COUNTER-OFFENSIVE Sut,—In his recent stimulating article on " Insularity in
Education," Sir Fred Clarke accused the English of reluctance to re-examine current assumptions. He went on to say: " Not long ago the Conservative Reconstruction Committee, in its pamphlet on ' Educational Aims,' made a rash incursion into that region, and we know how precipitate its retreat had to be." Will you allow' me, as chairman of the committee which drew up the unanimous Report on Educational Aims, to say that its authors have 'committed no retreat, precipitate or otherwise, and that the interest which the Report created is difficult to understand on Sir Fred Clarke's pessimistic hypothesis. If I may venture upon a personal opinion, I should say that the disposition to rely upon stock assumptions and catch phrases belongs to public life in all countries ; but that it is not a characteristic mark of the individual Englishman.—I am, Sir, yours faithfully, GEOFFREY FABER. 24 Russell Square, London, WC. 1.
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