25% of British eleven-year-olds graduate from primary school unable to read or write properly. 27% do not meet minimum requirements for numeracy. Girls are also doing disturbingly better than boys: where 83% of girls met minimum requirements for reading, only 77% of boys did; where 68% of girls met the standard for writing, only 52% of boys did.

The good news is that unlike U.S. schools, which conceal their failures by labelling children learning disabled, Britain is admitting that the problem lies in poor teaching and a lack of strong leadership in the schools. The bad news is that Chief Inspector of Schools David Bell actually defends the gender gap in achievement, arguing that girls need a head start in school to compensate for the discrimination they will face when they enter the workforce: "We have assumed that the big issue is boys' achievement, but let's not forget some of the difficulties that girls continue to face in the system. ... One should not just assume that the gap is about boys' underachievement. One should also look at it in terms of the premium girls gain from access to higher education." In other words, discriminating against boys benefits women over the long term: as more and more boys fall behind in school, fewer future women will have to compete with men for jobs and promotions.

The logic here is neither sound nor ethical. But that's all right--by the looks of things, logic isn't being taught in the schools, either (though the elements of bomb-making are). In a few years, no one will even notice that there is a problem.