Eleven Plus Status (18/01/09)

A host of factors come into play when we look at status. Most parents will want their children to attend a grammar school in the hope that, in time, their child will achieve a `satisfactory status’. Factors such as occupation, education, source of income, neighbourhood, house type and income will all come into play.

Many of us would love the idea of our children maintaining a lifestyle guaranteed by inherited income. (Especially if is our money and is not secured by a national lottery win.) If, sadly, you have had to continue to work for your living, then you will naturally hope that your child will go on to do well in life. How then will you measure your child’s success and status?

It is likely that the kind of home your thirty year old, ex grammar school child, lives in will give some indication of status.

The owner of two houses, both with fashionable addresses, must be top of the status list.

Having a lavish home in millionaire’s row will make you feel proud.

A good house with four or five bedrooms in a good neighbour hood must help.

Most us will be pretty happy in an `ordinary’ suburban home.

Of course we should judge people by far more than individual wealth but a successful ex grammar school pupil must be worth something.