One of the things which Maura Dooley said on Womans Hour & with which I heartily agree was that she regretted that children do not seem to be introduced to much grown up poetry at primary school these days. It gets in to you, becomes part of your fabric, even if you do not always understand it. The ones I remember best are those – such as A Thing of Beauty is a Joy Forever - which clearly meant something to the teacher. Perhaps it had something to do with War being such a recent memory
Not that reaction was always uncritical. I remember being deeply unimpressed with Daffodils – just doggerel was my lofty response
I was thinking again about my 10 year old self recently after I stumbled across a Could You Pass The Eleven Plus test on the BBC website
After a little hesitation I decided to risk humiliation, but found I was Top of The Class. Which was reassuring (all that talk about Alzheimers recently)
And to boast even more, I was rather impressed by my 10 year old self – I always loved this kind of thing & only took against the idea of IQ tests later in life – Bell curves, the only thing they test is whatever they measure yabba, yabba, yabba … Plus Eysenck’s assertion, that the question about why the dwarf who lived on the 14th floor of a New York apartment block always selected the button for the 12th floor when he came home, & walked the other 2 floors, is an example of the perfect ‘closed’ IQ question
I think I am probably inclined to underestimate what 10 year olds are capable of these days, & from what we hear schools do not generally stretch them either, focussing instead on purely ‘expected’ levels of attainment
Then I heard the Radio 4 programme about the remaining Grammar Schools & how only middle class parents can afford the coaching for the 11 plus these days. Sadly, the programme focussed more on the emotional aspects of putting children under pressure – some still failed despite the coaching
At least the parents can console themselves that their children will be at lower risk of early alcohol problems, according to a recent research report from Scotland - Smart kids are more likely to be heavy drinkers
