I think Ruth Kelly and Mr Kelly have just done what we all do and looked deep inside themselves and said what is right for our child and what ways are open to us to get that for him. They are victims of their values and culture and class and education, granted- aren't we all?- and she does look like a hypocrite, granted, but 1) taking the flak for hypocrisy is quite brave really and 2)she's just being a parent really imo and I think some of the personal vitriol against her is, um, not very nice. [wet blanket emoticon]
I cannot imagine making the same decision as her because I personally would be more horrified at the idea of my kids attending a school such as the one described than at the prospect of them not learning to read too well. But I know that is a minority view. I think private schools are broadly a no no for me and mine(and that ones that specialise in getting children into public schools are all the less attractive to a chippy inverted snob, such as I, frankly). I think that not being separated from your siblings, friends and parents at age 9 is often as important as learning to read well for self esteem and well being. I also don't have £15,000 p.a. since I'm one of those underachieving types Xenia mentions, and that's just for starters. So I doubt I would approach a dyslexia diagnosis from quite the same perspective as the Kellys, tbh. But then again, as people here have said, provision can be poor. Schools vary in how they well they deal with it and dyslexia barely registers on local authority SEN radar unless it is comorbid with other needs or extremely severe or (often to the fury of LEA workers who see much more severely disabled children get sweet f a on a regular basis) if more privileged/articulate/determined parents kick up a mega stink, as i would do in their situation, probably. The SEN system is ridiculously adversarial and unfair as any fule no.
I suspect that principles and seemingly entrenched life views perfidiously desert us be when it comes to genuine worries about our children's wellbeing and what is good enough for them. So if I was to somehow become genuinely convinced that only X school could meet the needs of one or both of my kids I expect I'd try my hardest to do whatever it took and use whatever I could use to get them there, up to and including take the consequences of being villified in the press and looking like a complete hypocrite if necessary. I think my views and situation in certain respects are different enough from the Kellys' to make this scenario highly unlikely in my own case but that is not the point. Yes, I personally disagree with everything she is doing but I also think she is being a brilliant parent because she genuinely (erroneously!) believes this is the right thing for her boy and is prepared to make considerable personal, emotional and possibly even political sacrifices to achieve that for him. That's love, really, imo. She may be misguided, the system may be shite, it's clearly bloody unfair that other possibly misguided people who like this sort of school don't have the money to send their equally beloved children there. But she's still being a good parent for all that if she thinks it is the right thing to do and I can't imagine why else she would put herself through all this, frankly.
Agree with frogs and aloha about the spin stuff though. Probably the press people doing their darndest to make things look less bleak.