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最近，英國新首相特蕾莎·梅 “建立更多文法學校(grammar schools)”的教育改革提案引起軒然大波。她主張開辦更多成績優良的公立中學，將良好的公立學校資源覆蓋到每個地區。其中文法學校屬於公立學校範疇，代表著公立學校的最高水平，所以擴張和建立新的文法學校是提案內容的重中之重。此言論一出，立馬引起英國政府和民間一片譁然。
那麼，文法學校究竟是“何方神聖”？又有哪些“過人之處”呢？為何文法學校在英國曆史上反覆成為眾矢之的，現又欲去而復返？
#Why is Theresa May setting new conditions for new and expanding grammar schools?#
For any new wave of grammar schools to be palatable to a broad section of MPs and peers, Mrs May has to tackle head-on claims that they have become the preserve of pushy, middle-class families. They need to become the engines of social mobility that they were once seen as.
Following the ban on new grammar schools in 1998, the fight for places, especially in areas where there are just one or two schools, has become more
intense. And this has led to wealthier families with the ability to pay for tutoring and preparation for the 11-plus exam -- a set of tests very different from the usual ones taken by primary pupils in England. Research suggests grammar schools have just 3% of pupils from very poor backgrounds -- those on the pupil premium who are basically from families in receipt of certain benefits or earning less than £16,000 a year. Nationally, 14% of pupils are in this category.Even the chairman of the National Grammar Schools Association, Robert McCartney, says: "They will have to introduce some conditions that will prevent these schools being swamped or swapped by families with money." Hence the new requirement for any new selective grammar school to take a proportion of disadvantaged pupils, establish a "high quality, non-selective free school", set up or sponsor a primary feeder school in a deprived area or sponsor an underperforming academy.
How are grammars currently trying to broaden their intake?
Grammar school heads have been talking to the Department for Education for some years about the ways in which they might do this. Of the 163 grammar schools in England, more than 70 are planning to give some form of priority to disadvantaged pupils from next year, says Jim Skinner of the Grammar School Heads Association. This year, it is about 30 schools. This is most likely to be through a quota system based on recent new rules allowing schools to give priority in admissions to children on the pupil premium.
The Schools of King Edward VI in Birmingham, a chain of five schools, has led the way, having just admitted its second cohort of pupils with a quota for children on the pupil premium.
- 詞彙短語
1.palatable: 美味的，可口的；（想法、方法等）合意的，可接受的
2.MP: Member of Parliament 議員
3.tackle: 處理，解決(難題或任務)
4.head-on: （衝突或手段）正面的，直接的，沒有妥協餘地的
5.pushy: 固執己見的；一意孤行的；愛出風頭的
6.ban: 禁令
7.intense: 強烈的;劇烈的;極度的
8.premium: 保險費、保險金
9.swamp: 沼澤、淹沒
10.feeder school: 直屬學校（學生畢業後大多進入本地區特定中學或高校）；對口學校
11.cohort: 一群人
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