I READ with interest that letter from Councillor Alex Kear (Letters, Wednesday, April 13).

The very word "education" seems to obsess politicians of all parties. Billions are spent yet achievements are often abysmal.

Before the Second World War, the vast majority of people left school at the age of 14, yet all leavers attained at least a reasonable degree of skill in the "three Rs" - reading, writing and arithmetic.

Classes were large and conditions cramped, but discipline was strict. The head teacher was invariably a revered and awesome figure. I doubt whether these dedicated autocrats would have tolerated a PTA.

Truancy was very rare, but woe betide any who so transgressed! And there was no such thing as school dinners so none of us was obese.

However, since the war, we have had one school re-organisation after another. Each change in the system, (mainly concerned with exams) seems to result progressively in a more dismal result. Nowadays, employers frequently complain of young job applicants who are illiterate and innumerate.

Let us hope that the next educational upheaval will revert to those tried and tested methods that existed in schools before 1948.

D E MARGRETT,

Worcester.