Will writing ever came back to mean something in the world
of the eleven plus?
The earliest kind of writing was done by carving ideographs
or pictures, each representing an idea, on stone, bone or any other hard
material. As far as we know this form of writing has been inexistence for
thousands of years.
The Assyrians and Egyptians used cuneiform and hieroglyphic writing
but when man started using papyrus then writing became easier. Many of the present
European alphabets were derived from the Phoenicians. In time capital letters
were used and cursive writing spread over Europe. Steel pens supplanted quill
pens – and, in time, more and more people learnt to write.
The biro then made a big impact on writing. Our next door
neighbour in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, was Baron Hercules Robinson who lived,
with his wife Janet, next door to us. `Herkey’, as he was known, `won’ the
agency for biros for large parts of Southern Africa. He was also very good at backgammon
and bridge. We were told that he made more money playing bridge than he did as
a regular worker! He inherited a castle up in Scotland from his Aunt – and then
had to work very hard to develop and maintain the castle. Culcreuch Castle is near
Fintry in Stirlingshire.
When I watched a child pick up a biro pen today to work on
some eleven plus work – I suddenly thought of the Robinsons and how their dog
used to fight with our dog. Will any of today’s eleven plus children end up as
Barons and Baronesses? Will any eleven plus children make more money playing
bridge than working for a living? Can a child be successful even if he or she
does not pass the eleven plus?
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