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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think most of the people bemoaning grammar schools are hypocrites

383 replies

pleasemothermay1 · 12/09/2016 16:40

That's just it's really I don't mind people who have the courage of there conviction but I have no trux with champagne socialists

Like jc or Diane Abbott or Tristan hunt

Who's children all went or will be going to grammar or private

Even bloody James o Brian moaning about grammars when he rountinly says he wouldn't rule out private for his girls 😕

OP posts:
yeahrightwhatever · 12/09/2016 17:20

Some of us who are against grammar schools are against them precisely because we went to one. In any event people are entitled to an opinion irrespective of a decision made by their parents at age 11 in which they had no part.

wasonthelist · 12/09/2016 17:23

Yanbu OP. I oppose grammar schools, didn't go to one and was pleased to go to a non-selective, (non-faith) state secondary school. My DD will be doing the same. Diane Abbot is beneath contempt for her "do as I say, not as I do" approach. I oppose private education and won't use it for DD, even though we could probably afford it.

yeahrightwhatever · 12/09/2016 17:29

But I do agree it is wrong for politicians to preach one thing then do the opposite for their own children.

yeahrightwhatever · 12/09/2016 17:31

Also I am suspicious that this is the reason David Cameron has stood down as an MP, just in time for his eldest child to go to a top boarding school.

alltouchedout · 12/09/2016 17:36

I like so many other things about Diane Abbott but her hypocrisy on this issue cancels all that out for me, I get cross just thinking about it. JC though was properly opposed and ended his relationship with over his partner's insistence that their ds went the selective route. You're right that a bunch of them are ridiculously hypocritical do as I say not as I do wankers though.

Capricorn76 · 12/09/2016 17:44

The Tories must be rubbing their hands. Grammars won't come back, too much opposition but the distraction worked. Meanwhile the omnishambles which is Brexiti hasn't even been mentioned in the commons. Even the former PM has done a runner, everyone involved has shot through.

Anyway at least the Tory voting forelock tugging working class can dream that their kids will be one of the 15% that will make it into grammar.

mummytime · 12/09/2016 17:44

do they think that oversubscribed secondaries aren't looking at SATS results now and making some 'value judgements' based on those? Equally, I'm pretty sure there's a lot of private tutoring going on for SATS as well..
Well SATs are sat well after school places are assigned.
And it is illegal for schools to offer places on the basis of anything other than their admissions criteria.

At one point there were things like interviews which allowed some schools to discriminate, but those on the whole are banned.

I went to a Comp as did my DH, and so have my 3 DC. (Not the closest as that one streamed and I was concerned my eldest's SEN would lead to him being underestimated and be demotivated).

wasonthelist · 12/09/2016 18:05

As I mentioned on a previous thread though, this isn't a left/right issue - Mrs Thatcher authorised the closure of more Grammar schools than anyone else.

noblegiraffe · 12/09/2016 18:32

If you live in a grammar school area and your kid is bright then of course you send them to the grammar. You can be totally opposed to them, but you've got to work with the system you're in.

I went to a comp btw, teach at a comp, and bloody hope that this balls doesn't make it through Lords so that my kids can also go to a comp.

CallaLilli · 12/09/2016 19:00

As I mentioned on a previous thread though, this isn't a left/right issue

OP has a history of being a bit of a GF who loves sticking knife into "liberal lefties"...

YelloDraw · 12/09/2016 19:32

Just because people have benefitted from a system, doesn't mean they can't see the unfairness in it.

LuluJakey1 · 12/09/2016 19:42

I went to a comp. DH went to a comp. MIL taught in a comp. DS will go to a comp- if there are any left by the time this government have finished fucking up our education system.

LuluJakey1 · 12/09/2016 19:43

Also, I taught in a comp and DH teaches in a comp. I would not, and nor would he, teach in a grammar school.

ittooshallpass · 12/09/2016 19:44

The 'new' system they claim will help less advantaged get a better education is completely flawed.

All that will happen is that those well enough to pay to tutor their kids through the 11+ will.

Those considered 'poor' will get a pass into the grammar school.

Those not well off enough to pay for a tutor but not considered 'poir' will miss out.

Again.

The good old squeezed middle.

A properly streamed local comprehensive is the best way forward.

ittooshallpass · 12/09/2016 19:46

Sorry for typos... hopefully you get my drift (had to go and sort out a child and a poo situation, lol)

dodobookends · 12/09/2016 19:49

My DH hates grammar schools... because he went to one.

JeepersMcoy · 12/09/2016 19:51

I went to a grammer school, I think I would have done better in a more mixed comp. I wouldn't send dd to one unless the alternative was unthinkable. Personally I do not think either grammer schools or private schools should exist, or religious schools for that matter.

BarbarianMum · 12/09/2016 19:57

Just because you've benefited from something doesn't mean you can't think it's wrong. Were English abolitionists wrong to campaign against slavery because they benefited from it? What about men who support the end of the patriarchy, are they hypocrites?

2beesornot2beesthatisthehoney · 12/09/2016 20:26

YABU there are some out there like me who went to the Grammar ; saw the damage they do to the majority of kids and chose to send hers to the local school which had setting but was non selective. They have done ok . Don't regret it at all. DH was also not in grammar area and went to local school - also non selective with setting and also did well. Bright children don't need a to go to a Grammar to do well they will in any case with the right home support.

TheFallenMadonna · 12/09/2016 20:32

I grew up in a selective area (still selective now) but I didn't take the 11+ as my parents are opposed to selection, and in fact don't agree that you work witin the system. I may not have got in of course, but I would certainly have been in with a shout.

TheFallenMadonna · 12/09/2016 20:33

I should add that I have huge respect for them for it.

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 12/09/2016 20:35

I do sometimes wonder why hardly anybody seems to move house to get out of a grammar school area. Obviously many people don't have the option to move no matter why, but loads of people seem to manage to move to get into grammar school areas or the catchment of better comprehensives.

QueenSpartacusOfTheAndals · 12/09/2016 20:45

Theresa May is a leftie? I've heard it all now. It isn't Corbyn, Abbott or Hunt who are proposing reintroducing grammar schools OP...

TheFallenMadonna · 12/09/2016 20:58

People who are more mobile think their children will get in...

Moving out of a selective area is more upheaval than changing catchment.

andintothefire · 12/09/2016 20:58

I don't think there is anything hypocritical in being a labour supporter (though not MP) but choosing to use private or selective schools. It is possible to agree with some policies but not others. It is also perfectly possible to think that the state system is broken in some ways (at least in some areas) and that until it is fixed it is preferable to opt out.

Politicians are different - you can't act in a way that suggests that state education is fine for other people but not good enough for your own children. However, while personally I am furious at selection by faith (exploited by the Blairs and others) I don't think you can really call that hypocritical if the party line is that selection of that kind is acceptable.

Similarly, I don't see any problem at all in there being privately educated Labour MPs. It has nothing to do with somebody's political views and passions as an adult. I would rather have the best minds in politics than exclude or dismiss people based on the educational choices their parents made for them.