Education’s strategy throughout is self-evidently to brainwash us all

Throw into this mix the fact that we are looking at an Assembly which, in a matter of two years or so, voted three different and conflicting ways on the same issue. In May 2016, Paul Le Pelley was by virtue of his election as president of ESC mandated by a large majority to retain the Grammar School, a de facto rescinding of a decision the previous Assembly had made in March of that year. Deputy Le Pelley’s position was sabotaged by indiscipline within his own committee. This was an own goal which had disastrous and very costly repercussions. Had it not occurred, islanders would have been spared three years of political chaos. Part of that chaos includes these latest proposals, which have already been politely rubbished by a large number of highly respected educationalists. The latter have highlighted the fact that obliterating a unified sixth form which operates in purpose-built premises, part of which were constructed only a few years ago, is educationally crackpot.

In the context of all of the above, Deputy Meerveld must be right in saying that selection needs to remain on the table in any States decision-making.

States members would be wise to bear in mind the following:

1. Selection does not need to be at 11. Jersey runs a very successful system based on selection at 13. This is a ‘third way’ which the States have so far ignored.

2. Within months we will have a new States Assembly. Was it not Deputy Fallaize himself who, interviewed by BBC Guernsey upon election as ESC president, said that his proposals were not certain to come about because, were a majority of pro-selection deputies elected in 2020, there would be a return to the status quo? This could happen regardless of whichever way the States vote now.

3. Doug Perkins, a local and international businessman whose company not only employs many locals but is also a major benefactor to the island’s youth in terms of sport and culture, wrote to this newspaper on 22 September 2017. In what he termed his ‘business response’, he noted this Assembly’s leftward lurch and its ‘vengeful’ abolition of selection which, he predicted, would lead to the creation of a generation of ‘educational guinea-pigs’. His opinions – which must mirror the views of thousands – the States would do well to take on board in the context of ESC’s proposals, which impose upon us all an incredibly expensive leap of faith.

4. If the States pursue the comprehensive route, they are arguably trying to swim against the tide.

Firstly, no local education authority in England would be allowed, on the whim of local politicians, to consign a system of proven excellence to the dustbin in exchange for a botched scheme such as we have on offer. A local education authority would need to demonstrate to the secretary of state that the existing system is failing and that there is public demand for change. Neither is the case on this island, quite the reverse.

Secondly, a BBC investigation about this time last year revealed that in England there were 11,000 more pupils at state-run grammar schools than there were in 2010, this in a period during which the secondary school population as a whole had remained static. This is due to a widespread and continuing expansion of existing selective state schools.

I now turn to the colleges of Elizabeth, Ladies’ and Blanchelande.

These schools are an integral part of the island’s system. They have to be, because hitherto they have been educating 30% of our secondary school population. Anyone currently being educated at these schools, be they fee-payers or special placeholders, have security up to the end of sixth form with guaranteed stability and total immunity against the convulsions Education proposes to inflict on the pupils of the schools it controls. The question as to whether the States should continue to fund special places at these schools has never been part of the ‘comprehensive versus selection’ debate, nor has the public ever been consulted on the matter. Free college places have been erased upon yet another whim of politicians. The social consequences of this decision have been ignored. Before World War II, there was a widely perceived class distinction between those pupils whose parents could afford the fees at these schools and everybody else. This all disappeared because of States scholarships. Now that the system of scholarships has ended, anyone wishing to attend these schools are henceforth debarred if their parents cannot afford the fees. We are back to a divided society, as in pre-war years.

I believe I am not alone in wishing for ESC’s proposals – which many consider unsuitable for Guernsey – to be rejected in their entirety and for this Committee of Spin to leave the stage. Somebody who can unite rather than divide the community is needed to pull us out of the quagmire into which this Assembly has led us.

Mr Meerveld would be an obvious candidate. He was a close runner-up to Mr Fallaize in the last election of a president of ESC. His pragmatism was demonstrated when he was the only member of the previous committee to vote for two unsuccessful amendments: (a) to continue with free places at the three colleges, and (b) to keep selection until such time as any different system is ready to kick in and with all funding approved.

GEOFFREY MAHY

Saint-Sauveur.