4 AUGUST 1950, Page 15

SIR,--1 cannot 'agree with the statements in the letter from

the former Headmaster of Mill Hill. The boys at this school who have been prevented by the age-limit from taking the School Certificate this year are, without exception, the abler boys who could have taken the exami- nation in their stride and obtained "credits" in every subject. They are now in the absurd position of seeing other boys in the same form taking an examination which they are debarred from taking themselves because they happen to be more gifted but younger. To suggest that these boys have reached this stage by a process of "cramming" is sheer nonsense. If the School Certificate has encouraged "cramming," it has been at the other end of the scale—the good old "heavies" in the C