14 JANUARY 1955, Page 15

I have not read Mr. Croft's book—a de- ficiency I

must remedy—so I cannot assess either its literary merits or its documentary accuracy, but I must give my wholehearted support to his protest that 'it is impossible to make a film which contains any serious criticism of authority.'

Mr. Croft has probably been guilty of three major offences:

(a) Exposure of the tawdriness of the mid- twentieth-century banner depicting the angel- child rampant.

(h) Scratching the thin, brittle skin of authorities to whom State free education is a political weapon.

(c) Revealing the decay which, eating away the hone and muscle of our educational tra- dition, is the result of mob-wooing by political parties, at all levels.

There is one point that I, writing from per- sonal experience, must make. It is that although the efficiency of a school depends on the head and his/her staff, the power of the school to influence the child's character is in direct ratio to the hacking of the education authority and the co-operation of the parents. —Yours faithfully,

JAMES B. HAWKINS

36 Almond Avenue, Newbury, Berkshire