The Student Room Group

Why do poorer children not get into grammar schools and what can we do to improve it?

Scroll to see replies

@0123456543210
Did you search it up on google btw?
Original post by Keyhofi
Poorer kids live in poorer areas with poorer schools and thus get poorer exam results.

Generally speaking.


Pretty much this. No way around it. It's called "institutional racism and classism (for those who are white but still poor)." So horrible.
Reply 22
Because there aren't that many and the ones that exist reside in the posher areas, not where many poor people live.
Original post by homeland.lsw
@0123456543210
Did you search it up on google btw?


Nope, I am just a Swedish guy living in the UK, who knows Russian and like 20 Bulgarian words. Complicated, isn't it?:biggrin:
I hear paid private tutoring is the reason why children who get into grammar schools...get into grammar schools.

Actually I didn't hear, I read it on moms.net. The silly little cows giving away their secrets.
Original post by TheOtherSide.
Private schools


Independent* schools. :shakecane:
Original post by 0123456543210
Nope, I am just a Swedish guy living in the UK, who knows Russian and like 20 Bulgarian words. Complicated, isn't it?:biggrin:


Can I ask you something about Sweden?
Original post by homeland.lsw
Can I ask you something about Sweden?


I am curious as to what the question is going to be. I'll try to answer it, but I left Sweden at a very young age and only been there several times. But, go on.
often there are clever kids whose parents want them to take the 11+ but sometimes the children are settled with friends who are going to states so they dont go
Original post by 0123456543210
I am curious as to what the question is going to be. I'll try to answer it, but I left Sweden at a very young age and only been there several times. But, go on.


Why is it impossible to get into the main terminal of Arlanda if you are connecting through? Why do you have to wait at your gate? Seriously, this really annoyed me :colonhash:
Original post by 0123456543210
Grammar schools are not the paid ones, mate.

Original post by AmeliaBaldwin
www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/SN01398.pdf

I have a debate on this soon and I was hoping to get some ideas from a range of different people in different situations :smile:




I believe the further away you live from a grammar school, the higher the grade a student must get in order to be accepted

So the house prices for the nearest properties go up by demand, and so aspiring poorer students are priced into higher grade requirements, and therefore priced out

edit: just researched it, most schools seem to operate a priority list based on who lives closest, which will have the same effect of pricing people out of grammar schools. Unsure whether they bend the priority if further away students get really high grades, I imagine they would
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by homeland.lsw
Why is it impossible to get into the main terminal of Arlanda if you are connecting through? Why do you have to wait at your gate? Seriously, this really annoyed me :colonhash:


Isn't that the thing with the most airports?
Original post by 0123456543210
Isn't that the thing with the most airports?


No...
In the majority of aiports I've connected through (Dubai, Qatar, Singapore, Helsinki, Hong Kong) You are able to pass through the main terminal with all the duty free etc. In Arlanda, you have to specifically go straight to your gate. Why do you Swedes need to make things so fluid and simple? :mad:
Probably because they not only don't have access to tutoring but they're education is likely worse (I'm sure there's some very good statistics linking primary schools in deprived areas with low attainment at age 11 and further on), additionally they probably don't have motivation or aspiration to go to grammar schools compared to children from wealthier backgrounds. additional poverty can have knock on effects and is related to other factors; hunger, unstable families etc....

You could argue for primary schools or prep/private schools to nominate the top say 20% of a year and then for those children that wish to go to a grammar schools be placed in a lottery to choose the places thus making the process fairer, as children who go to a school in a deprived area are likely to themselves be deprived and equally children who go to schools in wealthy areas would themselves be wealthy so the distribution would be more representative of the entire area that a school serves
How do you get poorer kids to go to grammar schools when there's so few in poorer areas?
Original post by Hydeman
Independent* schools. :shakecane:


:lol:

My bad... :getmecoat:
Original post by Serine Soul
How do you get poorer kids to go to grammar schools when there's so few in poorer areas?


Mine personally is ten minutes away from a social housing estate, but this is a very good point. I imagine in other areas it's probably very different.
The Sutton Trust uses the POLAR postcode check to see how many adults in the area are in higher education. The area I live in got a 1, 1.

http://www.hefce.ac.uk/postcode/

There's another question though, what is it about grammar schools that mean that they generally achieve highly? And if they didn't have the proportion of wealthier children attending, would they attain the same levels of achievement?
Original post by AmeliaBaldwin
www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/SN01398.pdf

I have a debate on this soon and I was hoping to get some ideas from a range of different people in different situations :smile:


Essentially they do get into grammar schools which are taking the top 25% of the local population.

They don't get in when there are 14 applications for a single place and 99.5% is needed in the 11 plus to get in.
You don't need to be rich, or even slightly rich to get into a grammar school. If you're naturally smart, you get in. If you are rich, you have a slight advantage, but it doesn't affect the outcome too much. Also, poorer children tend to be less smarter because of their genes. Smart people tend to take high paying occupations, so they will be rich. Stupid people can't and won't get good grades (whether they are in grammar schools or not), so they become poor, and their stupid children grow up in a impoverish atmosphere, giving an illusion that money grants you intelligence.
Original post by AmeliaBaldwin
www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/SN01398.pdf

I have a debate on this soon and I was hoping to get some ideas from a range of different people in different situations :smile:


I go to grammar school and i'm better off than many but still consider myself to be working class. Honestly, its down to the influence of parents and other people around you, as opposed to purely your financial status. There is however a clear correlation between wealth and chances of getting into a grammar school but i think this is down to the influence of having well educated parents.

Quick Reply

Latest

Trending

Trending