Sir: Whilst Messrs Jackson and Wilde (Letters, 16 and 2
May) retire to the dizzy heights of Cambridge to discuss the validity of the appli- cation of Book 6 of Plato's Republic to present-day life, may I take this opportunity to return to the original issue? If my memory serves me correctly, this is co-education at Oxbridge.
Mr Jackson, with his effervescent logic, seems all too intent on treating such a vastly complicated problem as co-education as a simple mathematical equation with only one solution, regardless of circumstances. Had he given more time to thinking about the problem itself, and less to his choice of erudite vocabulary, he would see that there was no simple answer which would be universally applicable. Mr Jackson makes it only too apparent that he has rarely ventured beyond the strict confines of his own college, for, were he to do so, he would soon discover that individual colleges vary a great deal in at- mosphere and social conduct. Whilst in some sectors co-education would be most unwise, It is often very beneficial.
I shall not attempt to offer a universal solu- tion (if, indeed, there exists one) in such a short space, but I trust I have pointed out Mr Jackson's total lack of appreciation for the problem. Mr Jackson's eleventh command- ment, 'Thou shalt not care about student morals,' is a hard one for any taxpayer to swallow.
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