Países diferentes, o mesmo truque

• «Religious proselytisers crowed with glee when the latest primary school league tables were published. They showed a 22% per cent rise (from 44% to 66%) in the number of "faith schools" in the top 200 best performers. The Church immediately claimed that this was due to their "religious ethos". But independent research has shown that in almost all cases, the success is due to the grossly biased entry criteria that such schools can deploy. Many "faith schools" are filled with middle-class children, whose parents are prepared to jump through the hoops the church sets for them to get a place. The children from less wealthy families living nearby, whose parents cannot play this dishonest game, are severely disadvantaged by this system. And what the myth-makers forget to tell you is that "faith schools" performed much less well in an alternative league table that took account of deprivation, special needs and children speaking English as a second language. When measured by those standards, just 30 of the top 200 places on the "contextual value-added" measure went to religious schools.» (Recebido por correio electrónico da National Secular Society.)

A selecção sócio-económica é o segredo dos resultados da escola privada. No Reino Unido ou em Portugal.