A、Children used to take an exam at the age of eleven to decide if they could go on to a grammar school or a secondary school. B、

M: Janet, as a teacher, can you give us some ideas on how the English school system works?
W: Well, first of all, most children start school at the age of five and they can’t leave school until the age of sixteen.  They will go to primary school from the age of five until eleven. And previously, they used to take an eleven plus examination which would then determine whether they would go to a grammar school or alternatively a secondary school. But now we have a new system where children aren’t divided off at the age of eleven, instead, they could take the exams at the age of sixteen.
M: Do you think that’s an improvement on the system?
W: Well, theoretically, it’s supposed to be much better because it stops separating children at the age of eleven and give them a better chance.
M: Do you think that the present school system is an efficient way of educating children?
W: Well, if you accept that, you know, there have to be schools, it seems to work fairly efficiently. Of course one of our great problems in England is that we have very large classes and, it would be very nice if we could reduce to twenty students in a class, and so that each child could get more individual attention.
M: Janet, do you really think that your students gain a lot from their education?
W: I think they do, but in education, I think, emphasis should be put on broadening their horizon of mind, instead of acquiring basic knowledge and skills.