Some children may find it interesting to be interviewed as
part of a wider eleven plus selection process. Other children may approach the
whole experience with horror and fear. Whole industries could grow up helping
children to present themselves.
Children would have to learn the term `self-marketing’. The content of any courses would need to be
wide ranging. We all know about the interview where the candidate sits before a
panel. We also know about the `hot-seat’ interview. This is where there are six
or seven tables and each candidate has to slip into a chair and answer one or
two questions from six or seven different interviewers.
The children would need to know why they want to go to
grammar school.
A curriculum vitae would be essential. (Why I become a
brownie. How I would build a greener Britain.)
Some children may need mentors to help with interview
techniques
Publishers could churn out even more books with titles along
the lines of: `Fifty Interview Questions for the Eleven Plus’, or `How to Look
Your Eleven Plus Interviewer in the Eye’.
The personal statement would be interesting. (I want to go
to XXX Grammar School because the best riding school is only half a mile away.
My Mummy and Daddy say that I can stable my horse so that I can ride after
school. They have promised me a new horse if I pass the Eleven Plus. My less
fortunate friends will be able to ride my present horse – but not my new one.)
