin did was to make sure that some of themb (say, generously, a third) had very big, standards, but did not necessarily mean thin the other two thirds had high standards nor that they would ever achieve them 81
their secondary moderns. pst
Standards ought to cover the low-4 minimum, for instance, that every eh', leaving school at sixteen should have a Neu; ing age of thirteen or fourteen; in (Oft; words that every child should be taught', read before leaving school. This has neve', been a requirement of our schools, Ye seems like such an obvious necessity in cnI,,r society that it wouldn't be too much to ow Standards examinations wouldn't be such a bad idea, but they really ought to caflcel. all children, not just the most acadenve ones.
Sally Bigwood 32 Omdurman Street, Swindon, Wiltshire
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