Discussion in The Monovian

The scheme proposed is known as a "two tier" system, i.e. all children irrespective of their ability will, on leaving their Primary School, go to a Junior Secondary School for three years-presumably the school nearest their home. The buildings used for this purpose would be the existing Secondary Modern Schools. At the age of 14+ all children would transfer to a Senior Secondary School. As the School leaving age is at present 15, some of these children would leave after one year; some would remain for two years and so could be entered for a public examination such as G.C.E. Ordinary Level whilst the remainder would continue until the age of 18 in order to take G.C.E. Advanced Level.

Under this scheme our School would cease to be a Grammar School and would become a Senior Secondary School. No precise details have been announced but it is clear that we should no longer have 1st, 2nd or 3rd Forms and instead should have about 240 boys of all abilities entering what we call our 4th Form. After the School leaving age is raised to 16 in 1970 we shall have all these boys for two years, but until then we are likely to have only about 130 in our 5th Form and we estimate that of these rather less than 50 will continue into the lit year 6th Form as compared with our present 1st year 6th Form of 80.

After many years in which the standard of education in this school has been raised and maintained as high as possible, it is deliberately to be lowered. The high standards which ensure that only the most academically able entrants are admitted are to be abandoned.
Thus, although the Monoux tradition may remain (after all, the school was comprehensive for 350 years even if the curriculum did include Latin and Greek) the school's academic reputation, which attracts boys to Waltham Forest from the surrounding areas, will be destroyed. It may be that the high standard of education is a major factor in slowing the drain of population, especially of young families whose children aspire to come here and whose father may be an old Monovian, away from the area.
This high standard is to be replaced by a broad range of talents, thus ensuring as we are told "a wide cross-section of future society". Surely the idea of keeping the Monoux ivory tower is strong. In spite of the fact that boys of average ability will now find open to them languages and fields of general education hitherto unknown, the specialised staff thus involved will be mainly occupied with 'A' and 'O' level boys. Will it be possible to find staff specialised enough for these, yet still able to teach boys of lesser ability as well? And if there are twenty sixth form courses, such as are available here now, twenty specialised teachers will be needed. This will leave only ten to cater for the needs of the 450 or so boys in the school below this standard. Even in a comprehensive school, therefore, bias in favour of the academic boys cannot be avoided. If staff change between schools every few days, however, this will undermine still further the tradition of the school and their ties to Waltham Forest.
A great disadvantage of the broad range of talents would be that the rougher elements in their last year would disturb or mislead their academic contemporaries. They would spread an attitude of "anti-academics" and encourage able boys to leave too early. Also, boys who would now be in the lower ranks of the school, although still ensured of a good education, would, in a comprehensive school, find themselves well above average, become complacent and waste their talents. Similarly, boys who would now be in positions of responsibility in the academic forefront of a secondary modem school would be eclipsed by the more academic boys and could not aspire to positions of responsibility. Unable to compete with their more intelligent contemporaries they would also waste their talents, effectively splitting the school with a gulf of intelligence, hopelessly impassable by those boys who now find themselves in the lower ranks of a grammar school. Although not so great as the present one, this gulf would still be there. Placing boys of different ability in the same building would not necessarily destroy this gulf.
With no policy of concentrating those boys of high academic ability in one school, these boys would be widely dispersed over a number of schools. This system has obvious disadvantages. Equipment, books, and highly qualified teachers cannot be concentrated in one building. If ten schools run sixth form courses, ten sets of books and scientific apparatus will be needed. There will be much duplication, especially if many schools have to build up, almost from scratch, large non-fiction libraries. True, those boys of lesser ability who come here will have the benefit of the school library, but of what use are its non-fiction books to them? Many boys who would benefit from these books and the equipment of the Monoux laboratories will have to make do with lesser facilities hastily assembled for the starting of sixth form courses in what are now secondary modem schools. With large numbers of talented boys together a concentration of books and equipment can be built up and the excess capitation allowance can be spent on more expensive equipment. In a dispersed system this excess, if any, would be split up into many small amounts, with a relatively small number of boys able to benefit from the best books and equipment in each school, those of average or below average ability would find their needs largely eclipsed by those of the more intelligent boys. Alternatively, money spent on them would not be available for the top streams. In a school of similar abilities this dilemma would not arise. All equipment and books would go to one group or the other. It is impossible to solve this problem by mixing the pupils' abilities since some sort of system of teaching those of above average, average and below average abilities separately would be essential, if only for the sanity of the staff.
This dispersal of the talented boys, and especially the fifth and sixth form boys, would also effectively kill any attempt to form school societies such as the Senior Circle or School Council. With small numbers of boys to whom these would appeal in each school they would not have enough support. Societies would survive in a more popular form (such as the Film Society or Model Railway Society) but the enthusiasm (if any) of the lower streams would hardly be enough to carry on such institutions as the History Day, School Council or the Senior Circle. It is to be doubted whether the lower stream boys, nearing the end of their years a school, would be at all keen on school societies. Normally the more able boys, confident of several more years at school, would attend these with enthusiasm but with the new system, these would be in a minority of about 20 per cent. With the limited numbers of sixth form and highly specialised boys, minority subjects would tend to be squeezed out, especially if these did not appeal to the average ability group. The stricter guidance and discipline of the lower groups might also tend to restrict the freedom of the sixth forms, especially if the fifth formers (after 1970 in their last compulsory year) were unruly.
The comprehensive theory is a good idea to raise the standard of average boys by giving them some of the advantages now confined to grammar school pupils. This admirable aim must not, however, be allowed to stand in the way of the education of the most intelligent and able boys, who as professionals, managers, and administrators will benefit the others later in life by reaching the highest possible standard of education.
A.J. Slade, VI 1G.

The issue of comprehensive school education is controversial, and the discussions concerning Waltham Forest's proposed reorganisation are likely to be no exception. Arguments about comprehensive education are not noted for their factual objectivity. Most of them indeed appear to leave out any consideration of the people most affected by changes in the education system, pupils.
Before the debate on the Waltham Forest proposals degenerate into a battle of half truths and political mudslinging, some attempt must be made to outline what the debate is about. First of all, what do we mean by a comprehensive school? It is a school which covers all the educational requirements of a particular age group in a certain district. By definition it contains the full range of abilities now dispersed among secondary, grammar, technical and modern schools.
Supporters of comprehensive education claim that its chief advantage is the abolition of the present system of selective education at eleven years old. This system they attack on three grounds:
Eleven plus selection is unfair, works badly and in any case is pure1y arbitrary. It is unfair because of the unequalness of opportunity with regard to grammar school places. The proportion of children given grammar school places varies immensely between one local education authority and another. In the county of Essex only ten to fifteen per cent of eleven-year-olds are offered grammar school education. In many county boroughs it is much more; take for instance the most extreme example. Merthyr Tydfil has a grammar school intake of nearly forty per cent. Even in the same area a boy may have a better chance of a grammar school education than his equally intelligent sister. Again, his younger brother may fail the eleven plus because there are more children in his age group, but the same number of grammar places. Thus entry into grammar school is not limited by the ability of the pupil, but by the number of places available.
The selective education system is said to work badly because even by its own standards it is not efficient. Many cases can be quoted of pupils leaving grammar school with only one or even no 'O' level passes in G.C.E. examinations, while some pupils in Secondary Modern schools are able to pass five or even more 'O' levels. If the eleven-plus examination were an accurate selective procedure, this simply would not happen. In 1959 the Crowther Report said, "a fair number of people in modern schools are incapable of reaching academic standards that have in the past been confined to grammar schools". The fact that a few secondary modern pupils are able to transfer to grammar school sixth forms and even go to university is a condemnation of the present system, is not an argument illustrating its "flexibility". Quite apart from these considerations, there may be psychological effects in those who fail to pass the eleven-plus. Recent studies have tended to suggest that some pupils may possess a sense of failure all their lives, others, told in effect that they are second-class pupils, will begin to act like second-class pupils.
The selection procedure of the eleven-plus is arbitrary because if the great number of borderline cases. It is based to a large extent on I.Q. Although it is relatively easy to divide people into groups at both extremes of the I.Q. range, the great majority of people are near the middle of this range. Any division between those with, for example, an I.Q. of above 110, who would go to grammar schools and those with an I.Q. of below 110, who would not, is arbitrary. In any case the I.Q. test is increasingly being exposed as a faulty measure of ability.
The supporters of comprehensive education say that a comprehensive school has positive advantages to offer. It can offer a large variety of courses at all levels from classical Greek to metalwork and typing. Its size means that it will have more specialist teachers. Perhaps its main advantage, they say, is that a comprehensive education allows each pupil to develop fully those subjects for which they have an aptitude, without struggling out of their depth in those for which they are less gifted.
This is facilitated by a system of sets, rather like that existing at Monoux. In practice this means that every pupil who has the ability to pass a subject at '0' or 'A' level will be given the opportunity to do so. Figures published after the 1962-3 G.C.E. results showed that while 13 per cent of all school leavers in local authority schools in England and Wales passed five or more subjects at '0' level, 16 per cent of leavers in 22 Comprehensive schools attained this standard. Even more striking figures were published for 'A' levels.
Other advantages of comprehensives include greater mobility between different levels of academic attainment, and the provision of more expensive equipment in a larger school unit. In addition many people believe that much might be gained by the mixing of children of all sections of the community in a comprehensive school.
The arguments against the comprehensive system emphasise the disadvantages of the mere size of a comprehensive school. They argue that personal contact between master and pupil cannot possibly be maintained in a school of 1,500 pupils. They also say that the high academic standards and traditions of the grammar schools would be reduced by the influx of pupils of a lower standard. Supporters of comprehensive schools reply that if a school adopts a House system with Tutorial groups, then a master can follow the progress of twenty or thirty boys throughout their school careers.
We have outlined the justifications for the introduction of comprehensive schools. How far has the movement already gone? In fact no less than 70 out of 166 Local Education Authorities are implementing comprehensive schemes and a further 21 are considering what changes they can make. The Minister of Education has asked authorities to return details of comprehensive schemes to him by late 1966. Although he has no legal power to impose comprehensive education, the Minister has a great deal of financial power over Local Education Authorities.
Introduction of this type of education does not mean that the system will be the same over the whole country. Six separate schemes were in fact outlined to authorities in a Department of Education circular. They are: (1) the orthodox comprehensive school dealing with all children from eleven to eighteen. This is the system in London. These schools normally have over a thousand pupils. (2) Comprehensive education to sixteen and then sixth-form college for those taking 'A' levels. This system is being considered by Croydon. (3) The method adopted by the West Riding: schools divided into the age ranges five to nine; nine to thirteen; and thirteen to eighteen. (4) a system whereby all pupils transfer at eleven to junior comprehensive schools and then at thirteen or fourteen to a senior comprehensive. This is the system proposed by Waltham Forest. (5) A junior comprehensive to fifteen or sixteen, with a minority moving at fourteen to a senior school leading to sixth form work. (6) A method with all pupils in a junior comprehensive until all move to a choice of senior schools at thirteen or fourteen.
There are many systems because of the difficulty of fitting the system to the buildings available. This difficulty appears to have influenced Waltham Forest's choice. At the time of writing a plan has been put forward for consideration and as a basis for discussion, The twenty-one secondary modern schools in the borough will become junior comprehensive schools. These will admit all primary school leavers. From these, pupils will move to senior comprehensive schools at fourteen. At this school the 'O' and 'A' level examinations would be taken by those who reached that that standard. These senior schools would comprise the eight selective schools, including Monoux, now in existence. All pupils who are already at selective schools would complete their course. The transition from selective to comprehensive schools in the borough will be gradual.
This scheme has not yet been finally adopted. Its advantages and disadvantages will be examined and discussed by the borough council, teachers and parents. The education committee hopes to receive a report early in 1966.
The scheme's chief advantage is that all existing school buildings would be used. However, some of the selective schools would have to be enlarged to accommodate an anticipated extra 1,400 pupils every year. Also, all existing schools would retain their identity, their head teachers and in a large measure their staff. Yet there will be problems that will make the scheme less attractive.
For instance, how can pupils do 'O' level courses in just two years if the senior schools will have little or no control over the curricula at a junior comprehensive school?
P.D. Rodwell, VI 2G.