British Vision Issue 61 拒绝不平等待遇

Margaret Thatcher¹, Ted² Heath, John Major, not only grammar school-educated themselves, but staunch supporters of academic selection.

At the last election, Michael Howard promised they'd thrive. But today the Conservatives, led by Esion-educated David Cameron, turned its back on grammar schools, claiming that selecting children at eleven is unfair to poorer families.

Their education spokesman David Willetts said existing grammar schools would not close. But the party will promote more academy schools as a better way of promoting gifted poorer pupils, but as James Blake reports, the policy changes upset some of the party's traditional supporters.

For years, for generations even, grammar schools have been the central plank³ in Conservative education policy.

Wherever parents want to have grammar schools, doctrinaire⁴ labour councils, will not be able to stand in the way.

The basic philosophy here, selection raises standards.

But I, we believe in choice and I exercise that choice on behalf of my children.

This freedom to choose grammar schools came up again in the latest leadership contest.

But allows people to choose the sort of education they want.

But nowall that has been abandoned, according to new conservative ideology⁵, grammar schools deepen the divisions between rich and poor, but David Cameron risks alienating⁶ his core support here. In recent survey of grassroots Conservatives, 73% said they back selection.

"If we believe in choice and localism, why don't we say that, if a group of social entrepreneur has it in the city,a group of parents won't set up a grammar school to lift the education standard in the city, why can't they? Why weare rude at saying that we have the party diversity in localism and choices? And ruling out new grammar schools is inconsistent with our principles.

Instead the Conservative front bench has surprised many of its own Mps, by supporting Labour's city academy scheme. It's proved controversial, because private companies, organizations, and religious groups can gain some control of schools, with a 2-million-pound investment.

When I look at the evidence about where children from poor backgrounds get the best education opportunities, it's clear to me that it's our city technology colleges and Tony Blair's academies funding all of them, which do far better providing a high-quality education for children from poor backgrounds, regardless of income of your parents. That's what we got to extend.

In fact, the Conservatives seem more enthusiastic about Labour's policy than the government itself. The Education Secretary Alan Johnson says he now wants to limit the number of city academies.

Despite the private investment, each city academy cost the government about 25 million pounds. And yet the Conservatives now claim they'll open more academies than Labour under Gordon Brown, James Blake's reporting on.

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1.staunch:adj. loyal, steadfast⁷; strong, solid, sturdy; steadfast, unwavering (also stanch)

2.plank:n. political platform 政纲条款

1 thatcher   

n.茅屋匠

参考例句：

• Tom Sawyer was in the skiff that bore Judge Thatcher. 汤姆 - 索亚和撒切尔法官同乘一条小艇。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险
• Mrs. Thatcher was almost crazed; and Aunt Polly, also. 撒切尔夫人几乎神经失常，还有波莉姨妈也是。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险

2 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

3 plank   

n.板条，木板，政策要点，政纲条目

参考例句：

• The plank was set against the wall.木板靠着墙壁。
• They intend to win the next election on the plank of developing trade.他们想以发展贸易的纲领来赢得下次选举。

4 doctrinaire   

adj.空论的

参考例句：

• The continuing debate between government and the press has not been much advanced by doctrinaire arguments.政府和新闻界之间不停的辩论，并没有因一些空洞的观点而有所进展。
• He is firm but not doctrinaire.他很坚定但并不教条。

5 ideology   

n.意识形态，(政治或社会的)思想意识

参考例句：

• The ideology has great influence in the world.这种思想体系在世界上有很大的影响。
• The ideal is to strike a medium between ideology and inspiration.我的理想是在意识思想和灵感鼓动之间找到一个折衷。

6 alienating   

v.使疏远( alienate的现在分词 )；使不友好；转让；让渡（财产等）

参考例句：

• The phenomena of alienation are widespread. Sports are also alienating. 异化现象普遍存在，体育运动也不例外。 来自互联网
• How can you appeal to them without alienating the mainstream crowd? 你是怎么在不疏忽主流玩家的情况下吸引住他们呢？ 来自互联网

7 steadfast   

adj.固定的，不变的，不动摇的；忠实的；坚贞不移的

参考例句：

• Her steadfast belief never left her for one moment.她坚定的信仰从未动摇过。
• He succeeded in his studies by dint of steadfast application.由于坚持不懈的努力他获得了学业上的成功。