Only after 13 years of a Labour government & 30+ years of Comprehensive education could this be a headline - 'Pupils will lose marks for poor grammar and spelling'

'Pupils will lose marks for poor grammar and spelling' 

How could that headline from Saturday's Telegraph be in any way news had it not been for the dumbing down of the education system in England by successive governments over the past 30 plus years and had it not been for the actions of the last Labour government? Spelling and grammar matter but it was the last Labour government that abandoned the requirement for pupils to spell correctly and use proper punctuation and grammar in GCSE examinations.

Maybe it is not too late to move from emphasising the value of children 'expressing themslves' to the value of children expressing themselves clearly and correctly; maybe.