Shami Chakrobati now Shadow Attorney General in Corbyn reshuffle

Yorkshiregel, how can you claim he wants children to have the same opertunity as he did? He went to a grammer school yet is against grammer schools

I agree with you, yorkshiregel. Where I think we differ is that I believe that increasing the number of grammar schools is regressive and limits opportunities for the majority.

As she would if she was paid £11 per hour

@POGS

I don't get the message that most Labour politicians 'tell' people where to send their children to school. I think that's a myth peddled by right-wingers. The obsession with where people went to school is weird anyway.

I also think the idea that one has to be a 'true socialist' to vote Labour is weird. I don't have working class roots, went to a (mainly fee-paying) direct grant grammar school with a free place, had hardline Tory parents and we lived in an owner-occupied four bedroom house, so presumably I can never be a 'true socialist', which is a bit ironic as I'm currently one of the poorest 10% of people in the country. I'm more interested in issues such as distribution of wealth and equality of opportunity than upholding 'working class values' (whatever they are).

I don't believe anybody has a magic wand and can create Utopia. I don't believe bloody revolutions are the answer either. I'd love to see all grammar, faith and independent schools abolished and every comprehensive properly funded, but that's not going to happen. Education is a political issue and right-wingers will always see that limited funds should work in their favour.

While 'elite' schools exist, I don't have a problem with everybody having the opportunity to send send their children to them.

What he wants is for every child to have the opportunity he had. I think he is right. Every child should be able to reach their full potential given the chance. Some are not given the chance, mine were and they took it, their parents had been through the same school and knew what it meant, so they knew what they were chosing. The answer is to make schools available to everyone and making them as good as any school in the UK.

You bet they have!!! Where on earth would they educate their own children?!! Surely not with the great unwashed, i.e. the rest of us!! Emily Thornberry would have apoplexy!!

So POGs if politicians are not to decide what sort of education or schools a child is offered who should be? Private companies, academies, free schools? They have all been trialed recently and what seems to be becoming apparent is that they have an equal or in some cases a higher level of failure than any state school.
Why is it hypocrisy to want a good education for all children but to use your own money to buy something better for your own child? Would you consider it hypocritical to ask for a minimum wage for all but expect to be paid more than that because you have particular skills?
Of course if Public schools were banned that would be different, but I think even left wingers have abandoned that policy.

Nobody cares where an individual poster goes to school, nor really an MP as such. It is the telling/instructing/considering to know what's best for another persons child that is the problem.

If somebody ' told ' you Durhamjen you can no longer 'home educate ' your grandson you would be livid' smoke coming out of your ears. Why, because you and your family have 'chosen' the route you want to take.

As a general point, it is not up to others to decide how other peoples children are educated, I would never dream of it. I will however remain happy to call it hypocrisy when someone espouses one thing and does the complete opposite, How is that being a true Socialist, or does Socialism mean 'Well for you lot but not for mine'.

I attended a private school, my husband a grammar. Does that mean that we should have sent our children to private or grammar schools just because we went there?
The assumption that they are somehow better than comprehensives in this day and age I find abhorrent.

A child doesn't have to go to a grammar or independent school to fulfill his/her potential - even amongst the more able.

Just copied and pasted this from Jeremy Corbyn's 'almer mater':

"Once again sixth form students at Adams’ Grammar School have returned an impressive set of A-level results. Out of 155 candidates 80% of results were graded A*- B."

My son has just left a state comprehensive with a wider range of ability than Adams', where 77% of A level results were graded A*-B.

Quite frankly, I'm shocked that the figure for Adams' isn't 100%, given its intake.

Sorry, I know it's off-topic, but it's not fair to accuse anybody of denying a child anything just because he/she doesn't go to grammar school. Incidentally, some minor independent schools offer scholarships to bright children to boost their results. Without the bright scholarship pupils, their results would be poor.

Fingers crossed, gardenman.

Yorkshirgel

' Mr. Corbyn on the other hand is a principled man and good luck to him. At least he is honest. I live in the same town he was brought up in and I can tell you that the school he went to is one of the best in the country, and it is oversubscribed. The streets are full of cars come entrance exam day. It teaches respect for others, compassion, it sends pupils out to do good works around the town, it frowns on bullies and the exam results are amazingly good.'

Corbyn was educated at Castle House Preparatory School, an independent school near Newport, Shropshire, before attending Adams' Grammar School as a day student.

Why then does Corbyn and Co strongly oppose parents the right for their children to the same education?

It just sums up hypocrisy to some," Do as I say not Do as I Do ". Now we can go on to say he was principled and did not want his children to go to anything other than state/comprehensive education, indeed it is known to be one of the factors for his marital break up , but telling others how to choose their child's education is wrong on so many levels.

I am also going to use the word 'nepatism' and think of the posts/posters who have over the years found 'nepatism' a scurge, a disgrace in politics, they seem to find no problem
with MP's employing sons and daughters these days. Then again many 'principles' seem to permitted to lapse if it suits, there's that word hypocrisy coming to mind again.

POGS, I counted 13 MPs from North of Leicester in the shadow cabinet.

Interesting Ana, yet I deprived my grandson of a good education in Yorksiregels opinion

I have had the best laugh for ages - Dianne Abbot Shadow Home Secretary. We would all feel so much safer in her hands ???!!! . BUT the reality is no joke.

Two A levels grade E - hardly a glowing endorsement either for the school or for Corbyn's academic ability.

Well, you'll have to wait four years to see if it does.

Yes Yorksiregel, Adams Grammer School for boys , a selective school for day students and boarders. I acknowledge he did not choose the school , his parents did, he praised them at the conference for their socialist values , yet wants to stop other parents from having the same choices as his parents

With what has happened in the last few months it would not surprise me if Mrs May shoots herself in the foot like Cameron did and we end up with a Labour landslide. Stranger things have happened.

I've lost faith in all of them, I was about to add to the diatribe....but sadly I can't be bothered. This could possibly be my last post on Gransnet too. I have found too many discussions and debates a bit inclusive. Feeling very much on the periphery and although I tried to start threads which I felt relevant, none have been put on line etc. So long girls.....

Yorkshregel, I did not say I was asked for my permission, no my grandson was not denied the chance to fulfil his potential, he gained a first in economics at university after achieving A* and 2 A's in his A levels at the comprehensive school his parents chose over a boys public school

Anniebach, the school I am talking about is a Grammar school! All three of my children went there, as did my nephew, and now my grandson is in the 6th form. They didn't previously go to prep school they went to a state school. The Jnr school Mr Corbyn went to may be a prep school but he went on to a Grammar school. He also lived in the town (on the outskirts), yes it was a big house, but many people live in big houses. I don't. He did a lot of good work in this town and round about and he earned, yes earned, lots of respect for all his hard work. Despite what the Tory press would have you believe he is a DECENT man and a kind man, unlike Blair who would trample on anyone to get to the top.

At the (quite substantial - knowing how Gransnetters react) risk of being lambasted - maybe we can see why Anniebach is not in favour of "grammer" schools! Bring it on. ?

Anniebach, how come you were asked to give permission for your grandson to sit a scholarship exam? What about his parents? I hope you are proud of yourself for denying that little boy a chance to fulfil his potential. If people are offered a leg up it is our duty to encourage them to take it. I could not live with what you did, it would be on my conscience for ever. You might feel holier than thou but I bet those children have other views.

Yorkshiregal, Corbyn went to a prep school !