Shami Chakrobati now Shadow Attorney General in Corbyn reshuffle

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!!

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.

@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.

As she would if she was paid £11 per hour

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.

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

These are not my words Annie they are yours:

Anniebach Fri 07-Oct-16 10:23:02
Thanks Petra, I agree with you, and not because I am anti Corbyn . I have said I was widowed young with two little girls, I was offered places for them in the Convent school, couldn't have afforded the fees and was not R C, it was an act of Christian love from the Nuns, I refused and my girls went to the Comp . Years later I was asked by the priest of the boys public school here - yes he was a friend to put my grandson forward to sit the scholarship exam , we refused .

Good grief! I'm not 'unwashed'. It seems some people have a giant chip on their shoulder.

Anyway, I've lost track of this conversation. There seem to be a few separate discussions going on simultaneously and I'm lost.

Corbyn is against Grammar Schools in principal because not everyone has the equal chance to go to them. He believes everyone should have the same opportunity which is not the case at the moment. If every town had one, but they don't, then it would be an equal playing field. If the state schools were as good, but some are not, then it would be different. Maybe he feels guilty, I do not know. Like I said before he is a man of principals.

Yorksiregel, I was asked by a friend to put my grandson up for the exam, I passed the request to his parents , WE discussed it , I passed the decision to the friend who had suggested it . I did not make the decision on my own , it was joint, this is what WE means

daphnedill what I believe is that every parent of any child who can pass an entrance exam should be able to send their child to the school of their choice. Whether that be a Grammar School or a Comprehensive or a Secondary school. They do not have that choice at the moment. Increasing the number of Grammar schools would help to give it to them. I am not against any kind of school. I went to a Secondary modern myself, My eldest went to a Comprehensive at first but we moved him because when we went to parents evening the teacher who taught him maths said he was 'great at algebra, he had never done algebra in his life, we got another report from someone who said he was his form teacher and it turned out that he was not even in that form. Comprehensive schools can be too big and put more emphasis on the underachievers than the brighter children, which means they teach to the lower standard and leave those who can cope alone. Parents should have the choice at the end of the day.

Everyone will have to watch what they say now, as if they even breathe out of turn. Diane Abbott will call them racist.

Send your kids to private schools something most of middle England aspire to
Really? I'm not so sure about that.
I do have a few friends who sent their children to private school (not Eton!). Some because their jobs took them abroad and their children stayed at boarding school here in the UK (paid for by their employers), a couple of others (both teachers at state schools) who worked to be able to afford the school fees for their own offspring.

Otherwise, most of the people I know sent their children to local state schools although some of them could have afforded to pay for private education.
We couldn't have afforded the fees anyway, so Hobson's choice.

There is a thread accusing GNers of being misandrists, the misogyny on this thread certainly balances that out. No mention of any of the men appointed but personal and unwarranted attacks on the women.

Thank you for pointing out what 'WE' meant Annie....I think I have grasped the concept. However, grandparents are not the ones who give permission that is the parents job.

Jalima the Conservatives certainly recognise the desire for private education-sometimes without the ability to pay-that's what the grammar school revival is all about.

Corbyn is not a man of principles , he is against The Lords but sends someone there.

He ran a campaign in the eighties to bring back Militants who had damaged the party and been expelled .

He called Hamas friends but when questioned by the select committee changed his mind and these friends were no longer friends

He sat in silence whilst one of his own female MP's was bullied by a member of his support group Momentum, this happened at a meeting to announce the outcome of the anti semitism investigation, the MP is a Jew, his reason for staying silent ? I wasn't the chairman, he was filmed straight after the meeting enjoying a chat and laughter with the bully.

He claims he was working with the party during the Brexit campaign but refused to take part in one tv debate and even went on holiday

He lied about no seats on the train

Excuses have been posted over and over for these by Corbyn devotees , doesn't work

There can be no comprehensive schools while there are private and grammar schools to cream off the brightest.

POGS, my grandson is not at homeschool because he is the brightest.
If the school could cope with him, we would love him to go to it, as it's where all his friends go.
He went to a large comprehensive where he had to run through 1500 other kids every day, and he was in tears, scared that he would be late.
We teach him because we can, having a whole gamut of expertise.
Please feel free to criticise.

By the way, you started this thread about the shadow cabinet. Once again it has deteriorated into slagging off Corbyn, and given Anniebach another excuse to trot out the same old prejudices.

You mentioned that Corbyn's new cabinet contained the same old London elite.
I pointed out how many were from the north.
You appear to have chosen to ignore that.

Yorkshiregirl, what goes on in your family is your choice , what goes on in mine is our choice

So if a child cannot pass an exam, they don't get a choice? That doesn't seem very fair.

The fact is that very few parents do get a choice. If you live in an area with grammar schools, most parents of bright children will opt for their children to be educated along with other children of similar ability. The other schools in the area are secondary moderns, whether or not they choose to call themselves comprehensives.

On the other hand, if there are no grammar schools, parents will have to send their children to the same school, where bright children can do just as well. Compare the statistics I posted with Adams' Grammar School and the comprehensive, where my children went to school. They're almost identical and my children's former school has a wider range of ability, so is actually achieving higher results for its pupils, given their starting point.

My children's former school is one of the biggest in the country. It has nearly 600 in the sixth form alone. It most certainly did not put more emphasis on low achievers and most emphatically did not teach to a lower standard. It is able to provide an appropriate education for every child.

Seems some think criticism is slagging off , how strange

Yorkshiregel
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.
I am from near there too, and Adams Grammar is a good school, but unfortunately Mr Corbyn does not want that type of education to be available nowadays for anyone, hence his refusal to allow his own son to attend the grammar school local to where he lives. Hence a split from his wife due to his principles, and his ex-wife sent their son to the grammar school anyway.
Perhaps yes to principled, but he would never hold Adams to be a shining example of schools today.

POGS Mr Corbyn's parents were left-wing activists but his mother taught in a girls' grammar school. Perhaps things were different then.

Nick Brown is the new shadow whip. Is he there to provide balance? never a strong supporter of Corbyn he is much closer to Gordon Brown but not a Blairite. Can he hold the party together?

Anniebach just repeating the same things again and again is 'slagging off" criticism requires a reasoned and thoughtful debate.