Ali Miraj has served as a Councillor, is a two-time parliamentary candidate and was a Board Member of two of the Conservative Party's policy commissions. He has been a governor of two schools.
What hope does a child from an inner city comprehensive have of becoming a British Sonia Sotomayor – the first Hispanic justice recently appointed to the US supreme court? Less than when Labour first came to power is the answer. Sotomayor was born and raised by her mother in the Bronx. Yet she went onto to Princeton and Yale, two of the finest academic establishments in the US which set her on the path to the highest court in the land.
A recent report entitled “Unleashing Aspiration”, from a panel chaired by Alan Milburn, concluded that the chances of a child entering the professions is strongly correlated to the financial circumstances of its parents. What a surprise. A study by the LSE in 2005 found that children of parents in unskilled work have a 20% chance of achieving five or more GCSEs compared to 69% for children with professional parents.
But no amount of back-door social engineering, tinkering with university admissions policies or dumbing-down of exam standards will redress the fundamental failure of the present one-size-fits-all, education system. Politicians from all parties are too afraid to properly debate the merits of selection. This lack of courage is failing many potential stars who will simply languish in an environment that coalesces around mediocrity rather than trying to get the best out of all children based on their respective strengths. Not everyone is academic, just as not every child has the potential and motivation to become a budding entrepreneur. The current system fails both. So here is something for Lord Mandelson to ponder as his summer tan fades.
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