Here is the letter - copied from the website gu.co./letters - where you will find three more letters in similar vein. It follows an article yesterday by the author John O'Farrell whose books I have on my shelves - he writes humour!
Well done, John O’Farrell (Here’s what grammars did to my family, 13 September) for debunking the grammar school myth.
I passed the 11-plus in 1944. My dad paid for the first year until the 1944 Education Act kicked in. I was paraded in my school uniform for all to see.
For the first year I came second and third in the B stream. So they moved me to the A stream, where I came bottom for the next four years! So I was a dubbed a failure in the eyes of my family, neighbours and friends.
I left at 16 with poor O-level results – a failure destined for a routine office job. It took 20 years for me to realise I could succeed – and I did. But all those wasted years of dreary pen-pushing were lost for ever.
Selection at 11 stifles and stultifies the 90% who do not make the so-called top grade.
Think again, Mrs May!
Ron Jeffries
Ilford, Essex
Ilford, Essex
