Social Mobility – What Happened?

This is my first post - something I wrote a year ago - just putting it up as a start, until I get into the swing of things....

It seems that the rate of social mobility is at a lower level now than it has been for many decades, and the Government, which has set great store by its stated aim in increasing rates of social mobility, has been found wanting. http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/jul/21/all-party-report-on-social-mobility. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8160052.stm. 
 

So what happened? 

My grandfather worked in a quarry. My father, son of a quarryman, passed his eleven-plus, went to Grammar School in the 1940s, and retired having risen to a senior level in the Civil Service. Now to me, that’s Social Mobility. 

What I see now is a problem with boys and their aspirations. Girls seem to be doing well (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/884405.stm) which is to be applauded. But there seems to be a problem with it being “uncool” for boys to work hard at school, to the point that boys that do are victimised or ostracised by their peers. Now this didn’t happen in the days of Grammar Schools. Those that wanted to work hard were identified and placed in separate schools using the Eleven Plus examination, and the threat of intimidation by their less diligent contemporaries did not then arise. Yes there were frequent reports of trouble between the “Secondary Modern kids” and the “Grammar kids”, but it wasn’t all the time. Many local authorities made sure that there was a good geographic separation between the Grammar and Secondary Modern schools to minimise this tension. And the proof of the system was that Grammar School kids did well, whatever their back ground. Now all are together and, I suspect, that the need to conform to a prevailing attitude that sees working hard at school as a serious deficiency, effects far more boys than it used to under the old system. 

We also hear increasingly of the problem of segregation, particularly residential segregation, affecting our communities. (Segregation being the separation of different groups of people based on ethnicity, race, religion, class or gender). This is exacerbated by the modern phenomenon of ‘white flight’. It is the most affluent in society who actually possess the power to choose where they live and they are moving out into middle class enclaves as never before. As populations become segregated by both class and religion, so does the provision of services. Healthcare and schooling are the worst affected. Again, the affluent have the most choice and many turn to private healthcare providers, and send their children through the private education system, because there is no Grammar School option and the local Comprehensive School does not provide an acceptable standard of education. 

This is just human nature at work, choosing the best option available whenever it has the means. It is the demise of the Grammar School system rather than a clear intention to ‘go private’ that is really driving this, leaving the state provision with even less of a contingent wanting to apply themselves at school, and undermining all the Government’s well meant attempts to promote social mobility.