CLASSICAL EDUCATION SIR,—Surely your comment on the recommendations of the
Oxford University committee set up to con- sider entrance requirements is misleading in one important respect? You quote the committee's ob- servation in paragraph 6 of its report criticising the poor standard of English among undergraduates. 'Why then,' you continue, 'does Oxford not lead the way by encouraging all its entrants to pay greater attention to English?' But the paragraph which immediately follows in the report shows that the committee has done precisely this by suggesting that 'a new requirement be imposed in English Lan- guage of a distinctly higher standard than that of English Language at 0 level.' This and the suc- ceeding paragraphs go on to outline the sort of paper which might he set, and the possible safeguards against candidates taking it too early and thus for- getting all that they had learnt before coming up to the University. These recommendations, which were much emphasised by Dr. Chilver, the com- mittee's chairman, when presenting his report, have been carried in Congregation without opposition. They may be open to criticism, but it can hardly be argued that the University has ignored the problem. —Yours faithfully,
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