A RASPBERRY FOR THE TEACHER SIR,--11, as your correspondent maintains,
the 'over- whelming majority' of teachers are `duds,' then we should accept the fact that the profession is at present grossly overpaid. Fortunately, not everyone would subscribe to this judgment. As my experience grows, so, too, does my wonderment at the wide range of abilities found in the teaching profession at all levels.
It would be tiresome to deal with all the false impressions which Miss Whitehorn has created. The
lay reader, for instance, who does not understand the role of the Times Educational Supplement might well imagine that there were only thirteen applicants for 3,206 jobs. Of course, there is an overall shortage of teachers, particularly on the science side, but exaggeration will get us nowhere.
assume that Miss Whitehorn's purpose is to try to increase the status and salary of teachers. She has done the profession, however, a gross disservice. Several of my sixth-formers intend to enter the teaching profession. They might well be forgiven for changing their minds after reading her article. As for the suggestion that teachers should strike for six weeks before the eleven-plus examination, it would leave us about as popular as railwaymen would be if the NUR decided to strike for the month of August—and rightly so.—Yours faithfully, G. G. THOMAS The Grammar School, Windermere
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