Brown: The Scottish Raj

I think it is shocking that the supposedly left-wing media and Labour/Liberal Democrats continually say that those from ‘disadvantaged’ (a synonym for “poor”) social backgrounds would be excluded by academic selection. Why must it be the case that people from poor backgrounds are mentally less capable?

The mobility of people between classes (or wealth brackets these days) is a stark indicator that intelligence is not a simple average of the parent’s intellect. There’s no reason to write off the children of less academically able parents. But by declaring selection unfair on the poor Labour are claiming that these people have no natural ability.

It is also alleged that trust schools would “squeeze out” poorer or less able pupils.

Source: BBC

I also see lives which are shaped too much by wider social factors – where their parents come from; their ethnicity, income, gender or class.

Source

This is why self-improvement among the lower-income families was higher under the Tories and has been reducing since 1997 — Labour genuinely believes that the poor are less able while the Tories believe in allowing people to excel. Anyone who associates themselves with the anti-selection lobby and condones this attitude, should be ashamed.