Why we need an equal education system

Prime Minister Theresa May recently announced that she is ploughing extra funding into grammar and faith schools, while local comprehensives are choking for cash. That is part of the reason we need an equal education system, though the main issue runs deeper.

In England in particular, the variety of education is too vast and uneven it baffles even education experts. From grammar schools to faith schools to academies and free schools, it’s always one fad to the next with governments. And just after you thought the grammar schools had died post-Thatcher, Theresa May wants to bring them back. And why? In the name of social mobility.

Apparently (as in, according to Theresa May, who is an ex-grammar school student), grammar schools allow for poorer kids to get further in life. At the age of 11, kids’ lives are determined for them via the 11 plus exam. If you fail, you go to a dingy comp where the best you’ll get is five GCSEs. If you pass, you’ll go to grammar school where you’re told you’re the cream of the crop and can get three A Levels and a place at uni. However, the odds are still rigged.

As long as we have an education system that allows private schooling, we will never achieve social mobility. And as long as we keep trying to solve our class inequality problem by creating even more division, we’ll never overcome it. That’s why we need an equal education system.

Once all children are given the same newly-tarmacked, smooth track to race life on, we can sleep easy. No faith, no dodgy academy trusts in it for their profit, no league table focus and no fee-paying for connections. We need to start again and gut the education system to prevent what has unfortunately become class segregation.

We need an equal education system or we’ll never have an equal society.