As a shy child lacking in confidence my education 78-83 at a comp was a disaster. Teaching was poor. Support was poor. Standards were poor. Classes were disrupted. The teachers just focussed on the O level pupils who were likely to go to Uni. The rest of us? The teachers couldn't care less. Left at 16 with poor CSE's. Took me years to get back on track and get qualified. Ridiculous education ideology. Pity teachers weren't accountable back then.

Real journalism on display here! No qualms discussing the drawbacks of the egalitarian system, or admitting that some students are more able than others. Most nowadays dismiss out of hand the possibility that gifted working class students did better under the grammars. We ought to return to a form of debate like the one shown in this video if we are to address the ills of the present system.

I went to a comprehensive school I just feel I only got the support needed in my last year sadly the school I attended they tried to cater for everybody this was very upsetting especially when you had students with behaviour issues who clearly needed specialist teaching who would disrupt the classes diverting the teachers attention from those of us wanting to learn and go far .

I came across this video by chance and was struck by the brutal honesty and candor of some of the people interviewed, especially the Headmaster from Spurley High school in Mancester. It was refreshing. These people would be vilified today.

I think personally a lot of people of my age I went to a comprehensive from 78 to 83 were failed by comprehensives if you weren't that academically bright u were basically left to your own devices while the teacher concentrated on the so called more academically inclined pupils.

Hilariously honest headmaster: “Our kids are dull, their parents don’t give a shit and any decent caring parent would send their kids elsewhere.”

I went to a comp in the North Midlands, which was an excellent school. It was large, around 2,000 pupils. We were streamed into sets for Maths, English and languages. This helped a lot with achieving best results for all. I'm surprised to read other comments which seem to indicate that there was no streaming in various other comprehensives. 🤔 Being such a big school, it had great facilities, especially for music. For period of some 4 or 5 years I had a very worthwhile experience! Of course there were the usual bullies, both staff and pupils! All part of life's rich tapestry. It was very good that I walked home and enjoyed the company of children who perhaps were not as academically gifted as I was, but nevertheless were funny and engaging. As an adult I have very few prejudices and I don't judge books by their covers!

Teachers were the difference. Mine, I went to a Comp, went the extra mile to ensure I had the chance to get to Uni. I think only 3 of us got there. All the lads were streamed anyway from the age of 12. There was a 3 tier system within the school. This came out very well in the report. We never mixed. Streamed from the start.

I have always felt that the comprehensive I went to failed me in many ways I was never happy and settled so less academically inclined

Happy days. although the teaching was sketchy. if you did not want to learn you were left to mess around Which I did. ... Though I have often regretted. not reaching my potential and getting a career.

What I like about this vid is the teachers honest views on the Comprehensive system, just think how teachers today would lie when asked the same questions. There's a honesty about the answers given it an adult take when making the vid. Today this vid would be dumbed down and repeat what was said before the break making it twice as long to get the same points across

I went to a Comprehensive school, apparently one of the best in the area. But I was an immature, shy, bullied and lost child, and I had few friends. I 'only' got 2 O Levels. The rest of it was a disaster. Even CSE exams I messed up. I just couldn't study, and it was the disruption in class, the large class sizes, the class clowns and there was no time for a dedicated teacher to reach all the pupils. I only grew up after I'd joined the military and at 29, I went to University and got a 2:1. I'm pretty sure that if I'd been educated privately, and in smaller classes, and I'd been encouraged more, I think I would have come out of my shell and believed in myself. At a Comprehensive school, I was a useless, thick, small fish, in a very big pond. For example, I simply couldn't do Maths at all. When I tried Maths again at the age of 34, with a great teacher at evening classes at the local college, I sailed through my GCSE and got a B. It was easy, and I actually enjoyed it. I appreciate however, that some say GCSE exams are a piece of cake compared to O Levels in the mid-1980s. I wonder if anyone would agree with my last comment.

I wasted my time in Comprehensive schools - I really tried to work hard, but, there were too many disruptive kids that did not want to be in school and as such made life hell for us kids trying to concentrate at school. Some kids fought the teachers in class LOL that was fun to watch. Good ole Maggie Thatcher's 1980s schools. What a laugh, but, sadly no serious education was gained unless your parents were filthy rich that they could afford to take you to private school back then, otherwise, suffer like the rest of us. I respect the headmaster who was in the end of the Video. He was saying the right things and was being honest. Unlike today's headteachers who are politically motivated and act and speak like a politician. say no more.

I went to Spurley Hey in the 80s, it was Gorton! Not the best area in the world, I've not done too bad from growing up around there, Mr Schofield was a cracking headmaster, I always respected him.

My 9ld school Spurley Hey. And my old headteacher Mr Jack Schofield. I went here between 1974 and 1979. The lower school which is now a housing estate was on Old Hall Drive and the upper school was on Mount Road. I had a good time here.

I went to a comp in the 70s. Truancy, violence and bullying were rife. If you were lucky enough to get in the top stream then you could do well and go on to uni. I managed this. If you were in any other stream, teaching was poor, kids had no interest in learning and you stood no chance. I mostly hated the experience. My kids went to private school and that was a lot better. I have to say I don't think private education should be necessary. State schools should be brought up to the same standard as private.

I passed my 11+ and automatically went to the local grammar. For the exam, I remember having to learn the difference between grammar and grammer (the latter is a proper noun) along with principle and principal, and the one I always found difficult: practice and practise (verb v noun). Anyway, it meant I received an education that was superior to that of my two siblings. I then went to university, which was considered a natural progression. In contrast, my siblings went to the local Secondary Modern. My brother and sister still bring this up, as something that was unfair. And now, I break the rules of grammar, innit. All the time!

Thanks Shirley Williams, for giving us comprehensives, never attended one and made damn sure her daughter didn't too. The true hypocrisy of some Socialists.

I enjoyed comprehensive school in the 1980s. I got 9 GCSE and 3 a-levels and later did a great degree and got a load of good jobs.

Went to comprehensive school in the 1970s for a short time. Standards were awful. There were kids in the class who just didn't want to learn and continually disrupted the class for everyone else. Then changed to a grammar school and the change was like night and day. People actually wanted to learn and there was much more discipline.

Quality teaching is everything. I should have excelled in English, French, and German (the subjects I enjoyed), but an unruly class made concentration very difficult. In subjects Maths, Geography, and History where expected to struggle, turned out highly successful due to strong, disciplined teaching.

I had the misfortune of attending a large comprehensive in Wales in 1975. I spent 5 unhappy and disastrous years there. I’d have received a better education alone in an igloo.

I took an instant like to Headmaster Jack Schofield. Great analysis, no bullshit and he clearly has a warm place in his heart for the community he serves.

I went to a very mediocre primary school in the 1970s. We had no science lab nor science education. I can say that I learned almost nothing except how to read and write. There were no after school clubs, no homework set, no help for the educationally "challenged" nor for the brighter students. My abiding memory is of one class teacher so terrifying one student that he wet himself.

The streaming system in Grammar schools ensured that the children of lesser ability were given fewer opportunities compared to the children in the top stream. The Eleven Plus exam was merely the first of a selection process in education at the time.

As a boy I learnt to sew at Secondary school, a great skill to have. A year later Grange Hill would air on the BBC, portraying Secondary School life that was relatable to my school years😊😊

The comps were brought in by Labour, and the trendy lefty teachers were to blame for the shambolic standards of learning. I went to a secondary modern and was in top set for all subjects and came out with good O levels because I wanted to prove the teachers wrong. . The majority of teachers, male and female, were vicious psychos who thrashed us for nowt and viewed us all as just factory fodder. I got an apprenticeship as a draughtsman in an engineering company and loved it. Today's standard of education in the UK has been dumbed down so much that qualifications are virtually worthless

Part of my school was burnt down coming up to my final year. We had to 3 or 4 days a week before our exams. I don't remember anyone at the time crying out that this would effect our final results. It's not as though the pupils were going to worry about it at the time. What I do find strange is that I don't remember any parents taking up the issue ,it seems to have been just accepted.

At 8:19 on the video that's my old headmaster Mr Schofield from Spurley Hey High School Gorton Manchester.

I went to a comprehensive in the 70’s... we were all heavily streamed, so all the idealistic mixed ability ethos meant didly squat.

All children deserve a good education, the best way to achieve that is to have grammar schools where poor working class kids get a real chance to reach their full potential

I went to three different secondary moderns due to moving house, in the sixties/seventies. The clue is in the name Secondary. The difference in teaching between the secondary schools and the grammar schools was immense. Our teachers were purely 9 to 5 and didn’t care. I had friends in Grammar schools. Their experiences were so much better than ours. The girls were far more attractive, not always in looks but in terms of manners, deportment, social skills. It was obvious we were factory fodder and the grammar school produced managers. It is the old and established double standards. It was apparent that in the main, the grammar school students had more support and encouragement from parents than perhaps we did. I made out ok in the end, I only have myself to blame for not optimising my education, I accept that. Aspects of bullying, abuse was horrendous. The grammar schools had it too but it was less severe and was dealt with. In many cases, particularly in the inner city school I attended, the teachers were sychopaths and were absolutely brutal. Like most of the secondary educated , I grew up hoping I would meet up with those bastards again and deal out some punishment of my own. Luckily I matured enough to control these emotions.

I went to Comprehensive school in SE London , and hated every minute , the classes were too big so Teachers had less time to spend with kids who were not as bright as others , myself included . Having to Homework was a burden that should not have been put on kids at such a early stage in our lives . Also there were also kids that were always disruptive in the classes

i had cane 37 times because i woudnt snitch. i never once read a book at school. teaching in the 70s was a complete joke.

Comprehensives were heavily "banded" (streamed). Usually 5 or so bands per year. We had a "north" band - 2 classes (usually set 1 or 2 maths/English) and three "south bands" (usually sets 2 to 5). In short - streaming. The top 2 bands effectively grammar in all but name. The bottom 3 bands - effectively a secondary modern. No one from the south band stayed on at 6th form except to re-sit GCSE Maths and/or English. The system was a fudge. With little movement from south band upwards (maybe 2 to 3 pupils). Comprehensives seemed to foster existing differences rather than any real social mobility.

Having grown up in Scotland during the 1980’s-1990’s I can’t say I experienced much of this. However, I now live in England and my child goes to school here. I find the English system very odd…they seems to be constantly fiddling with it to no avail, and that’s the kind way of saying it. It’s actually more like the education system are throwing ideas at the wall randomly and seeing what sticks.

I went to a comprehensive school in the north east and loved it. The classes where split into 6 groups A-F for English and other subjects,A being the top set and 1-6 for maths. Each year the top /bottom 3 pupils were promoted or relegated depending on percentages of their end of year exams

Our comp in northern England was opened by Wilson no less. If you were a visitor you would be shown all the facilities and the classes where the children were working. I wasted 7 yrs of my life there often bored, bullied and definitely not being educated as many of the teachers could not keep us inspired/working. My wife attended the same school then she went to a grammar school to live with her dad. The same school Laurel from Laurel and Hardy attended. She had been the bright child in our school, she was now struggling with the high level of education her new school provided as standard. For many years I assumed those who ran the country didn't know how bad some comps were now I believe they want the lower orders kept in their place. PS Several yrs later the grammar school became a comp and the standards collapsed. I hear a pupil burnt down one of the main school buildings. Our comp, built in the '60s was demolished and left for several yrs as piles of bricks!

Attended a comprehensive school 2000-2005 DESPISED every minute of it.

I started comp in 79. Expelled in 82 and started reform school. That's where my education started.

School was terrible for me freezing 🥶 in winter in some portacabin, I think it was New Labour that invested heavily in Schools but I had finished by then, the Schools are so much better today.

1:53. makes a very interesting point

I was in the first comprehensive intake in 1970 for what was previously a secondary modern(Lower scholl). After 3 years we moved up to what was the old Grammar school (Upper School and 6th form). The lower school didnt know how to teach clever kids and by the time we got to the upper school the clever kids couldn't or wouldn't put in the same effort as previous Grammer school kids had done in earlier years.

Many who support mixing of students of all standards of the behaviour have an axe to grind with successful people and are dedicated to making life more difficult for those successful people

Shower of Bastards at my Grammar Shool in the 70's failed me completely , used to take me out of assembly because i didnt have the correct uniform on was informed that in my final year they werent allowing me to take any exams because my attendance wasnt up to scratch, still proved them wrong and run my own succesful business, but aged 58 still bitter...

I was forced to go to a comprehensive school despite passing the exam for grammar school. The school I had to go was a disaster for teaching, size and goals. Hated every minute of the day there. They pulled it down eventually because it was cheap nasty building. My biology book was from 1963, that was the year I was born and went there in 1974. The teachers at my school were the worst of the worst, except for my history teacher. i failed because i did not like the school system. I moved to Sweden in the 80s, speak four languages now and have a doctorate in medieval history. so Britain failed me in the worst way possible and I have never forgiven the government in the UK for that.

3:17 "Rock on Tommy!!"

I never had a problem with my school in NW London. Yes they were large but a lot depends on the teachers and kids.

I was 13 in 1977, so this film is very familiar to me. The bit that struck me the most is at 4:15 - This poor girl would be expelled nowadays for lack of PPE, not to mention using a sharp chisel without supervision!

When British education was still victorian in many ways but it was amongst the best. Produced very intelligent and educated people unlike now.

Prof Maurice Peston at 1:02 is Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery. Where is Felicity Shagwell? He is a man of mystery as he was educated at two grammar schools, that got him to where he was. One turned into a mediocre comprehensive in the west of Bradford, the other in Hackney turned comprehensive and had to close in 1989 due to terrible results and chaotic classrooms.

Maurice Peston is father of Robert Peston. Maurice s ideologies led to the holding back of many decent students, culminating in them having their education diluted and spending time with teachers and students with bad habits which is always a negative thing

Hah! I went to a Comprehensive and was mentally abused by the teachers, even so I got a 99% result in a math exam and was told "the only reason I didn't get 100% was that nobody got 100%" I wasn't congratulated or told "well done", 30 years later I was diagnosed with Aspergers, Comprehensive totally failed me

Quality of staff plus the support and aspirations of parents will always govern the success of any pupil or school more than any system. Fortunately went to an excellent Comp. which seemed to work well across ability streams . The head of the Manchester Comp. featured compares very favourably with the Rt. Hon. Gavin Williamson.

Much simpler times.

Having attended Grange Hill, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. You had to avoid Gripper and say 'No' to Zammo but other than that.

I left school in 1978 with one cse, in art. Did the system fail me?

The Headmaster at Spurley has a brilliant accent. Although the school is in Manchester he is probably from one of the central Lancashire cotton towns.

Brian could make a documentary about how paint dries and it would be entertaining 😊

As a early generation x'er who went to a comprehensive school from 78 to 83 they were basically still the same comprehensive schools as the boomers went to back in the 60s and 70s

I was just about to sit my 11+ when it changed to the comprehesive system, I have two older brothers, One went to grammar school the other to secondary modern, So between us we had all three educational systems between us, I was the unlucky one, The grammar school educated brother got a good education that set him up for white collar work and he did very well joining the Inland Revenue at the highest grade after college and his A levels, The other brother who went to secondary modern got an education that set him up for blue collar work and he did well as an electrician earing good wages all his life, His school had a machine shop with metal turning lathes, milling machines, horizontal boring machines, the stuff you would find in a ship yard or a fabrication works, Also welding equipment and a fully equipped woodwork room along with expert painting and decorating courses, So you could wallpaper and paint to city & guilds standards at 14. My education was a joke in comparison and it did nothing to prepare me for the workplace, The comprehensive system gave me the worst of the two previous systems and removed all the benefits that they provided, The comprehensive system might have improved since 1972 but I doubt it, The comprehensive system set the bar so low I did not attend school for the last two years and did no revising at all for my GCE/CSE exams and I passed them all easily. On a personnel note some of my teachers were so sick of the job they actually to told me they hated teaching me "this useless information" and wished the old system was still in place, Take history, at the time the British were at war in northern Ireland, Not one word of Irish history and politics was I taught, Nothing at all, It was like Northern Ireland did not exist, Instead I got a glossed over history of the Romans in Britain, They had flushing toilets and underfloor heating, yawn-yawn. There was a world map on the wall and the British Empire was coloured pink but it was never explained to how it became pink (mixing Red & White would have been the answer) It was pink and that's all I needed to know, The class sizes were roughly 40 and the teachers seemed to be constantly filling in forms and doing quarterly assessments and the clerical work that was needed to access your progression through the rigidly applied curriculum and not actually teaching. I only spoke to the careers teacher one time and you do not want to hear what he said to me, He was retiring from teaching soon after 40 years as a Grammar school teacher and never got the hang of the comprehensive system, He used to teach Latin and was kept on so he could get a full pension, He would wander around the corridores mumbling insults in Latin to pupils, he was lost and confused, So we did have something in common. . . On a positive note the school I went to now has 570 instead of the 1000 pupils when I attended, 5 schools fed in to it and it was crowded, Bussing kids in from miles away. It was chaotic at best often violent and apathy on both sides (staff & pupils) was the norm, Some of the violence teachers used was extreme. Using brass tipped canes, Leather belts, Wood lats, they all had their own object of torture, At one morning assembly I was lashed for wearing red socks and I had to take them off and walk around all day with no socks on wearing stiff leather brogues (OK that's a stupid thing to mention but I think its a good example as to what was important to these Teachers) On another occasion a teacher punched me in face about 10 times as he held me by my hair from behind, kicking me as I lay on the floor, He dragged me along a 100 yard corridor by my hair to his office for more beatings in private, Some girls I knew started to kick and bang on the door as they looked through the small window in the door, When the teacher went to tell them to go away I opened the window and jumped out of it, That was me and school finished, I was just after my 14th birthday and I weighed 6 stone, The teacher was 40 and 12 stone. ( I later found out that the beating was pre-arranged by 2 teachers and a classmate, G.O.) I hated that school and when I drive past it now I laugh at the picture of me climbing out that window and running off across the school field and jumping the fence to freedom at the cricket nets as I stuck up two fingers and shouted "F***k off" as the teacher screamed "come back here boy at take your punishment like a man" After a few weeks the wag-wife came to my house pleading with me to go back, (The Teacher sends his apologies I was told, NOT ACCEPTED especially from someone else) I told her "no chance, its over, go away and don't come back" she left saying something about my parents might have to go to court (I nearly lost it at that point) She never came back, so passing my exams was a great feeling. . .They tried everything to de-educate me, One thing that happened to me and possibly no other person ever, Teachers beat and lashed me for what I did when not at school, evening times and weekends and during the summer break, I lived 4 miles from school and thought what I did on my time had nothing to do with them, But they said it did. .Sorry for the long comment but your education is so important it can't be a one-line comment

Was it ever sunny in the 70s in England?

The oddest part of my Comprehensive School Education is i can never remember mine or anybody else`s name being called out at morning or afternoon registration. Other incident`s yes involving choice of options in my 3rd year,School trips and new friends but the necessary everyday mark of my excellent attendance still evaded`s my logic.

Jesus, what a HSE nightmare those labs were. No labcoats, no safety specs, bottles of what appears to be acid on the table. Asbestos mats, children climbing on chairs to pour solvents into tall funnels etc etc. Those were the days Lol..I started secondary school in 1980 and even we had to wear lab coats and specs.

11:47 girl wearing a 'Barbarella' jacket! But the pleated front one. We all used to wear them (around here, anyway) 😁 Haven't seen any on vintage sites, but they were ubiquitous. Our school changed from 2ndry mod to comp in 'my year'. Disaster. Teachers tried to teach 2 syllabuses to cover their own backs, both GCSE and 'o' level...results abysmal. Only half a doz stayed for the new 6th form. What used to happen was after the 2nd year kids were picked to go to the grammar. There was always a reserve list. In my case, me, and a mate missed out, as although quite a few opted to stay, there was no reserve list.

So if I’ve got this right, kids at “secondary modern” schools left school at 16? 😳 Or was there a way to still get into sixth form/further education?

in the 1960's i went to a secondry modern and it was great for boys ,then in my 4th year it went comprehensive and the standards fell

Any one who calls themselves a socialist should send their children to a comprehensive not a grammar or public school. Corbyn and Chakrabati spring to mind. The teachers from the 1970s were open and frank about education. Nowadays they all talk “political correctness “ and moan about funding. I went to a mixed comprehensive and then at 14 ended up at a secondary modern boys school - the differences in teachers and resources were evident. Our Education system is still rubbish today unless you have money.

Painful viewing, I was totally failed by the education system, thankfully my saviour was the military and the finest.

i went to Grammar school and left in the mid 90s, it went nursery, little school, middle school then Grammar and some stayed for Sixth form but i went to collage...it was just a normal school and not like alot of people used to thing Grammar schools were....for the brainy lol or that they were POSH We had prefect's in our middle school, everyone was either blue, yellow or red and each TEAM i will call it would get its own Prefect's which was usually the few toffee nose's that were in school, when sports day came we all played for our own team/colours and then the team/colour with the most wins...won

I went to a secondary modern in the 70s it was nothing more than a dumping ground for those that failed the 11 plus. Some teachers were very good and really cared but most 95% had no interest in teaching. Grammar schools and the selective system should be abolished !!!! Every child should have the same opportunity!

Note how they describe the levels of ability. The bright ones, the dull ones and those in between.

My story is a bit different. I started drinking when I was 13 I haven't stopped since. Cheers

Mind-blowing to think the young woman at the beginning of the video must now be around 70!

2021 and the same issues still prevail in the main.

Can someone tell me what "Special Diploma" during 1970s means.

10:10 A lad stood on a rickety stool, pouring chemicals? Health and safety would have a seizure if they saw that now. What was the teacher thinking?

People talking properly without putting on a stupid ‘ look at me I’m suffering from metal health ‘ street gangsta accent.

dullest 🤣 jesus wept i went to a comprehensive that was a girls’ grammar two years before i joined, and it basically had the same staff. it was excellent, and rebuilt whilst i was there. a really good school all round i probably wouldn’t have passed the 11 plus, but i ended up with 3 A levels. go figure i’m glad i was too young to experience secondary modern, that was a lucky escape

Imagine them trying to teach us gender inclusion studies back then? rotfl

The percentage of state educated kids getting into Oxbridge has dropped massively since the 1960s. Now kids from the state system are put off the idea of applying because of the higher proportion of privately educated getting in. I'm struck by the decency and honesty of the interviewees - with possible exception of Peston who seems ideologically committed to the comp system.

Going to a quite appauling comprehensive school in the 1970s (where a young female teacher was expected to put up with young hands wandering up her mini skirt) I remember parents of a boy refused to send him there any longer, the council and police raided their home and the boy was arrested in the bath and slung in an approved school full of criminals.

I think it depended very much where the comprehensive schools were geographically. If they were in already rundown inner city areas where there was already and atmosphere of decay, hopelessness and a feeling that you “couldn’t escape the lot that life had dealt you and that was where you’d stay forever”….then the schools were terrible too. I grew up in such an area in South London in the 70s and all my close friends ended up going to those Comprehensive Schools….and never got much from them. I was fortunate enough to be bright enough to win a place, under the old Direct Grant system, to a much better school (now fully private) in South London. In the end, I didn’t do that well in my A-levels. But, the school taught me a self-discipline and self-expectation to try again and again and never give up. I ended up qualifying as a Dentist and then later as a Medical Doctor and having a career as a Surgeon in the NHS. I was the first person from my street to even go to University. My kids grew up in rural Shropshire and went to the local state Comprehensive which was very good and all three of them did very well and went to University. Two of them got Masters degrees in Engineering and Economics respectively. So, the concept of Comprehensive Schools isn’t flawed; it was the reality of how they were actioned in the wider social context that caused many to fail their pupils.

More people stayed on to sixth form in comprehensive schools coinciding with a lowering of the goal post and eventual scrapping of O-level standards. Go to Germany, Switzerland or Singapore, to see examples of selective and successful educational institutions for children.

British social engineering and indoctrination

I think these schools mostly did the best job possible, remember a lot of these pupils had a lot hidden problems at home with Mum and Dad, there not really in the best frame of mind for an education, but least most of em got the basics , reading , writing, and maths!

I went to Grammer,secondary and comprehensive schools from 1971 to 1977, bloody awful! Bullying, theft, absence, lefty teachers(corduroy jackets,jeans,flares,sometimes sandals). I detested school, having spoken to many of my old classmates over the years, they felt the same. I was often in trouble for fighting, in the 1960s-70s the authorities were implementing a policy of integrating disabled kids into mainstream education. Downs syndrome, autism,kids with thalidomide and others were picked on remorselessly, beaten up by packs,sucker punched,kicked by moronic bullies. I always ended up standing up for them or fighting the bullies. I was always the protaganist when teachers were complained to.

They had to get rid of grammar schools. The children from grammars schools competed with the privately educated for good jobs. This was unacceptable as the lower classes had to be kept in their place

“Hey, teacher! Leave those kids alone!”

i also went to comp 79-84 never learnt anything spent most time bunking of hated it turned out I have dyslexia now have 2 degrees speak 3 languages and just started my masters

Oh look its Maurice Peston on there, Robert Peston's father

2:17 That's the point. All these people went to the same school. They all think alike. Is it any wonder the decisions they make are uniformly awful?

3:19 Crikey, it’s Captain Darling! I have often wondered what happened to the poor chap after he left General Melchett’s staff at the end of the Great War

What are Comprehensive schools, we don't have those or Grammar schools in Ireland, ours are secondary schools , which we attend until 18, don't have the the O or A level system either, junior and leaving cert exams

That’s Robert Peston’s dad around 1:08

My mum is in this and she has only seen it today :D

Me, an American, seeing the comments about where they go and how they work Not knowing anything at all:")

Look out for Robert Peston's Dad in this video, he has similar mannerisms.

Well from 6:44 they discuss whether bright students from working class homes can do well, with the answer "I think not". I would like to think that I am evidence against this. I was from a lower working class family,, with a single parent, and I attended a comprehensive school, between 87-91. I went on to not only work towards a B.Sc. (Hons) in biology, and I also hold an MSc in Evolutionary biology, and a PGCE in biology, and currently work as a science teacher. I think Prof. Cox was being a little dismissive of students from working class families.

I was one of those kids at Glossop Comp Mr Bottomly top head..