Remote and ineffectual
From Mr Bijan Omrani, Mr George Baily, Ms Catharine Gulick Sir: Professor Mayr-Harting (Letters, 19 February) claimed that 'the academic pro- fession . . . devotes itself to undergradu- ates'. Were he as close to his students as he implies, he might have thought to consult them, not his 'former undergraduates'; his present students would almost certainly tell him that the weekly essay does not hold the monopoly on rigour, and that it actually discourages originality. There is no room for innovation when a syllabus determines what is and is not discussed. Yes, Mozart had to learn rules, but where are his weekly essays? A student's natural interest and energy will generate discipline and rigour of a far more genuine nature than can be achieved by compulsion.
Additionally, Professor Swinburne (Let- ters, 19 February) was wrong to accuse us and The Spectator of a failure to check sources. We have read his sophisticated books and his popular one (note Swin- burne's separation of rigour and clarity), and have attended many of his lectures. It is a poor defence to claim that there is a context which justifies the utterance 'it's all a game' — a teacher who believes religious- ly in living his ideas would never allow this or any other phrase such as 'be more bor- ing' to pass his lips.
Bijan Omrani, George Baily, Catharine Gulick
Oxford
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