HC Deb 12 March 1959 vol 601 cc1430-1
8. Mr. Chetwynd

asked the Minister of Education whether he will make a statement on his recent official visit to the United States of America.

Mr. Geoffrey Lloyd

Yes, Sir. I was greatly impressed by the friendly interest shown by Americans in our educational system: in particular the academic standards of our grammar schools are much admired. But the main purpose of my tour was to see for myself how the Americans have developed their education system to provide the wide measure of educational opportunity which is the most important objective of the Government's White Paper "Secondary Education for All". My main impression was that the American and British education systems are growing closer together: each in our own way, we have both set ourselves the task of combining equal educational opportunity with high academic standards, particularly for specially gifted children.

Mr. Chetwynd

Is it proposed that there shall be a return visit by an equivalent Minister from America, and that he will see our schools? If so, will he have an opportunity to see our comprehensive schools? Can the Minister say what he will do about this experiment of closed circuit television, of which he made so much on his return?

Mr. Lloyd

We have many American visitors. Although there is no exact American equivalent of the British Minister of Education, because America has a federal system, and education is a State subject, we always welcome American visitors, and they would be free to see all our schools, and we should be proud to show them. I propose to discuss the question of closed circuit television with the B.B.C., Associated-Rediffusion and educational experts. Although there is not time to go into the question fully now, I can say that this would be an interesting way of integrating television very closely with the curricula of schools, in a way convenient to the teachers.