27 JUNE 1952, Page 5

The Secretary of the Co-educational Conference, writing to The Times

to report favourably on his experience of a measure of State control for independent schools, finishes his letter with the words: " And, anyhow, who is there in his heart does not welcome the advent of a circumstance outside his control to which he can attribute a failure to reach his objectives ? " One hears from time to time some odd arguments in favour of State control of this and that, but this thesis—that State control is a good thing because it provides the beneficiary with a ready-made excuse for falling short of the standards he sets himself—is certainly a new one to me. I am mildly appalled by it.

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