In his statement on the Schools White Paper published today, Ed Balls made an extraordinary remark. "Our best state schools", he said, "now match the best schools in the private sector and anywhere in the world."
Ignoring the peculiar syntax, we must conclude that what Mr Balls meant by the use of the word "match" was that some schools in the state sector were now the equals in academic achievement of the best private schools. Which is true.
The difficulty, from the traditional
Balls point of view, is that the only state schools to which this
description could possibly apply are the few remaining grammar schools
which his government has done its best to undermine and eliminate.
Indeed, there were once a great number of schools whose academic
results were comparable to the finest schools in the independent
sector.
There are now only a precious handful left and they must fight
for their lives against the fascist egalitarianism of the Labour
government, and the shameful repudiation of the Conservative front
bench.
For Mr Balls to suggest that Labour can claim some sort of
credit for their contribution to state education simply beggars belief.
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