Leading article: Mr and Mrs Corbyn, you are not alone

THE PAINFUL dilemma that faced Jeremy Corbyn and his wife Claudia Bracchitta when it came to choosing a secondary school for their son Benjamin is not confined to the families of Labour politicians. It is familiar to many parents across the country. The essence of the problem was captured in one of the remarks that Ms Bracchitta made on the Today programme: "I feel that both of us would probably have wanted our son to have gone to a local school of high standards where he could have thrived. The situation that we found ourselves in was not one that was about choice, but about lack of choice." The only way out of the lack of choice offered by their local schools was for Benjamin to commute nine miles to a selective state school. For the Corbyns, sadly, the dilemma proved too great a strain and was a contributory factor in the breakdown of their marriage. We are entitled to wonder why successive governments have found it so hard to cater for the needs of successive Benjamin Corbyns.

It is not for the want of trying. Since the war there have been two great waves of reform. The first was begun in the mid-1960s - comprehensive schooling and mixed-ability teaching. Despite the best will in the world, the best efforts of teachers and the resources that were poured into the new superschools, we did not prepare that generation of children for Britain's white-hot industrial future quite as impressively as was envisaged.

We are now living through the second wave of change, the dawn of which was marked by the Education Reform Act of 1988 and carried through by ministers of both parties in successive governments. It is characterised by an obsession with standards, standards, standards - setting them, auditing them, achieving them. Yesterday's revisions to the National Curriculum are a typical example of the incremental changes that have been pursued energetically and successfully by David Blunkett: they try to limit what is statutorily required in the classroom to the core skills needed in the core subjects. Overall, the reforms have been successful, and standards have begun to rise.

So why do the Corbyns - and others - still find educational choices so traumatic? Part of the answer lies in the necessarily long time it takes for reform to work through a generation of schoolchildren. Part of the answer, especially in London, lies in the sheer intractable complexity of the problems. Poor schools are often associated with poor housing, poor parenting, poor people. Tony Blair has recognised the need for "joined- up government" to tackle these problems with the establishment of the Social Exclusion Unit, which promises much. It will be ironic if the ultra-New Labour revolutionaries of Downing Street succeed in rescuing old socialist radicals like the Corbyns from awkward dilemmas. But if they do, then it will not only be the politically prominent who will benefit.