State comprehensives; are they really that bad?

[Spacecadet]

Meanwhile, we were placed in a different set for every subject twice a year. You could be in the top (of 6) sets in one subject, in the bottom for another and so on. Hence you would be pushed in the subjects you were good at but helped in those you were crap it. There was no shame in being in a bottom set for something; you would be in higher sets for other subjects. There was also no arrogance from being in a top set; I don't think anybody would have been in the top set for all their subjects. (There may have been a few, but I cannot recall any.) As a result, we all got better grades in every subject.

Thats how it worked at the comp. I went to.
A few of us were in the top set for all streamed subjects but with the size of the school there were only 4 sets not 6.

[BlasterBates]

Yes I went to a comp., never heard of streams. You were put in sets. The only things you did together were things like PE. Generally the trouble makers didn't turn up to school at all.

[EternalOptimist]

I went to a comp and it was a little rough, but all the real troublemakers were hived off into an 'annexe'
One of the two lads who went to the grammer was sent to us after a year because he couldn't cope.

I ended up working with the other grammar lad and he was ok, no great shakes though, and he got left waayy behind once I moved into contracting

[Churchill]

I went to a Comp also, it had been a Grammar School 2 years previously hence we had a lot of the ex-Grammar School teachers, along with their ability to beat the pupils.

Hey, getting the strap on occasion didn't do me any harm, it taught me that violence is the answer!

[TheFaQQer]

So tell me, if you went to a comp, how was it? Would you send your kids to the same school?

I went to an independent, all boys school (apart from 6th form when girls were allowed in).

I'd never put my children through the same thing.

[conned tractor]

My comp was so bad that I was one of the top students with very average grades. Picked it up later on though and didn't do too badly in the end.

Some of the kids were just downright nasty and probably ended up in nick, or become wideboy gangsta types. They used to pick on one kid in particular and I remember once they got him pinned down on the bus and coloured his face in with permanent marker. He didn't come back to school for a while.

[DimPrawn]

I went to a comp and was hailed as a child prodigy.

Mainly because I was capable of putting my hand up when the register was called.

[Jog On]

Dunno - didn't go to one.

Sorry!

[Moscow Mule]

I went to a comp and was hailed as a child prodigy.

Mainly because I was capable of putting my hand up when the register was called.

Were you incapable of speech at school too?

[George Parr]

I think comprehensives have had a bad press because they happened to be introduced at the same time that teachers abdicated their duty to keep control of the class, rather than them being intrinsically bad.

I attended a mediocre one and despite being in the top sets for most subjects the disruption in the class was a major distraction.

My daughter is presently at a much better comp and is doing extremely well.

BTW my Mum went to a Grammar and my Dad to a Secondary Modern. I'd say that my Dad is a fair bit brighter than my Mum and has been for as long as I can remember.