Joan Bakewell rightly praises the 1944 Education Act for establishing free secondary education (VE Day was the spark for change. Coronavirus could be too, 8 May), thus giving her the opportunity to study at a Stockport grammar school. Oddly though, she says the 11-plus exam “split educational options”. There was no grammar school option for those who “failed” the 11-plus. I wonder if the children whose self-esteem took a tumble felt they were part of a “more equitable society”. How wonderful then that another former Stockport pupil, Angela Rayner MP, has achieved positions on opposition frontbenches with qualifications not from Oxbridge, but a further education college.
Paul Tattam
Chinley, Derbyshire
• Lady Bakewell appears to laud the introduction of grammar schools through the Education Act without acknowledging how they inadvertently created a new division in society. Successive governments’ failure to invest in technical education through the same legislation meant that working-class children who did not pass the 11-plus were left with the inferior option of secondary modern schools. The consequences were long-lasting.
John Webster
London
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