education was segregated, and children were sub-divided at the age of 11, where highly able students studied at grammar schools and the less able students went to secondary modern schools. A time where children were labelled academic or non-academic on the basis of inadequate society and culturally prejudiced tests. Therefore, Blair without a doubt is again steering us towards this two-tier system, where segregation in education existed, to justify and bolster the segregation in society.
Labour claims that education is their most crucial issue, where they have a mission to deliver an equal opportunity to every single child. Now ask yourself this question, what’s the difference between a private school, and selective school? Well, that’s simple. In a private school you pay to make sure your child is spoon fed with everything they need to know to get 10 A*’s, and a selective state school, selects highly academic pupils, and spoon feeds them with everything they need to know to get 10A*. Can you see the key distinction here? No. Neither can I. Those kids are the ones that become politicians. Not comprehensive state school pupils. Therefore, in all this what happens to all those children from poor backgrounds who are not able to buy their way through education, and are discriminated against by culturally biased tests, yet still are high academic achievers? Surely, we must not forget about them.
Labour has always referred to itself as a party for the people. Yet, its not ordinary people who benefit from their policies. They have a contradictory dogma, where to win votes their aspiration turn to working and middle class citizens, but when it comes down to the crunch time, their benefits are only beneficial to high paid professionals and money making moguls, which in many cases contribute cash to buy titles such as ‘knighthoods.’ This is all done just so that Labour, as a party, and its crusade for educational segregation can be sponsored financially. It’s not surprising why many private school and selective school students are now politicians, as it’s necessary to maintain the status quo and social injustice and discrimination.
Many politicians win votes, by repeating the need to constantly improve and reform the education system, and at the same time admiring selective and private schools. Yet they’re all part of this bottomless pit full of irrational politicians. A prime example, being the former secretary of education, Ruth Kelly. She claimed that her child, was not achieving a good education in the state sector, and therefore sent him to a private school. Now what do we call that? Altogether now, ‘H’ spells ‘Hypocrisy.’ This shows the line of segregation, runs deep where the posh become politicians, and the poor public citizens are in the background with an unequal access to qualifications and with limited choice. One may argue that becoming a politician you need the attitude that goes with it. In addition, this is said, funnily enough, to only exist in private and selective schools. Yet what attitude are we advocating? Snobbish, egotistical, arrogant, elitist. Very admirable!
However, the part these politicians fail to grasp is that state schools do have many important qualities. They promote self-discipline by helping students view life in a more practical manner. They promote sociable, interesting, radiant, personalities, in other words ‘an all rounder’. Yet these are the people who have not yet been allowed to blossom, and are constantly being put down by politicians, due to the fact they are not from a private school, or a selective state school.
Our Education system has changed remarkably, since Labour got into power. There’s now a wider choice in what you study. Subjects like; economics, sociology, and psychology have now been introduced at GCSE, and every year grows in popularity. There are several opportunities for children to seize, and take advantage of in order to improve their own learning in state schools. Schools have been funded more, in order to be supplied with extensive resources and facilities that may indeed be beneficial for the staff and pupils such as, interactive white boards. Due to this, grades are rising every year. So even after such an outstanding change, why is it that few state school graduates are not getting into parliament and becoming MP’s?
Labour has situated education at the top of their social policy hierarchy, and have also exaggerated equality amongst all. When will they start to realise that education and equality go hand in hand? If you’re going to give private and selective students a head start in their career, where does the equality exist in that? Now either these cabinet boys are really stupid, or they really just don’t give a damn about those poor hardworking state comprehensive school pupils. An even worse scenario is that, they wish to ban the doors of parliament to all but the social elite, in some sort of outdated gentlemen’s club.
If Labour really did care about education, and equality as they put it, why are they segregating students from state schools to selective state schools? Well it’s either few state school graduates have ever applied to be an MP, which is absolutely absurd, or its labour, constantly putting them down in order to build a posh private political parliament.
Whether we call it hypocrisy or absurdity, it’s not the government or current politicians who suffer. It’s the poor souls of state school students, who have worked double as hard as private school students. However when it comes down to selecting a candidate to join the cabinet, it’s always the state schools that are hammered down. By this I mean, state school students are always the last resort. Now what are our views on politicians? Well simple, they are all a bottomless pit of aristocratic hypocrites!
If we want a parliament that really does represent the people then this must change. Either a new education system is established, so that there is no segregation amongst schools or the constant discrimination towards state comprehensive graduates is put to a stop! Politicians, government, MP’s and party’s, must stop the discrimination, and the segregation amongst schools, and become united. They need to show that they are part of a democratic society, and not just a bunch of selfish arrogant mongrels.
Stop neglecting the state schools, and let us not prioritise between our students. Education is an
Esential dynamic aspect that assents humanity to subsist, and therefore segregating it, will only divide a democratic nation.
Chandni Jounija
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