Will any children ever have to put up with a regime that includes
involvement with `autokinetic movement’? This is where an eleven plus child
would be encouraged to focus on the apparent movement of a very small beam of
light. Can you imagine your child sitting in a darkened room apparently
watching a little light move round the room?
If your child could see the light in relation to an eleven
plus question you would be able to ask you child if he or she actually saw the
light moving.
An experiment, some years ago, asked subjects to say out loud
where and when they saw the light. It was found that after three or four
attempts the lights converged. In eleven plus terms this means that you would
sit with your child, in a darkened room, and talk where and when you saw the light.
Each of you would describe where the light was and its intensity.
Now the eleven plus is not about sitting in darkened rooms
and developing an illusion – but it is to do with how two or more people can
arrive at a consensus. If you, and your child, go over key questions a few
times, then each of you will be shaped and moulded by the experience.
You will be able to say: “Well we have done this before – I am
sure you can remember if you try.”
Your child will be able to say: “Yes we have done this twice
before. I remember now. We do it this way.”
You will be able to retire to your chair before the fire,
and murmur to yourself: “Thank heavens for autokinetic movement’. The revision
and consolidation really worked this time!”
