SIR,—There is all too much truth in most of what
Mr. Holbrook says, but he does not show clearly why it is that the Beloe Report is being 'accepted with a shrug.' It is not only accepted but welcomed by at least four types of person: 1. Teachers who lack the confidence and/or ability to follow the 'free' scheme of work which Mr. Holbrook advocates and who need the reassurance they gain from an examination syllabus, a reassur- ance that they are 'on the right lines.'
2. Headmasters who place no great trust in the wis- dom of the individual teacher—the sort of head- master who asks an English teacher: 'Where are you up to in the syllabus?'
3 Administrators who find examination results a convenient way of comparing school with school, comforting themselves with the thought that at least they can be sure the school is doing some- thing.
4. Parents who want their children to have 'some-
thing to show' for the time spent in school.
Pressure does not, in my experience, come from the employers. I teach in a county which has, for the last three years, awarded its own certificate to pupils of secondary modern schools. Employers have re- mained markedly indifferent; so much so that it has been found necessary to justify the existence of the certificate by making it a prerequisite of entry to the technical college.
Mr. Holbrook may see his pupils rather too often through rose-coloured spectacles (we hear almost nothing about his failures), but he is surely right to assert that we are sacrificing too many valuable human beings to satisfy demands which are mis- guided, perhaps even shoddy.
8 Kendal Way, Wrexham
ARTHUR BLACKWELL
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