Bottom of the class
From Dr Roger Kingerlee Sir: Richard Balfe Klass vandalism', 9 October) constructs a strong argument in support of his decision to send his children to private schools. It is no doubt true, for example, that the private sector can `by individual attention, help any child max- imise his or her potential': and the picture Balfe paints of his children at the kitchen table, 'finishing their homework', 'reason- ably smartly dressed' and 'well mannered' is indeed a charming one.
But does not Balfe betray one of the key principles on which he was elected as a Labour MEP? If, as Balfe himself argues, 93 per cent of children are currently edu- cated in the state sector and are, as he sees it, receiving a substandard education, it would surely be more fitting if — truer to the origins and present purpose of his party — he were not only to reverse his decision on his children's schooling, but to actually do something about the public sector of education.
Balfe, the recipient of a not-ungenerous amount of publicly generated money as a Labour MEP, spends some of it on private education which, on his own admission, only a relatively small elite can afford — and so quietly retreats from the difficulties in the public realm. Is this the stuff of which true leadership consists? And what kind of example is this to set for Balfe's children?
Roger Kingerlee
roger@kingerlee.freeserve.co.uk
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