Oh Thompson, well done! That explains it all very well. A very innovative approach to secondary schooling in those days.
Education is an extremely difficult thing to get right. The aims should be a well-rounded young person with confidence, a wide knowledge of a variety of subjects, ability to continue to learn after leaving school, social skills, it goes on and on.
It gets very difficult when the pupils are from deprived homes where there are no good role models, areas where crime and anarchy are rife, psychological, personality and mental problems, it goes on and on too!
I bet Steve will have lots of interesting comments to make, as he was a teacher. Such a complex topic!