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Thursday, May 05, 2011

Eleven Plus Food For Thought

The next time your child looks at you with astonishment in his eyes he may be thinking of the story of the eleven plus child who fell heavily for a local girl. She was not in his class at school but they were able to make regular contact. You may sigh and dream of young lovers but life is not always what it seems.

The boy, you see, came from a cannibal family. He asked his father if he could take his newly prospective girl friend home for dinner. His father, under the influence of too many eleven plus papers, said: “Not her, eat her Mother instead.”

As soon a child starts on a formal eleven plus course it is likely that parents may question his or her intellectual abilities. Eleven plus parents know that their child’s ability is going to be measured on ability and attainment tests. Some parents may even have opted for an additional test like an I.Q. test.

Parents will know from their own observations that intelligence or ability tests rely on far more than test scores when they are interpreted. An I.Q. test looks at intelligence, but can also give information about ability.

Family class status and the attitudes of parents must have some influence on determining a child’s eleven plus work. Some parents may want their child to over achieve to try to ensure that entry to a coveted school is guaranteed. Few parents will be pleased with an underachiever.

When the parents of ten year old children look at their off spring and wonder about their compatibility with members of the opposite sex, and worry if the young love is to have too big an impact on eleven plus preparations – they may also need to worry if they are to be eaten alive.

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