The 1944 Butler Act introduced free and universal state education up to the age of 15. After an 11-Plus exam 20 per cent of children would be selected for grammar schools.
Boys study hard at a grammar school in Stratford, 1960s
© DEAN CONGER/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC/GETTY IMAGES
In 1949, John Prescott failed the 11-Plus: “I was going out with a girl when we did the exam. She got through and I didn’t. Our lives split and it gave me a great sense of failure. I can remember sending her a letter expressing my desire—love if you like, a young kid’s feelings—and she sent it back with the spelling mistakes corrected. That summed up the division. The message was that suddenly you are less than they are. It tends to leave you with an inferiority complex.”
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October 2016
 
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