To The Times, London
I was heartened to learn that in some parts of the country it is still the teacher who writes pupils’ end-of-term reports. In the Highland region, a third of the available space is given over to a learner’s statement, under which heading my daughter had written:

“At home I am responsible for looking after my hamster, this has helped me develop my leadership skills.”

Anne Johnston, Dornoch, Sutherland

You may laugh; I did. But actually the letter writer has raised an important point. The modern, politically correct thing is to give weight to everyone’s point of view, even if they have no perspective, skill or self-knowledge. No longer can we have right or wrong, it seems. The experience of years (the teacher’s) cannot be the defining judgement. Oh, no. The teenage student has to weigh in, revealing that she has nothing to say except daft claptrap. Business schools value tech-talk and long conceptuual wording over actual experience and knowledge of how to manage human beings. Their approach to life, it seems, has seeped down to some Highland secondary school, so help me.

Yes, I am taking it all too seriously. Good luck with basing your future career on your relationship with a hamster!

P.S. Epicurus based his career on equal relationships between thoughtful and intelligent people, whether male, female, slave or free. In those days they had the concept of accumulated wisdom and respected older people for at least having had time to make mistakes and learn better from them.