Thursday, October 16, 2008

Being a Beresford

A wry smile crept over my face at yesterday's news that the government had decided to abandon SAT tests for 14-year-olds. The decision comes just a few months too late to benefit my younger daughter, who was one of the unfortunate students caught up in the Excel fiasco this year.

The wry smile was because this is typical of Beresford luck, or timing, in respect of government initiatives. For the whole of my childhood, child allowance was not payable for the first child in a family. Only for the second and subsequent children. Being an only child, my mother got absolutely no help from the state.

Eventually, the unfairness of this situation was recognised, and the rules changed so that the allowance was payable for all children. The date of the change? A few weeks after my 17th birthday, when I was too old to benefit from it. And yes, later changes to continue payment while offspring were still in full-time education were similarly too late to affect me.

1 comment:

Blythe said...

Oh man, that blows lol.
I know I was pretty hacked off about no more SATs... you know if they do that with any other tests, it'll be the same for me probably. Just a year too early D: Hehehe.

:D -hugs-