At the moment, access to the best that has been thought and said is restricted to a fortunate few. Because of the dumbing-down of both our exams and school curricula under Labour, children can go through school never having read a novel written before the 20th century, never having read or seen an entire Shakespeare play, never having learned a poem by heart, never having had the chance to appreciate, or play, classical music, never having the chance to learn about the achievements of the greatest scientists and engineers, never having had the chance to play in the competitive sports in which England has long excelled, never being encouraged to engage with anything which is not immediately "relevant" to their lives. But if all children are told about is what they already know, how will they ever-like Rita-learn better songs to sing? 

There is no doubt that most parents have aspirations for their children which are far higher than many of the professionals who condescend to them. The Millennium Cohort Study of 19,000 children born in the UK in 2000-01 recently interviewed mothers about their ambitions for their seven-year-old children. An astonishing 97 per cent of mothers wanted their child to go to university.  

Whether or not a student decides that university is right for them, the evidence is clear that a proper academic education to the age of 16 is the best way of maximising any child's chances of success in the future. The work of the educationist E.D. Hirsch and the studies in cognitive science assembled and analysed by Daniel Willingham demonstrate, with irresistible power, that a traditional knowledge-rich curriculum is the key to educational success, whatever path a student eventually decides to follow. Hirsch has proved, over a distinguished academic lifetime, that the greater the level of cultural capital children enjoy, the more rapidly and effectively they learn to read, and the greater their appetite for further discovery. Willingham's work — and that of the many cognitive scientists he has analysed — demonstrates that it is through the acquisition of knowledge that intelligence is formed. And the more a child learns, memorises, and commits to heart, the greater the capacity for critical thought and creative work. The virtues which so many who declare themselves opponents of traditional education wish to foster — curiosity, a desire on the part of learners to pursue their own learning, creativity and critical thinking — can only really effectively come from immersion in a rigorous, knowledge-rich curriculum with traditional subjects and teachers schooled in those subjects. 

That these truths have been denied, mocked or sidelined for so long is proof enough of the need for change in our education system. That is why one of our most important reforms — and certainly the most controversial-has been our toughening of exams and the curriculum.

We have had to overhaul our national curriculum to get it into line with the best performing education jurisdictions — like Singapore, Hong Kong and Massachussets. We've had to reform GCSEs to get rid of modules, re-sits, formulaic questions, questionable coursework and dumbed-down papers designed to keep certain students' aspirations low. We've also had to reform A-levels to ensure they are once more proper two-year courses — with room for in-depth study — and the sort of rigorous questions which are appropriate preparation for university study.