Grammar Schooling.

  ... there is no doubt that the pre-1965 system had many serious faults. The Secondary Moderns lacked a clear purpose. The technical schools intended by the 1944 Act were, for the most part, never built. They were not cured by destroying the one part of it which worked well. A more intelligent reform, based on reason rather than on egalitarian dogma, would have been to open many more grammar schools (they were very unevenly spread), and particularly to expand the number of girls’ grammar schools. A serious attempt could also have been made to set up the Technical Schools which are still so badly needed. The sums involved would have been tiny compared with the vast construction and bureaucratic costs of going comprehensive, let alone the price of the absurd University expansion which was launched by John Major and made even more bloated by New Labour.
 As for the eleven-plus itself, I have many times said that I prefer the German system of selection by assessment and mutual consent, combined with at least one second chance (at 13) and perhaps more such chances for pupils whose talents develop later. 
The Peter Hitchens Blog.