Why white children are not getting into grammar schools

[deanstreet]

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/02/11/why-white-children-are-not-getting-into-grammar-schools/?WT.mc_id=tmgoff_fb_photo_not-getting-into-grammar-schools

What jobs are all these grammar graduates getting? What jobs do they all do? Because this story is nothing new

Explain. What is the "game"?

Grammar schools are always a contentious topic. As usual the Telegraph is dog whistling in its usual hateful manner.

I think the superselective grammar is great as an idea.

One of my children went to one and it was perfect for him. It gives a very academic education to very bright children.

I would not have put my other child any where near one.

They work in a way and at a pace many would struggle with. To me It’s like sending a musically gifted child to a music academy.

I do have misgivings about fully grammar school areas. I think writing kids off at 11 is dreadful and everyone loses out.

At the same time. Life is inherently unfair. It is unfair that some are cleverer / richer/ better looking than others. But that’s just life

The 11+ used to be an IQ test that you couldn’t really tutor for. Maybe a couple of sessions to help exam technique. That is what it was like when I did it back in the 80s. Everyone took it. We did a few test papers in class. I’m only aware of one peer who had a tutor (and she didn’t pass).

Now it is all about effort and parenting. If parents are prepared to pay for their kids to be tutored up the wazoo, if they have moderate ability, they can get over the line. One (white) family I know with a very bright child gave up on the tutoring as it was ruining every weekend and they thought they mattered more than passing the 11+.

Whether you think this change is positive will depend on what you think the purpose of grammar schools should be. Is it to find raw talent in 10 year olds and give them the opportunity to make the most of it? Or is it to identify children with highly motivated parents? I personally prefer the old system. It was good for promoting social mobility and was about the kids, not the parents.

"the idea that entrance is awarded on the basis of some sort of ethnic favouritism is nonsense"

Someone should have told the headline writer that.

Complete non-story, the best candidates get the places, exactly as it should be.

My South Asian friend had a tutor 3 times a week for 2 years to help him get into a grammar school. His Dad worked 3 jobs to pay for it. They really valued education and did everything they could to support him. Once he got in, he had no tutoring and did extremely well.

My DH (he’s 20 years older than me) went to grammar school in 1963 - he’s always lived in Kent (I’m not British and only moved to Kent when we met and had children) unsure whether everyone took the 11+ back then but in any case, he was from a very disadvantaged background, single mother, spent time in foster care, which was unusual in his peer group in the 50/60s. Not much financial help about and life was hard for them. But he was very bright and passed. His teachers had a collection to pay for his school uniform because there was no way his mother could have afforded it (which they knew). That always makes me feel emotional when I think about it. The benevolent attitude toward people like him didn’t continue however as, despite excelling, when it came to applying for University, his head teacher refused to sign his application and said ‘University isn’t for people like you’. He got there in the end, of course. He says that even back in the 60s there were contemporaries of his who had tutoring to pass the exam though, which surprised me.

That's interesting. My (white) son is currently at a grammar with no catchment area so very competitive. I agree that the current system is essentially unfair. He managed to pass the 11 plus whilst attending a primary academy in a relatively deprived area. He's naturally inquisitive and very good at solving puzzles which obviously put him in good stead. He wasn't tutored but I did look over some 11 plus papers with him and spent time on maths puzzles, problem solving etc and do consider myself to be quite invested in education. I'm not 100% sure he would have passed had I not been invested but I do know that a large proportion of the other boys who passed had attended prep schools and /or received very heavy tutoring, often for years before the exam. I do think that there needs to be a way of making the system fairer but I'm not sure how best this can be achieved. At the moment they seem to overwhelmingly attract children of the wealthy (who are in effect receiving an independent style education for free) or those with parents with sharp elbows and a high level of investment in education.

I think this is true for most half decent schools. Motivated parents get into the best schools.

No…. If kids who would be at the top of grammar don’t pass, that means that the 11+ is not accurately creaming off the brightest kids. I would compare this situation more to a Covid test that is giving false negatives. Oxbridge entry is different because it is usually not just a case of achieving certain grades, they are looking for soft skills too.

It's still the same system though isn't it? Still a sort of IQ test it's just an ever increasing number of parents are tutoring each year.

because the Asian mums are proper mums and have got ambition and the kids are not allowed to say No to extra exams, seen it first hand

The article is very London centric. In the shires it’s the priveleged with sharp elbows.

DD (we are white) took the 11+ for a grammar in the next county. Schools don't support the pupils around here (not a grammar county) so all I could do was provide workbooks, I couldn't afford a tutor. DD didn't get in.

Two of her classmates who had both been tutored got in. One was Russian and one was Indian.

IMHO many Asian families value money and prestige, pushing their children for the benefit of the family (so a different view of the family unit). Many also value education over sporting ability or well rounded pursuits.
Different family structure value of marriage and a marriage that again benefits the family.

I was on a ton of 11+ facebook groups about 11+ prep and 90% of the parents were Asian (I’m white).

I teach at a non-super-selective girls' grammar school, which is not in a wealthy, leafy area and not in the SE. I'd say about 20% of our intake is Asian. There is no doubt that many of our Asian girls are very driven (by their parents and/or themselves). They are often pushed into demanding and competitive subject/career choices they aren't really interested in.

Anecdotally, at my school the very high achievers are often the Chinese, Polish and Indian students, plus the most middle-class of the white British students. The least high-achieving are often the working-class white British students.

Studying intensively solely to pass a particular test is not "valuing education". The right purpose of education is not to become good at tests.

Yes same! Quite a few Eastern European/Middle Eastern too.

I am asian, I wasn’t tutored. People place too much focus on the exam prep, my mother taught me to read very early so I had a wide vocabulary for my age, also taught basic maths ahead of the curriculum (at home, no tutors).

A lot of asian parents will have done the hard yards much earlier in primary to make sure their children are literate and numerate, most are not waiting around doing nothing until it’s time to sit the 11+. This is especially true of first gen parents who often come from schooling systems which really focus on the fundamentals of maths for example. My dad was always slightly horrified by what he saw as easy maths in the UK even though he saw the upside of other aspects of the British curriculum.

People like to look down on it but work ethic is actually a pretty important quality generally.

South Asians have to buy the best education somehow cos of the ongoing discrimination faced by them…I see it clearly having kids who are of mixed heritage. My child who is ‘white-passing’ gets an easier ride than my child who isn’t. It’s awful.

I didn't tutor my kids either. But DH taught them math and I taught them reading quite early.

Thats the point though they don’t, this is a misunderstanding of an asian mindset. You should be competent at maths because it’s a key skill, not solely to pass tests, my dad expected everyone to be able to do basic mental maths because you should be able to do quick calculations in your head to be a functioning human.

The kind of parents who do this often have spent years before hand teaching their kids at home, they know what their kids are learning, they read whats on the curriculum they pay careful attention to what their children’s teachers say and they respond. They are engaged all the way through. They don’t just suddenly notice their kids because of the 11+.

Asians value education much more highly and work harder, period.