If all good people were clever and all clever people were good, the world would be nicer than ever. I think that education is a key to a good future. And schools are the first step on the education-way. Schools help young people to choose their career, to prepare for their future life, they make pupils clever and well-educated. They give pupils the opportunity to fulfil their talent.
Education in Britain developed by steps. The first step was the introducing of two kinds of school: grammar schools and secondary modern schools. Grammar schools offered a predominantly academic education and in secondary modern schools education was more practical. The second step was the introducing of a new type of school, the comprehensive, a combination of grammar and secondary modern, so that all children could be continually assessed and given appropriate teaching. These school were co-educational and offered both academic and practical subjects. However, they lost the excellence of the old grammar schools. Then after 1979 were introduced the greatest reforms in schooling. They included the introduction of a National Curriculum making certain subjects, most notably science and one modern language, compulsory up to the age of 16. The National Curriculum aims to ensure that all children study essential subjects and have a better all-round education. Pupils' progress in subjects in National Curriculum is measured by written and practical tests. More ambitious pupils continue with very specialized studies in the sixth form. They remain at school for two years more. Pupils sit for exams leaving secondary school and sixth form. They sit for the General Certificate Secondary Education at the end of the 5th-years' course. A-level or AS-levels are taken after two years of study in the sixth form. They are the main standard for entrance to university or other higher education. Some parents prefer to pay for their children to be