This seems a rather odd situation to an American observer, since separation of church and state requires that all religious schools be privately supported. If a religious group supports their own school, then of course they can say who they will and will not select based on faith. If it is a state-supported institution, then religious discrimination is not permitted. A hybrid system of providing government support to faith-based schools seems like it would create several problems, of which this issue is only one.

D.L. Anderson, Crossett, AR/U.S.A.

You secularists make me so angry with your presumptions and assertions of "divine" knowledge. You make proclaimations and declarations and expect everyone to think and behave the same as you. You are trying to turn this country into a monoculture. Devoid if individuality, critical thinking and spiritually impoverished. Just because YOU HAVE CHOSEN to deny your spirituality or follow gods of your own making you do not have the right to force your belief on others!
If parents want to send their children to faith school that is up to them.
If you TRULY want to allow children to make up their own minds on religion then you MUST teach them about religion... which IS indoctrination.
You indoctrinate your children with economic, behavioural, social, moral and scientific dogma daily but when it comes to religion or faith you simply want to stop or deny a child his/her right to learn and experience first hand.
Stop heaping your religious uncertainties and fears on innocent children.

Nathan, Invernes, UK

Typical - two left leaning Labour MPs knocking the middle classes and parents who only want the best for their children. Have they stopped to think WHY parents are opting for faith schools and doing everything they can to gain access for their children. Yes faith schools do provide a good edication and COE and RC schools do teach about other religions and about tolerance and respect. Why despise good education - it should be promoted as we all believe in providing the best for our children, that is except two Labour MPs.

Voters should also ask why John Austin enjoyed the trappings of middle class splendour travelling business class all around the world as Chairman of the Inter-Parliamentary Union staying in 5 star hotels and attending international conferences enjoying the hospitality of foreign parliaments and governments.

Michael, London,

It's utterly ridiculous that in a largely secular society, religious faiths should be allowed to carry on with a programme of indoctrination and brainwashing on small children. Let them make their own minds up.

It seems uniquely unfair that you can be denied access to equal education on the basis of your parents' beliefs. Certainly, I can't see anyone accepting schools which only admit the children of atheist parents - which would at least balance the scales.

It's not that faith leads to better education. Church schools do better because they alone can select their intake. And they choose bright kids with middle class parents who work hard to get them into those schools.

My own beliefs are important to me, but not as important as my children's education. If I have to go through the farcical charade of pretending to a religion I despise to get better schooling for my kids, I will.

Dave, London,

It's interesting that in places where there are relatively few people of other faiths, jews and muslims are often very keen to get their children into church schools - they much prefer them to the secular state schools. They recognize that a school where religion is considered important - even if it's another religion - is better for their children.

Dave, Wrexham,

Faith schools clearly provide a decent education and good discipline. However, it would be a concern if they were brainwashing children with religious nonsense.

P. V. Mann, Shropshire, England

Why not? The Chuch, all cathegories, has manipulated people for centuries. Finally, at least the educated and ambitious part of the population has discovered a way to ensure better education for their children. Where is the problem?

Catholic pediphiles apart of course......

Juma, london, uk

It's secular state schools that are not doing the job. Why do people avoid them as soon as they are able? They are well resourced and the teachers are of a better quality than ever. They teach well to exams but as soon as people are able to choose they choose something else. Perhaps it's time to abandon secular state schools and give the best available to everyone.

Steve, Preston,

I'm absolutely sick of hearing people complain about 'pushy' middle class parents. These people are simply trying to get the best education for their children, which is hard enough in this country to begin with thanks to labour and the tories approach to education of the last 25 years.

Ant, London, United Kingdom

How was this headlong rush towards making 'faith schools' the mainstay of our state education system allowed to be perpetuated? Tony Blair clearly felt he was serving a higher power, but those of use who question religion and - more importantly, who wish our children to be educated without indoctrination - are left with stark choices. I support any moves to curb this alarming trend.

Dan (Godless Liberal), London, UK

What's so new about this? People have been doing this for years, long before Labour came into power. Church schools have more resources/money (sorry, nothing to do with prayer, Matthew) and are often better than government run schools. They can afford to pay for good teachers, for starters.

starling, Lancaster,

Since when did doing you best to get your child the best possible education become an abuse of the child's human rights??!!! What utter codswallop.

Jonathan, Auckland, New Zealand

Another attack on the Catholic faith by the Labour Party.

Noel, Worksop, Nottingham

Uniquely, Balls is right on this: Muslim schools are totally totally different to normal schools, and cause ghettos to be cemented - see the Cantle Report.
It's time to stop any more faith schools - provide chaplains to ordinary schools for RE but that's all
It's just too divisive

Fati, Dalston, UK

It's not the 'faith' at faith schools that mean they achieve better results - it's that they're the only kind of non-fee schools that are allowed to SELECT their intake. And we all know from years of experience and evidence that they do 'select'.

Sarah, London, UK

This has always happened especially in Catholic schools. Who said that kids or parents in Catholic schools are actually Catholics or know anything about the teachings of Christ? The problem of middle class 'liars' is caused because faith schools are better schools, with better results and a better ethos. Do we really want to lose these? Surely it would be better to emulate, not annihilate?

Judy , Liverpool, england

The only solution is to vote out Labour.
But that won't happen and part of the reason is that the generality of the population like the situation as it is. Europe has always been semi-communist ( hence "commune" and "community adhesion") and the UK is no different
Look at every imporatant social provision from education to health and Lenin shines through

David Kay

David Kay, hemingford, england

We need a national debate about whether we really want to continue down the road of electing brainless MPs...the article is so fallacious and the the MPs arguments so tendentious that they don't deserve further analysis. It can be summarized in saying that social cohesion does not exist and has nothing to do with faith-based schools and that the argument is completely sophistic...

F.B., London, UK

What IS is with Labour and schools - are they actually trying to destroy education in this country?

and of course NO labour MP has ever done ANYTHING that would help their own children avoid the horrors of state eduction they expect the rest of us to endure - like sending their children to a private school

oswestrian, Oswestry,

Bob, Faith schools are a problem because they are exploited in the cause of personal agendas....

James, Preston, Englnd

Considering that Henry VIII stripped the Catholic Church in this country of all its riches during the Reformation, and that the driving force behind the revival of the Church in this country was the influx of poor Irish immigrants, perhaps the critics should consider the possibility that Catholic schools draw children from the more-affluent middle-classes, because it was a Catholic education (and practice of the Catholic faith), that made the parents of these children, and their parents for generations previously, more affluent in the first place.

Mark Banks, Sutton, Surrey

Labour has always sought to reduce the overall quality of education in this country. By keeping the great unwashed uneducated and reliant on the "government" for state hand-outs, it is guaranteeing its future in power.

Nigel Meek, Epping, England

I have been told by the headmaster of a faith based school that is the nearest to my home, that as a non-Christian, my child will not get into the school. Is it fair that my tax should go to a school that is discriminating against a normal, god-loving child for the only reason that she does not follow the teachings of an individual?

vic, Richmond, UK

What's pathetic is the continual need to control our children by establishing the superstitious beliefs in them.
Can't have thinking for themselves now, can we...

Let's keep religion out of all state teachings and leave the theology to where it belongs, in the past.

F.S.Summers, London,

Of course I am going to "inflict" my religion on my children. Just as I am going to "inflict" decent moral standards, a healthy diet and a decent way of life. I would be negligent not to. What does this MP want? To allow children to become feral and do as they please? It may be what he wants for his children but he is not "inflicting" his choices on me.

Mark, Newport,

People join religions hoping to ger some benefit either "in this world or the next", for themselves and/or their families.
So why should it be deemed wrong for people of uncertain beliefs to take advantage of the rules for their children?

Many educated Christians have doubts about the system of belief they are involved in, because it is their family tradition; or perhaps because they need to ritualise birth, marriage, and death. Or just enjoy the music.

At the end of the day a few will regret choosing religious schools for their children. Religion can become obsessive and take over peoples lives.

Donald, Dorchester

Donald Bindon, Dorchester, Dorset

In Scotland we only have RC schools and non-demonitional schools. No debate on schooling is allowed as you will be branded anti RC as they demand their own schools funded by the taxpayer where only RC's can be head teachers etc.

Robert Anderson, Glasgow, Scotland

Perhaps in the 50s the UK had a proper education system, but not anymore. Good universities, full of clever and smart students from overseas who still have a study and work ethic. But good schools? Don't make me laugh.

Martin, London, UK

I (and my family) is a perfect example of a person who does not belong to any religion. I am a ex-russian who came to the UK almost 2 years ago to take a job at University. Before that I spent 5 years in France. I was in fact
very happy that in the French system there are NO PUBLIC FAITH SCOOLS. Now imagine my surprise when I found out that the only option available to my half-jewish half russian orthodox daughter (by origin, in fact we are ATHEIST, I always told my children that there is no god at all, sorry folks) is the state supported CoE scholl. The time they spent on the religion at school is ridiculous, they rather study mathematics instead...
This story of peolpe who have to pretend they are catholics is amazing, a targecomedy I'd say. It doesn't undermine the fact these scools are good, of course, because they are selective!

Dimitri G., Birmingham, UK

If labour MPs think Faith-less education is so good, after 10 years in power why aren't middle class parents clamouring for the secular schools that labour has had all this time to bolster and prove.

Perhaps parent choice says that we want more faith schools since the parents think they succeed.?

I wonder if Mr Austin, MP for Erith and Thamesmead, is intending to inflict his lack of faith on the whole school system for fear of a few parents instill their faith in their kids.

Peter Bricknell, London, UK

It's quite remarkable how politicians so easily forget that the education system in the UK was largely pioneered by the Church. Faith schools are not a problem unless they are exploited in the cause of personal agendas.

Bob Hyde, Brixham, Devon

David, of Reading, Berkshire, asks what Labour's problem is with selection in schools. As a retired teacher, who qualified at the time when Labour abolished secondary selection in the 1960's, I can give the answer. Socialist educational theorists believed then, and still believe now, that intelligence is "socially conditioned", rather than genetically inherited. In other words, if you tell a child of eleven that they are clever or otherwise, that then determines their self-image and their future achievement.

Despite over forty years of evidence to the contrary, these theorists are still unwilling to accept the falsehood of their doctrine, so they will carry on believing until Doomsday that intelligence can be created by comprehensive school education. It would be better to restore the tripartite system, and provide opportunities for grammar school transfer where regular tests indicate that a mistake has been made.

Edmund Burke, Kingston upon Thames, England

Clearly this must be what the sky fairy wants to happen. For reasons which are of course mysterious to us all.

John Smith, Manchester, UK

These socialists needs to get their priorities right - get the state schools back to a decent level of education, with proper discipline, where teachers want to teach and where every pupil has the opportunity to flourish. All labour's ideas on education as stated today in this paper smack of envy.

Wen , Oxford, England

This is not confined to the middle classes. I get travellers and parents from housing estates coming for baptism for just the same reasons.

Mark, UK,

The twentieth centrury may have been characterised by the rise of Meritocracy . Well now we are witnessing the rise of parentocracy.

Saviour Rizzo, San Gwann, Malta

Here again is the politics of pandering to the lowest common denominator. Belief-in-nothing-ism must now be the new low. Having failed to raise standards in schools, this government must now find a scapegoat and has found one in faith-based schools.

If the government wishes to withdraw "taxpayers' money" from high achieving faith schools out of sheer spite, why end there.. what about banning all meritocracies everywhere, so that someone with an IQ of 60 can apply and get a job as an airline pilot or a surgeon?

I would like to know also, in what way does baptism, notionally committing a child into the loving arms of God by the dabbing of water onto its head, consitute child abuse? Are they quite mad?

Diversity, so called, is about choice. This is about restricting choice to the ideology of liberal aetheism and about condeming the public education system to state - sponsored mediocrity and stagnation.

Jack Bloxam, Edinburgh,

In America religious schools are a refuge from our dreadful urban public schools and disgusting, morally bankrupt culture. Jewish sent mine to a day school until K-8. With no Jewish high school here send my sons to a Catholic school and because I believe today's America is totally toxic for girls sent my daughter to Israel. Was totally satisfied with my sons' experience. My daughter thrived in Israel. Now a happily married mother of three she enjoys a life few women, except for the rich, in the West can have. The problem boils down to being governed by a professional class owned and operated and operated by special interests. To keep power and line their masters' pockets with gold vice became virtue and vice versa.

MARK KLEIN, M.D., OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA

The MP in question has the following entry in wikipedia: 'He joined the Labour Party in 1971 when he was working as a warehouse worker. He worked for four years from 1979 as a Research Officer with the Labour Party. In 1982 he was elected as a councillor to the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which he served until 1986. He was briefly a local government officer at the Greater London Council, before he worked for the Trade Union movement, firstly with the Trades Union Congress and then with the GMB.'

In other words he has never had a proper job. Who is this complete nonentity to tell us we 'need a national debate'. If it wasn't so serious it would be laughable.

If anyone thought this lot could be trusted by the middle-classes after Blair left, think again. They will destroy everything we hold dear.

Angus, Suffolk,

I am a Governor of a Catholic primary school and regularly attend Mass.

There are many Catholic schools in socially deprived areas so it is wrong to suggest they are for the middle classes only. The ethos in the school of which I am a Governor is welcoming, caring and supportive of children with a wide range of abilities and backgrounds.

If faith schools are attractive to parents, that is to be celebrated as something good about Britain.

Peter, Preston, Lancashire

Surely the sensible approach is to find out just why these parents are choosing church-run schools (not difficult, even for Nu Labour), and then get the other state schools to attempt to emulate them. That would seem to make most sense, if we value education this country.

Or we could just try and put a stop to this manipulation of the system by the middle classes, and send all their kids to sink schools "to teach them a lesson" (pun intended).

Sid Bragg, Abu dhabi, UAE

As a practising Anglican I very much hope that Roman Catholics and other Christians would remember on election day that the governing party no longer share our values and beliefs and vote accordingly as Cardinal Murphy O Connor so rightly pointed out. I am tired of being told to sacrifice my children's only chance of a decent education on the altar of a corrupt governing ideology.

I am tired too of being attacked by these nasty idealogues and I am tired of turning the other cheek.

Jeremy Forbes, London, Essex

Andrew, from Norfolk... I'm not angry, and hope you're not either. If religion works for you, I'm pleased. How readily you pass judgement though... Not very Christian of you :-(

My children will be allowed choose, as 'I' was by my parents (father a CofE minister by the way) and not have it forced down their throats by an education system that encourages discrimination & secularization. Religious education I encourage, provided it is ballanced, but parents having to 'pretend' to convert to one or another particular faith (doing a Tony) is just a rediculous situation. I'm sure we must agree on that?

Dan, Staffordshire, Horridly Secularized Britain

Matthew from London seems to think that the reason that (some) faith schools do so well is the magic of prayer. Nice theory but I give more credence to the far simpler and less imaginative theory that it is simply a matter of parental attitude. Getting your child into a faith school, rather than the local comp, takes effort and forethought on the part of the parent from actually taking the time to apply to sitting through a weekly church service or even volenteering at the church itself (my previously atheistic brother in law became a deacon to secure a place for his children). Parents who have made this kind of effort clearly value education and will continue to support the school financially and more importantly by encouraging their pupils.

While many parents of comprehensive school pupils will also value education there will also be many who do not care, their children will not be encouraged at home and the school does not get support, financially or in terms of discipline.

PJ, Chinnor, Oxon

A different angle to harangue the middle class. Last week they were 'sharp elbowed' this week they are 'inflicting' religion onto children in an 'abuse' of the childs 'Human Rights'.
I do not 'inflict' religion onto my chilren, but, who is going to teach them about God, Faith, Jesus and all the complexities of the Christian Faith if to take my children to Church is an 'abuse'?
Faith Schools are an important extention of a Christians life. To say that they undermine community cohesion surely impies the same of Churchs. But, to do so ignores the community spirit that it fosters. Churches are an integral part of many peoples lives and these constant attacks are insulting to those that have Faith.
There are many reasons for late Baptism, a simple one being that Child Mortality rates are now a fraction of what they were in 1958. The pressure to Baptise for fear of the child dying is no longer there.

Amanda, Surrey,

The point is not made that many CofE school do not select on the basis of faith, though I believe almost all Catholic schools do. The large majority serve all of their communities although they are run by the Church, either on a Voluntary Aided basis (in which case they are equivalent to foundation schools) or Voluntary Controlled bais (which is equivalent to a community school).

Gatz, Chelmsford, UK

I don't necessarily think that secondary schools alone are 'poorly disciplined'. And if you go to a secular, secondary school as opposed to a faith or grammar school you may not necessarily fall into the rap of Britain's feral, socially challenged underclass. Moreover, sociologists have argued that catholic schools have in some way inadvertantly encouraged the prevalence of under-age motherhood because they repudiate abortion and contraception (in line with the teachings of Catholicism). This is not something I personally agree with, but is nonetheless noteworthy.

Darren , Greenhithe, Kent,

As a teacher who has taught in both the State and Independent secondary sectors, I feel there is one simple, but not easy, solution to the problem of shoddy secondaries: discipline. Even in 'ordinary secondaries', one or two children per class, with chaotic lives and poor socialisation, will wreak havoc on the group, and curtail or divert many promising teaching careers to boot. No initiative to improve secondary schools, unless it places the restoration of discipline at the centre, will work. It will take great moral courage, persistence and strong partnerships to effect such a restoration. To reiterate: there are in many secondary schools a significant minority of vulnerable young people (who have particular needs themselves) whose chaotic lives and lack of boundaries make them a 'toxic presence' to the teaching and learning in the mainstream classroom. This is the gravest problem facing our secondary schools for generations.

James, Reading, Berks

I find it interesting that parents who have a religious faith are accused of forcing/brainwashing the children they bring into the world and yet parents who are non-religious don't.....! My youngest goes to a Church of England school. It has good results and he is more than happy compared to the year he spent at a non C of E high school. There was a time in the not so recent past that parents were told that schools are about choice....... some want to deprive me of my choice so that they can get their own non-religious choice...... something that they already have - a religious school or a non-religious school.

Andrew Aveyard, Bolton,

The reason Church schools are so effective is because they stimulate in children Christ's message of forgiveness, honesty and self-control. No wonder the spite-filled socialists hate them. They want to ruin them as they have ruined the rest of state education and eveything else they get their hands on.
Marxist/atheism is a dead end - the facts prove it.

Pedar MacCodagh, Coventry, UK

I think this results from the inflated importance degrees have these days. Saying what the school admittance officers want to hear happens in secular colleges as well. Just compare the "Why I want to attend your college" essays applicants write to what they do once they are in college. Many students believe what they write and follow through with their actions over the years. Others do not.

Joseph, NYC, USA

The increasing number of Sectarian schools has given the lie to parental choice. Certainly the Govt. campaign of privilege, and giving very large amounts of taxpayers money to religions, is discriminatory against those who believe in a divinity but are not attached to a religion and the non religious, and in my view is reaching proportions of a hate crime against what is probably the majority of the electorate. The higher standards in Sectarian schools was claimed to be the result of the religious ethos but the evidence now is quite clear that standards were entirely the result of selection and firm discipline. The statistics are an argument for higher standards and discipline for all, not coercion and Faith Branding of children at an age when they do not have enough experience of the life to make such a judgement. In my view, religious doctrine produces poorer moral and ethical standards, historically and now and what is called religious coercion might also be called bullying.

Keith Budden, Rayleigh, England

How worrying is this? Every parent "inflicts" their beliefs on their children. Its called family!! Every school "inflicts" beliefs on their pupils and every government does the same on the electorate. That is the nature of belief.
All i see in this article is a bunch of psychologically immature people getting anxious about the unfairness of life. Some schools get better results than others - that Faith schools are going to set education in a moral and religious context is obvious, and most parents are anxious about quality of education and the safety and morality of their children. So if there is an advantage a parent will strive to take it! Why suppress that choice?
The only thing that I might suggest to change would be the established churches' historical link between baptism and faith which has carried over to Faith schools. I would say that Faith schools should have an open door policy to applicants.

Angus, Guisborough ,

If the schools in the state system delivered we would not have this phenomenom. There again it is easy for the political pontificators (MPs), push comes to shove, socialist principles in the bin there is the private sector!

Indoctrination in faith schools, anyone looked at the secular temples of learning lately?

Alan, Luton,

My daughter will be starting school in a couple of years and 200 metres away there is a C or E primary that is the best in Brighton & Hove. Neither me nor my partner are religious, so the chances of us getting her admitted are zero - even though our taxes are used to subsidised this and other faith schools that will never admit children like ours. Frustrating and unfair? Yes! We will have to do what other many parents in the immediate area do, start going to church (wasting our valuable free time) and pretend to be religious for two years prior to her starting. It's either that or pay through the nose for a private education. Religion should be a private matter.

Colin, Hove, England

It's obvious the one option that parents want and that Labour can never offer is more good schools. All they can offer is a combination of rationing and the removal of good schools so that their state schools don't look so bad.

Derek Emery, Bedworth, UK

What nonsense, all community events in our area come through the churches. Without the church there would be nothing here, no dinner clubs, coffee mornings, children's clubs and so forth. Mainly 'because' people are middle class and they are out working all day to pay high mortgages, that they therefore can't run the social cohesion that was once the remit of un-working mothers. I will add that this busy social scene originating from the churches has nothing to do with the schools either as it tends to be run by the retired, unemployed and others who are not working and have nothing to do with the schools!

Carol, Hereford,

This is an example of more social engineering from Labour.

The REAL question they should be asking is:

'Why does nobody want to go the local comprehensives'. But they know the answer to this but it is not an answer they like, so they ignore it.

Instead they constantly look to limit individual choice because it is 'unfair'.

The answer is FIX THE SCHOOLS and people will return to them. Removing personal choice will not fix the problems.

John, Reading, uk

Spare a thought for the children forced by angry secularists like Dan from Staffordshire to share (or should we say be indoctrinated into) his world view no matter what the cost to their education.
My kids go to a Catholic primary school, and there isn't a shred of indoctrination involved. It's all strictly national curriculum.
The biggest difference we noticed about this school when we chose it is the care the older children show towards the younger ones.
Not only is there no indoctrination, there isn't a whiff of bullying.
And guess what, the exam results are amazing.

Andrew, Norfolk,

The solution is simple - faith schools should be defined by the nature of their education, not the faith of their pupils. In other words, if an agnostic chooses to send his children to a Catholic school, he should be able to do that.

It is puzzling that faith schools are subsidised by the state and at the same time allowed to discriminate when it comes to their intake; surely, if you receive a government subsidy, you should be at the service of the whole community rather than a select few? If Catholics, Protestants and others are so concerned with excluding people of other faiths, perhaps they should fund their schools privately? In any case, the state should not be involved in funding religious separateness - the buzzword in the 21st century is, after all, SOCIAL COHESION.

Kevork Oskanian, London, UK

Middle-class parents have always played the system, but we must understand that they do so for the sake of their children.

Recently it was reported that in one secondary school 99 per cent of pupils failed to achieve 5 grades at GCSE, including Maths and English, at C or above. If your child was destined for this school would you not see merit in having a road to Damascus moment?

Of course the truth is that no evidence exists showing that religion is the magic bullet that makes children perform better academically. Religion is merely the means used to segregate children. This unjustified segregation contributes to the problems we see in state education overall.

Religious education is part of the problem; it is not the solution.

Des, Edinburgh,

I think it's great. Religion has been fooling people for years so why shouldn't parents with a bit of savvy con religion.

GeorgeSsign , Nice, France

How very Labour: Faith schools are doing well, STOP THEM!

Steve L, St Albans, Herts

It is extraordinary how the debate on faith schools fails to ask the question, "why are they so effective?". Perhaps because the critics can't bear the thought that the answer is "because there is prayer going on".
This answered prayer reveals an actual being, who engages within human endeavour, in a positive and helpful way.
No wonder the critics of Christian faith schools (Ed Balls, Dan et al), can't bear to contemplate this question and answer.

Matthew, London,

Pathetic. We are a Family of practising Catholics. I own several successful companies and my Faith is the cornerstone of my Life and has played a major role in my commercial success. Wife and children feel the same about their lives. Finding the Catholic Faith at any stage can only strengthen the child and I have no issues with it. I think that the fact that Catholic schools not only excel academically but encourage the pupils to live a decent life is all indicative of the key teachings of our Faith. Our Son Loves his very Catholic school and we so enjoy watching him grow in to his Faith via the teachings at home, in school and at Mass. With the gradual erosion of Christianity by these Godless liberals that currently lord over us in a manner not seen since Stalin I personally thank God daily for the existence of Faith schools. Being a Christian is not a dirty word and should be encouraged. Our own flag very proudly uses the Cross and this is something we should celebrate

Steve, Wokingham, berkshire

The year five epiphany phenomenon exists in scotland too. However baptism has no impact on the ability to gain entry to a catholic school in Scotland and the majority of parents are "working class." So I don't know where that leaves the story above which seems a bit contrived.

As for community cohesion, people have long used their money to avoid the poor in where they stay and consequently where they go to school. Are people to be told to move house so that society can be better controlled?

gerry, clydebank,

The hypocricy of the Labour political class is really beyond belief, including religious belief. If the current Labour govt moves against faith schools then it will soon be in the European Court. While I agree that selection on the basis of religious belief is itself a form of negative discrimination and totally unethical, I can't see that the Labour govt can oppose it since it, along with successive Conservative govts, has ruled out more objective and fairer forms of academic selection in its attempt to wipe out the grammar schools. I have been following the extended debate on this subject in the Northern Ireland assembly and am totally convinced that the current proposals by the grammar school lobby there - led by a former top civil servant, Sir Kenneth Bloomfield - are on the right track. The top grammar schools in NI will now administer a basic test in Arithmetic and English for progression to secondary education - against the proposals of the local minister of education.

Dr David Green, Athens, Greece

Church schools do indeed get better ratings, but at what cost!

Forced indoctrination of children about some ficticious all seeing, all knowing God (or is it three, think Trinity?) in the sky, answering our children when they pray, and changing the future to favour roman-catholics (as if!), watching their every thought, judging them continuously, flooding the earth when it's cross? No wonder they are better behaved and disciplined, they're scared beyond belief!!!! And parents want this? Really?

Lambs in the flock, or lambs to the slaughter?

Dan, Staffordshire, Horridly Secularized Britain

I agree with Philip Jowett's view completely.
Give us good state schools and be just might send our children there.
Schools where there is discipline, morals, and no bullying.
My own daughter attends a private Catholic school as a non-catholic but from a christian family background.
Not being well-off, the fees are a constant battle.
For us there is no alternative:to send her back from wence she came would be suicide for all of us.
We just could not face it, and if the money dries up, she will have to be home schooled. That is the only alternative for us.

Helen Marshall, norfolk,

The British government is brilliant: don't ban faith schools because they are fundamentally undesirable - devisive, indoctrinating and potentially dangerous - ban them because they are really good at teaching and get fabulous results. Way to go!

Rosemary Roberts, Germany,

I have four grandchildren - two girls going on for 15 and two boys going on 13. Since moving to their comprehensives, I have agonised at their gradual loss of natural curiousity and their general feelings of boredom at school.

All, except one, are always in the top five for exam results, however, their individual talents go unrecognised. For instance, one of my grandsons has received a lot of admiration for his art work and been encouraged to exhibit in local art shops and yet, at school, no interest is taken in what he is capable of. Likewise, one of my granddaughters says that it is very hard to maintain a balance of being clever and trying to fit in with the other girls, so that she wont be bullied.

I'm sure there must be countless parents and grandparents who can recognise what I have expressed.

It's about time children were streamed, otherwise, how are we to compete with other countries in the future?

Shirley Bowen, Blackpool, UK

Since 1945 all but 5 Education Secretaries attended Independent Schools and inflicted a dire system on the rest of the population culminating in Comprehensive Schools and Comprehensive Universities.

Labour MPs have a contempt for education and have trapped teachers and pupils into gangland warfare in classrooms dominated by the ignorant, the dysfunctional, and the proto-criminal who intimidate pupil and teacher alike.

We live in a Hogarthian Society thanks to these ideologues.

TomTom, Leeds, England

What Allen should be asking himself is why parents are going to these lengths to educate their chidren? or why indeed the same social groups are leaving the UK in record numbers.

In many areas the ethnic mix, however good for social cohesion, at least in theory, means a poorer education. Time and time again we have seen Goverment Minsters slam private education, only to send their loved ones to the same private Schools.

Philip Jowett, Swadlincote, UK

What is labour's problem with selection in schools, I find it hypocritical that quite a large number in the present government went to high quality schools and universities.
Anyone with half a brain knows that there is selection in every aspect of life in the real world and this socialist idea that all are equal is idealistic clap trap and they know it.
The idea failed in communism and it will fail with dare I say it democratic socialism.

David, reading, berkshire

The British (and the French) concept of community cohesion fascinates Americans who typically take diversity for granted. May an outsider ask what community cohesion means in the UK? What do champions of community cohesion fear? Is this fear justified? By the way, my own very diverse country allows all sorts of schools (for instance, tax-financed "charter schools" that sometimes are popular with African Americans) and is disinclined to prevent religion-based clothing and jewelry. Generalizations are dubious for so large a country, but in southwestern Ohio where I live Catholic schools are popular with middle class ex-Catholics, Protestants, and the unbaptised as an affordable alternative to mediocre public schools or to moving to expensive suburbs where well-funded public schools remain good. Almost all the students at many inner city Catholic primary schools are African American Protestants. Of course, in the USA faith schools receive no public money.

David Fahey, Oxford, Ohio, USA