Fionn

In your post of 05 Nov 03 - 07:26 PM. When you state, " Northern Ireland, alas, is one of those parts of the UK that has clung to selective education, and overwhelmingly to faith-based schools."

Can't understand the "alas" part of it - the system currently in existence in Northern Ireland is considered to provide the best level of education in the United Kingdom - that is backed up by results obtained right across the board irrespective of faith.

For some reason a "comprehensive" state system has always worked in Scotland, it has never worked in England, who now appear to be reverting to a split system, something like the old "Grammer School", "Secondary School" model.

The foundation of the Scottish system dates back to the time of John Knox - a school in every Parish and a college in every city available to all. Best thing the Scottish Parliament did was to reject the introduction of University Tuition Fees.

My own experience as a parent with what was on offer from the state system in Southern England was that it was in general manned by the disaffected, disinterested, and totally demoralised. To lessen the burden all of my children were hooked out of that system into schools that were independent of the state system. My wife and I paid for it, our choice for the benefit of our children, in order to do that we did without other things. But as a parent a good education is one of the few things of any real value you can actually give a child. So I certainly don't blame Diane Abbot regarding her chosen course of action, anyone is entitled to change their minds on any subject at any time. Hypocrisy? to some maybe, sort of like home ownership under Harold Wilson, when he flatly refused to allow council house tennents the right to purchase their homes - Harold and Mary at the time owned five residences, Callaghan and Healey each owned two - but us epsilons weren't even allowed to own one - now that was what I would call a real example of the hypocrisy of the Left that had major impact on the population - where so-and-so's kid goes to school does not.