Will this happen to your child – or did it happen to you? In
1963 Musgrove wrote about the `Migratory Elite’. This title was drawn from the regular
migration of grammar school pupils from the home communities where they lived
to where they could find professional employment.
The other great treatise on grammar school leavers was
reported in Jackson and Marsden’s 1962 `Education and the Working Class’.
It was felt that pupils in `secondary modern’ schools would
be more likely to stay close their home routes.
The 1944 Education Act allowed the escape of children from
social and geographical bonds. A bright child from a rural community could be offered
a place in a local grammar school.
Taylor in 1963 showed that children used external
examinations to claim a right to a range of occupations.
Some children will find that a grammar school education will
offer higher job aspirations. Most
parents will hope that their children will aim as high as possible.
