Elitism, grammars and private schools

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/apr/03/elitism-grammars-and-private-schools

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Fiona Millar asserts that the government made a "sneaky last-minute change" to allow good schools to take more pupils (This elitism has to stop, 2 April). Actually, schools could already increase the number of pupils they take. We have just made it easier. We stated this aim in the white paper of November 2010 and then launched a public consultation last May. The proposal was supported by more than two-thirds of parents who responded. After consultation, the codes were debated in parliament before coming into force in February. Hardly "last-minute" and hardly "sneaked" through.

It appears Ms Millar would have liked us to have retained the iniquitous cap that rations the number of places good schools can offer – a cap that has worked overwhelmingly against the poorest children. Our change, far from "entrenching advantage", will mean more pupils from deprived backgrounds have the opportunity to attend the best schools. Nick Gibb MP Minister of state for schools

• Why does the Labour establishment always confine its debates about education to the state sector? Any analysis of our ruling elite tells us where the real problem lies. Just as some young people are neglected and "bump along the bottom", there is another disconnected class: those outside the state system, educated in private schools. Private schools are disproportionately privileged in Britain; more so than anywhere else in Europe. If their pupils were in state education, well-off and educated parents would not tolerate the lack of resources and facilities that prevail in much of the state sector. Then standards would improve. Colin McCulloch Sonning, Berkshire