Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

How different would you be if you had gone to a really rough inner city school?

shoz wrote:How different would you be if you had gone to a really rough inner city school?

Am I bovvvered?!!!

I wouldn't have gone to such a school.

I would have gone to the local grammar, come top of the class at all times and had a real shock (academic wise) when I went to Uni. I might not have got drunk so often though as I would have been drinking at home before I went.

On the other hand.....

I wouldnt of, I would have carried on at the very good local comprehnesive(certainly not a girls school) and then onto the local very good 6th form college! My Dad when moved public schools to teach at always went to ones where the state education was very good!

blondie95 wrote:I wouldnt of,

Perhaps you 'should of'......

It wouldn't have bothered me in the 50's.

Today ???????

One of my grand-daughters, who is sporty and wouldn't pick a fight with anyone has just had her left wrist double broken, (out of school, I add), by one of the school's female bullies. She now faces a long operation tomorrow where they will try and insert rods, and if this is not possible, she will have to have a plate inserted.

The Police, I hear you ask ?

Arrrr !! Very interesting. Because the attacker is JUST below the age of legal responsibility, they are trying to back-peddle ands play the whole thing down. We've managed to get the victims support organisation involved, and depending on what happens tomorrow, our family will consider further action, either by forcing the police to react rather than sit in a warm office and drink tea, or off our own backs and sod the consequences.

How would I fare at a secondary school today ?? Pretty well with an aluminium base-ball bat, methinks !

J.R. wrote:It wouldn't have bothered me in the 50's.

Today ???????

One of my grand-daughters, who is sporty and wouldn't pick a fight with anyone has just had her left wrist double broken, (out of school, I add), by one of the school's female bullies. She now faces a long operation tomorrow where they will try and insert rods, and if this is not possible, she will have to have a plate inserted.

The Police, I hear you ask ?

Arrrr !! Very interesting. Because the attacker is JUST below the age of legal responsibility, they are trying to back-peddle ands play the whole thing down. We've managed to get the victims support organisation involved, and depending on what happens tomorrow, our family will consider further action, either by forcing the police to react rather than sit in a warm office and drink tea, or off our own backs and sod the consequences.

How would I fare at a secondary school today ?? Pretty well with an aluminium base-ball bat, methinks !

Dreadful!

I hope the operation goes ok.

The galling thing is that if you were to exact some sort of justice, which you would only contemplate given society's apparent complete lack of interest in giving you justice, you would be more severely punished than the original perpetrator!

This country is going to the dogs and Law and Order will soon break down in certain areas if the police do not start protecting decent law abiding (unless not represented by the law) people rather than trying to nick those people for technical offences.

A few years ago my daughters' primary school was torched by known vandals who, from the accounts subsequently of frightened residents close by, were not quiet about what they were doing. 100 yards up the road FIVE policemen were hiding behind a wall trying to nick motorists with a speed gun. We're not talking about a schoolday when there would be some sense in having a police presence to slow traffic so why did they not attend and probably prevent the crime 100 yards away?

My view is that nicking a motorist is far easier for a copper and keeps his figures up but then I've become very cynical I'm afraid.

Sorry! I just feel so annoyed on JR's grandaughter's behalf!

shoz wrote:How different would you be if you had gone to a really rough inner city school?

I passed the 11+ and actually had a place at a local grammar school but got into CH instead.

That grammar school played Association Football rather than Rugby Union so the chances are that I would have drunk far less after matches and eaten many fewer curries through my late teens, twenties and early thirties!

J.R. wrote:It wouldn't have bothered me in the 50's.

Today ???????

One of my grand-daughters, who is sporty and wouldn't pick a fight with anyone has just had her left wrist double broken, (out of school, I add),

(inter alia by one of the school thugs.

Firstly, had I not gone to CH I would have been piut down for secoiondary school. I say that advisedly; only one pupil from my primary school ever passed the 11+ in its entire history.

In order to get to the secondary school (and grammer school) one had to take a ferry which started at 8.30am (9.00 am in winter) in order to catch the 7.30 am bus from the other side of the river to get to school. However, one could take the 7.30am bus direct which got one to school on time and even get the 4.30pm bus back - on Thursdays only. There were of course no facilities for boarding and none of the local familieas would have been able to afford the school uniforms in any case. Educashun - wot educashun?

As for dangers in schools, do the head teacher4s really care? IMHO some certainly don't.
We had a situation where, as pupils emerged they played chickem with the fast moving traffic on a main road outside the gates. I spoke to the headmaster who stated that because it was outside the school gates it was none of the schools responsibility either to the pupils nor to the neighbours nor to motorists what pupils did as they left the school. I should add that there have been fatalities in exactly that spot.

To answer recent criticism, it might be recalled that I had reason to institute a simple mathematics test for applicants for employment consisting of things like simple addition and subtraction. When the abysmal rate of success was raised with him, the local deputy headmaster was most indignant stating that it was for employers to teasch their employees, not schools and that we had no right nor authority to subject applicants to such a test.
It was not to his pupils advantage when we put that school on the blacklist.

I hope all goes well with your granddaughter, JR, and good luck with your attempts to get some sort of justice. A letter to the local paper, perhaps?

sejintenej wrote: Firstly, had I not gone to CH I would have been piut down for secoiondary school. I say that advisedly; only one pupil from my primary school ever passed the 11+ in its entire history.

Surely anyone who could pass the exams for CH would pass the 11plus?

shoz wrote:How different would you be if you had gone to a really rough inner city school?

I have a real problem with the question because I really can't work out whether there were "really rough inner city schools" in my youth.
I'm sure my experience and background is fairly similar to those of my generation who went to CH (late 50's/early 60's).
I was brought up on a South East London Council estate, the local secondary Mod was Eltham Green where Boy George went and the comprehensive was Crown Woods. Most of my contemporaries from my first primary school went to one or the other and when I have met them in later life, they seem typical South East Londoners. Nothing out of the ordinary.
Those from my second primary school either went to grammar schools such as Askes, Colfes etc. or Crown Woods and they are all pretty normal as well.
The only murderer from our estate who I knew was our doctor, (appropriately named Dr Bash) who was convicted of murdering his first wife and of attempting to murder his second, and he was certainly no product of the local schools.
My cousins went to secondary mods in Woolwich/Plumstead, all did well in life and one has just got the MBE.
Since I have lived abroad since 1973 I find it difficult to relate to many present day UK matters, but based on my experience, I'm not sure that these "famous" schools existed in my day.
They may well exist today, but let's face it, schools in the 60's were very different to schools today, so I fear that not many will be able to answer your query.

I would have become very naughty and a delinquent, probably. However, luck was on my side because I didn't live in an inner-city.

If we'd stayed in Kent, I would have gone to Kent College on a music scholarship which I was offered prior to CH. My Dad was fanatical about equal opportunities for girls and was very frustrated by the lack of good education for girls at that time if you weren't rolling in dosh and couldn't pay for it.

englishangel wrote:

sejintenej wrote: Firstly, had I not gone to CH I would have been piut down for secoiondary school. I say that advisedly; only one pupil from my primary school ever passed the 11+ in its entire history.

Surely anyone who could pass the exams for CH would pass the 11plus?

You're a bit younger than me. I took the CH "exam" when I was nine and had a bit of coaching beforehand; they were really only looking for healthy boys who could do the most basic adding and subtracting, knew their tables and could write their names.

sejintenej wrote:

englishangel wrote:

sejintenej wrote: Firstly, had I not gone to CH I would have been piut down for secoiondary school. I say that advisedly; only one pupil from my primary school ever passed the 11+ in its entire history.

Surely anyone who could pass the exams for CH would pass the 11plus?

You're a bit younger than me. I took the CH "exam" when I was nine and had a bit of coaching beforehand; they were really only looking for healthy boys who could do the most basic adding and subtracting, knew their tables and could write their names.

Sitting on top of my filing cabinet at home are some CH exam papers (God bless my Mum for never throwing much away), and I may just have our entrance exam questions among them.

Won't get home til about midnight (tough being a student again at my advanced age), but will try to remember to grab some for scanning and subsequent posting to the forum tomorrow.