To The Times (London

Alice Thomson says: “There was a reason we turned our back on Victorian rote learning… We (teachers) have to light their fires, encourage as well as cajole, so they can compete creatively as well as academically.”

Bach’s and Mozart’s childhoods were blighted by ceaseless drilling in scales, arpeggios, harmony and counterpoint. Just think of what great works they might have composed if their natural creativity had been freed from all that rote learning. (Michael Bird, London)

Alice Thomson’s is the most ridiculous claim! Good teachers through the ages have drilled the basics, like times tables, into their pupils, lit their fires and encouraged as well as cajoled. This is what is called “teaching”. I agree that there are useless parents who adopt the attitude “they joined us, we didn’t join them” and expect the schools to do all the education. But you shouldn’t be a teacher if you are not prepared to slog through grammar and spelling et al., boring though they might be.

Epicureans are tough and disciplined with their children – given the attitude of people like Ms. Thomson it might be best to home school or simply treat school as baby sitters and do the job of preparing kids for the big wide world yourself.