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This paper presents an historical and statistical analysis of the pre-professional education of officers of various sectors and levels of the British Army between 1800 and 1971. 'Four eras' in the evolution of educational selectivity in the army commissioning system are identified: 1800-1849---educational criteria irrelevant; 1849-I 870-partial educational selectivity; 1870-1939-examination-dominated selection; 1941 onwards- `scientific' selection. In the light of this historical pattern, it was anticipated that the officer corps would show a heavy dependence on the elite sector of education, although also, over time, a reduction in this dependence. Examination of figures for membership of Woolwich (1855-1939), of Sandhurst (1890-1967), of the army elite (1870-1971), and of the officer corps as a whole (1969) verified these predictions. Officership proves to have been a virtual monopoly of the public schools-amongst whom the major boarding schools were predominant at least up to the Second World War, and even since then public school boys have predominated at every level of the army until quite recently. However, it is also clear that an irreversible decline in the role of the public schools has now set in, and that state sector schools are now taking over the major role in the supply of new officers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of the relation between family structure and achievement have found that parental dominance is negatively related to the desire to achieve and to scholastic progress. As a test of the effects of parental dominance on the development of achievement potential, the association between perceived parent-adolescent relations and the likelihood of reaching secondary school was investigated in a secondary analysis of data from approximately 1,000 interviewees ages 18 and over in the U.S., Great Britain, West Germany, Italy, and Mexico. Parental dominance in adolescence was negatively associated with the probability of reaching secondary school in all five nations. Size of birthplace, religion, and social class were also associated with educational achievement, but parental dominance retained its effects even when these variables were controlled, except under conditions indicating a lack of educational opportunity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the decision of the Great Britain government to implement a policy of secondary education which is influenced by the needs of students who plan to go on to higher education. The introduction of secondary education raised the school leaving age to 15, with the proviso that it establish a break at the age of eleven between primary and secondary education.

The article presents a study on the substitution of games performance for academic achievement as a means of achieving status among secondary school children. The present study relates to an inquiry made in 4 schools in North-West England. In an educational system which is highly academic and competitive the rewards for scholastic success enhance a students ego and the regard in which he is held by his contemporaries, his teachers and his social group. When the students scholastic achievement is below average or amounts to failure then this source of reinforcement for his ego and personal status is no longer available. One way the individual can adjust to this situation is to find another acceptable activity by which he can gain the necessary approbation. When another non-academic school activity is held in some regard by staff and pupils, it could be argued that students who failed to achieve success in, and thereby status from their academic attainment might be highly motivated to achieve a high level of performance in this second activity. Across the Great Britain's academically orientated educational system is the traditional high regard for games and sportsmen.

In a much discussed book, sociologist R. Pedley puts forward the view that the sixth forms of maintained grammar schools are the weakest link in the English education system. Their inefficiency is a result of their small size. Sociologist R.C. Oldfield has produced statistical evidence to show that small schools actually do significantly better than big ones. He shows that, although large schools naturally tend to get more awards than small, when the size of school is taken into account there is a significant tendency for small schools to obtain more awards per 1,000 boys than large schools. This article presents a study to examine the relation between educational achievement and school size. Findings of he study seem to show that Pedley is right in his view that the small schools are not producing such good results as the large. They show also that this tendency becomes more marked with higher levels of academic attainment. The better achievements of large schools are most evident in university awards and are markedly present in distinctions at advanced level. In passes and failures at advanced and ordinary levels the differences are less striking. However, it is not at all obvious from the results that Pedley is right in attributing the superiority of the big school to its large sixth form as such.