A non-selective,fair and all-embracing system: it all makes sense and Labour must do a PR job to persuade parentsJeremy Corbyns disagreement with his wife over whether their son should attend a selective grammar school or the local comprehensive apparently led to their breakup. I feel a mighty deal of kinship with the Labour leader for his stance. As a newly appointed assistant professor at the University of Chicago, I chose, or despite the massive tuition discount for faculty members,not to send my children to its famous university laboratory school, founded by the renowned educator John Dewey and attended by the Obama kids. Many of my colleagues were shocked at my decision, or clearly of the opinion that I was sacrificing my children’s futures on the altar of political ideology. Why would I not want the “best” for them?Many middle-lesson parents will agree that state education would benefit from their involvement,but feel it’s a tough dilemma. As someone tweeted plaintively after a talk recently where I discussed the impossibility of achieving equality of opportunity in a hugely unequal society: “Am I not allowed to exercise my resources to back my kids?”Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com