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The eternal argument about the overall pattern in which we organize our schools tends to induce a state of total complacency about what goes on inside them. The politicians prescribe the external label, but in Britain they have (very properly) no power to lay down much else. The curriculum, the ambience, the aims of the school are in the hands of the headmaster, and no one talks about them very much. Since to most parents the label is all, it is reputation rather than reality which matters. But in fact labels tell you little about the contents of the bottle. Antiquated educational ideas often flourish in supposedly revolutionized comprehensive schools, and some grammar schools have changed out of all recognition. The sooner the argument can be swung round to the purpose of education within the schools, the better.