22 DECEMBER 1967, Page 25

Sir: Mr Angus Maude has delivered an admirably debunking broadside

to the instant 'New Jerusalem.' Perhaps we might explore further the implications of Dr Leach's revelations on education.

Emphasis on individual achievement leads to `fear' and must be replaced by the submerging of self-reliance and initiative into a collective 'we.' Since it is the 'ethos of competitive society' that compels the inculcation of facts and prohibits the teaching of 'how to enjoy the pleasures of civili- sation' (modern?) the system must be changed. Comprehensive schools are a beginning, but it is only a start.

We have always been led to believe that the introduction of comprehensive schooling was to .end selection at eleven plus. But it seems that this is a deception, for the sights are set on a more ambitious and revolutionary horizon: it is no less than the abolition of competitive society itself.