Grammar schools - 1960s/1970s

Lathyrus3

It’s not quite accurate to say that your place was given to a boy who hadn’t passed. He had passed. It was just that the pass mark for boys was lower than the pass mark for girls!

This is why there were equal numbers. The system ensured that.

A rose by any other name - will smell as (not) sweet at all.

I did get given my pass - rather than it being handed over to a boy. I guess the "pass mark for boys was lower than the pass mark for girls" is another way of saying "Yep....sex discrimination against girls" and maybe that was the logistics of what had to happen to prevent my pass being wrongly given to a boy instead - ie pointing out that "If a boy can be deemed to have passed at x% - then why should a girl have to get more than x% to have her pass given to her?".

Maybe my mother pointed out that if a boy would have passed with my marks = then I had obviously passed too with the exact same marks.

Also, my DD was one of the oldest in her year, this went against her I believe, as we were told children with ‘summer’ birthdays were given more leeway.

When my daughter ‘failed’ her 11+, this was in the mid 80’s though, I was disappointed because certain boys in her year ‘passed’, and I knew she did better than them in the routine school work, weekly tests and suchlike.

However, her very wise headmaster told me that although she worked hard, was a diligent pupil, no trouble to teach, boys developed later than girls, and by the time they were in their early teens, these same boys would have matured educationally, and be much brighter, if that makes sense, than my hard working girl.

And this proved to be the case. These same boys who I had written off achieved much as they grew older.

I did a Further Education Psychology module, back in late 80's, we were told that all Girls where educational "loaded" in the 11plus. In my area there was an extra Grammar School for Boys. So the girls had x2 they boys x3. Always knew it was fixed.

I took my 11+ plus and the convent school entrance exam which was only for girls.

I failed both and went to a mixed school where I had an abolute blast!

It’s not quite accurate to say that your place was given to a boy who hadn’t passed. He had passed. It was just that the pass mark for boys was lower than the pass mark for girls!

This is why there were equal numbers. The system ensured that.

The grammar school system was unfair in so many ways. More places for boys than girls, and even more discrimination in areas with less places for girls

It was divisive. It banished many children to dreadful sec mods. I’m not criticising technical or secretarial courses which some but not all sec mods offered. I’m criticising the notion of segregating children at age 11 based on one exam.

My grammar school was all girls, too.

I started at a co-ed grammar school in 1967 and girls certainly outnumbered boys.

All the grammar schools in my area were single sex, so there was no question of giving more places to boys to make sure there was a 50/50 split.