Blaming the kids
Sir: I was surprised to find that the editor of the Daily Telegraph (Diary, 20 October) thinks that the crisis in education can be solved by paying teachers more than £16,000 a year. Teachers have always been badly paid but have had the compensation of long holidays and high status. Part of the blame for the failure in education must lie with less demanding teaching methods. But I suspect that chil- dren have changed more than their teachers and that the major problem today is the general loss of respect for authority so that children are no longer in awe of their teachers and simply refuse to be taught.
Incidentally, as a 30-year-old engineer with a British defence contractor I earn £15,100 a year.
Stephen Gifford
53 Morningside Park, Morningside, Edinburgh
Previous page
