The eleven plus is quite a complicated examination. There
are the desires of parents, the ambitions of the school and the goals of
children. Some parents may even feel a need to shrink at the very thought of
trying to help their child embark on such a winding path.
The first thing that parents need is information. They need
to know about books, materials, teachers, tutors and the thoughts and feeling
of other parents. The raw as well as the potential ability of their child is
also a major factor. Parents also need to know about the pass rates in their
present school, the entry requirements of the examination and the attitude of
the school’s head and staff at school.
The eleven plus has a form of jargon of its own. Parents are
not only involved with reasoning , for example, but also with the different
types of verbal and non-verbal reasoning. As the eleven plus journey develops
some parents may find that some of their friends become a little less
communicative about some aspects of the eleven plus. The examination is a
competition. Only the best and the brave will pass.
A man called Roger Ascham (1515-68) believed that children
should be drawn to learning by gentle methods and not compelled to it by
bullying.
Today, some parents may hope that their children are drawn
to the eleven plus by a genuine desire for learning – and are not driven to it
by didactic bullying.
