bits' credited
et: The ,ttempt to legislate selective schools out of 'ststence need surprise no one. On the surface it would appear an inevitable step in wiping out Sco– "ving embarrassingly successful rivals to the new
blPrehensive schools. These have sunk low in trublie esteem already because of their obvious failure
Maintain the high standards of work and conduct seco"'at Were take ndarY rt for granted in the grammar and the n
modern schools, so wantonly destroyed in
anle of ; a crazy egalitarianism. Undoubtedly also [..1. reformers must have at the back of their minds t e example of the Soviet Union: there psychometric fees,Ating was banned in the 'thirties because it interYert—t,,ith the political manipulation of the schools. pain Shave moved on in the USSR, as Dr Boyson ts bet. The growing popularity there of specialist secorbj,_. that c schools indicates that educationalists in ri the °untrY have grasped the importance of making in most of have that we are orepared to squander ttil Mediocre ambience of the bon-selective school. this 18 an added tragic irony that the chief victims of discrunthinking rush into essentially outmoded and Worlred methods of schooling are those very ahva ng-class children whom trendy educators are ere: claiming to worry about! Added to the havoc bY the 'new' primary approach, based on insca'; You-please and dubious creative antics, the tvith ence on nationwide comprehensive schooling, its Cult of mixed ability teaching and its
denigration of traditional examinations, must inevitably lead to a new Dark Age in schooling and ever lower standards in the years ahead. Only a radical rethinking on the whole subject of schooling at all stages can save us from impending disaster in this vital field.
J. H. K. Lockhart 21B King's Avenue, London, W5.
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