Behind the Age-Limit
Six—Mr. Holland's letter raises points which are of great interest to' teachers (university entrance, sixth-form time-tables, alternative ordinary subjects, &c.), but I suspect that the general public is not greatly interested in these matters, and no doubt takes the line that they can safely be left to all those who are concerned with educational affairs. But Li venture to think that when a question of justice arises the general publio is very much on the alert. We are a law-abiding nation, and submit) to any regulation so long as we are convinced of its fairness. If wet can be convinced of the fairness of the new examination age-limit no one will complain.. The Secondary Schools Examination Council, in! its report to the Minister of Education in 1947. recommended together with the age-limit that schools should defer as long as possible the entry of their pupils for external examinations. I would submit that only in a school which does actually defer the entry of all pupils for any examination until their last year at school is the sense of unfairness to the younger pupils removed, and then only in relationship to other pupils in that particular school, and not to pupils in other schools. The Minister was cautious in accepting the S.S.E.C.'s recommendation to! defer all examination entries as long as possible. Most schools must have, felt that this was the right decision, for very few headmasters could view, with anything but anxiety a situation in which their pupils put all their examination eggs into one basket. If Mr. Holland is one of the,head. masters who defer the entry of their pupils to their last year at school, the age-limit clearly presents no problems to him. But the vast majority, of schools enter their candidates for subjects at ordinary level at the end of the school year prior to their entry, into the sixth form. What bearing has a pupil's age, height, weight or any other measurement on his right to sit for this examination with all the other members of hisl
form ? I leave the answer to a jury of any twelve Englishmen. Scots have too much respect for education to introduce a regulation which, as Mr. Lunt writes, has no parallel anywhere in the world.—Yours faith-
The Leys School, Cambridge.
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