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Saturday's Letters: Criticisms of A-level approach don't add up
ELIZABETH Truss (Yorkshire Post, June 17) yearns for A-level students to be given room to produce longer, more structured and self-critical answers to their exam papers, but avoids any critique of her own view.
She may be right that pupils should be challenged to let their talents range more widely over the subject studied and produce longer essays, but do no concerns arise from using this as the basis for A-level exams?
Ms Truss decries mark schemes "specifying the specific keywords" in answers to shorter questions. Leaving aside the tautology, the alternative (and the old system) is a subjective view of whether one teenager's long essay is better than another teenager's long essay. The more subjectivity there is, the more difficult it is to grade papers fairly or to apply consistency between markers.
The more specific the mark scheme, the greater the assurance that a candidate has been marked fairly. More leeway for a marker to reward a well-written but tangential answer by someone who has not studied the syllabus properly is not necessarily in the interests of those who have studied hard.
Ms Truss says the increase in participation in post-16 education has slowed, which may be true, though perhaps inevitable, and almost certainly not because the exam questions are shorter. Linking the two does not imply causation, and would score a low mark in a biology exam.
She mentions diplomas briefly but says they are of no use. Surely it is worth mentioning that the advanced diplomas are designed in participation with universities (and employers) in order to attract more pupils to stay in education post-16 and to prepare them for university?
It is not clear why Use of Maths A-level is singled out for criticism: among other things it involves the study of statistical analysis. Plenty of mathematicians who can prove theorems of Pythagoras from scratch couldn't interpret the data correctly from a piece of medical research, because the skills are different.
The finer points of confidence intervals might not provide the delight that can be obtained from observing the beauty of geometric and algebraic truths as you sprout wings and ascend toward the blue skies of pure mathematics, but what can?
From: Dominic Rayner, Gledhow Avenue, Roundhay, Leeds.
Labour to blame for BNP success
From: John Abbott, Newland Avenue, Hull.
COUN Ralph Berry (Yorkshire Post, June 16) is half, but only half, right in his analysis of whether proportional representation lumbered the electorate with two British National Party MEPs.
Granted, the BNP have won local council seats by first past the post; and Coun Berry is right to suggest that the antics of BNP councillors and MEPs will probably be enough to see them off at the next election.
This will not, however, address the concerns that lead people to vote BNP in the first place.
As long as New Labour brown-nose the EU, the BNP can wrap themselves in the flag; as long as Labour's immigration policy is a mix of political correctness and crass incompetence, the BNP can raise race scares and have them believed.
The answer to stopping the BNP is not changing the electoral system; it is changing the Government.
Lessons of respect
From: D Hinchliffe, Woodhouse Lane, Brighouse, West Yorkshire
I READ with interest and approval the article by Leyden Flint (Yorkshire Post, June 6).
It takes a good teacher to have fun in the classroom yet maintain discipline and gain the respect of the pupils. He/she must know where to draw the line – too much fun and there is chaos!
Mr Flint says that respect has now gone out of the classroom window. I would venture to say that it has gone out of so many other windows, hence the sad state of today's society.
Concern over sports centres
From: Nigel Bywater, Airedale Terrace, Morley, Leeds.
I AM waiting to hear what Leeds City Council plans to do in regard to closing down six of our sports centres.
Some were said to be losing money and underused, and some sports centres that are only 30 odd years old have either been knocked down
or are planned to be knocked down.
I understand that money comes from the Government to build new sports centres, our tax money.
I certainly hope that whatever Leeds City Council decides to do, the result is an improvement of service to all users.
Winds of controversy still blow
From: Mark Gregory, Leeds Road, Rothwell, Leeds.
I would like to respond to the claims about wind power in Yorkshire Post letters from RD Wolstenholme.
Firstly, they mention the detrimental effect of wind farms on house prices. This is nonsense and I refer readers to supporting documents on the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' website by Dr Sally Sims and Peter Dent.
He then claims that "they" are put "anywhere" even if it's not windy because they are subsidised. What utter rubbish. All wind farms carry out wind monitoring before construction. If it's not windy enough, a wind farm will be rightly rejected.
The most ludicrous claim of all, and quite a common and easily overturned one, is that turbines don't pay back the energy that goes into making them. The energy and carbon payback time for a modern wind farm is about six months, on average. Most people are pleasantly surprised to find that out.
Finally, wind power projects in Yorkshire are either approved or rejected by local authority councillors. I ask only this of these councillors – please decide on the basis of the facts, and not myth, rumour and blatant scaremongering.
From: Stanley D Parr, Maple Avenue, Pershore, Worcestershire.
LIVING near both the Cotswolds and the Forest of Dean, it was interesting to read the letter from MP Woodcock (Yorkshire Post, June 13) regarding there being no wind turbines in either place.
The reason is we don't like them! They are terribly unsightly and ruin the beautiful views; they cost a fortune, kill many birds, are totally inefficient and produce only possibly 20 per cent max of their quoted output – and they rely on the wind blowing.
The wind does not blow down here in the Midlands, probably due to all the hills and things, so they would be a waste of money – although they are currently trying to get three put up near Evesham. They will have a fight on their hands.
We all know they are useless, but somebody is making a right killing, so the pressure to install them will continue.
Glad you enjoyed your holiday; we will try and keep it looking nice for when you can call again.
Bank's rate refusal
From: Jeffrey Rawcliffe, Warren Lane, Eldwick, Bingley.
I AM writing to your letters page to bring to the attention of the public what I consider to be outrageous behaviour of the Bank of Scotland.
Recently, we finished two years on a tracker mortgage, which has then reverted to a standard variable rate (SVR); this is, in fact, normal practice.
When I enquired, the rate was said to be 4.83 per cent.
I then asked if there were likely to be any further dropin interest rate as there has been several cuts in the Bank of England rate since
their last communication in December 2008, and even then not all the
reduction had been passed on.
The answer was a simple: "No further reduction."
The Bank of Scotland is part of HBOS which in turn is part of the Lloyds Banking Group, the bank we as taxpayers have sunk billions into to keep it afloat.
I therefore took the opportunity to telephone other associate members of the banking group. Lloyds TSB, Halifax, Birmingham Midshires and Cheltenham and Gloucester said they had been following all the rate cuts and were following a policy of their SVR being two per cent over base rate.
This equates to 2.5 per cent at the moment.
It beggars belief that the Bank of Scotland is allowed to charge an exorbitant rate of interest, nearly double, to its customers.
In my case, the difference in interest rates costs 390 each month, not just a few pounds!
One option to help a little might be to claim the extra interest against my expenses and revenue bill. Do you think I would get away
with that?
No confidence in Iraq probe
From: Phyllis Capstick, Hellifield, Skipton, North Yorkshire
HOW can anyone have any confidence in an inquiry into the war in Iraq (Yorkshire Post, June 15) if it is conducted behind closed doors?
What has happened to the openness and transparency in Government promised by Gordon Brown after all the dishonesty of recent times?
We were told by Tony Blair that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction targeted on us, ready to be implemented in 45 minutes.
This intelligence came from John Scarlett, who was later promoted and then knighted. Actions speak louder than words, especially where Tony Blair was concerned.
These actions tell us the war was contrived. Later, the goal posts were moved and then the reason for the war was to bring democracy to Iraq.
War should always be a last resort, not entered into on a whim of some
despot.
Fond memories of a classic car enthusiast
From: Shirley Burnhill, Cliffe Lane, Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire.
THE recent obituary (Yorkshire Post, May 15) of Allan Staniforth, engineer and motor enthusiast, prompted me to write to you.
As Northern Region Secretary of the Naylor Car Club, I contacted Allan's wife on the morning of the Bront Run (organised by Martyn Wise, ex-editor of the MG enthusiast magazine) which members of the NCC had entered. As the run took us into North Yorkshire, I asked her if she and Allan would like to join us for lunch.
We set off from Cleckheaton with nine TF1700 Naylor sports cars in convoy, arriving at the Sportsman Inn at Wath at 12 midday (a sunny day in June, 1997).
During our bar snack lunch, in walked Allan, whom we had never had the pleasure of meeting – and what a pleasure! He sat with us over a pint, chatting about the Naylor TF1700, which he had developed with Alastair Naylor back in the 1960s. Hand-built to order, no more than three cars had been together at the same time. Allan was quite overcome by seeing so many lined up in the car park and "in such wonderful condition after 30 years!" he exclaimed.
That was the first and last time I saw him, but he was so friendly, interesting, interested, enthusiastic and such delightful company that the memory of that meeting stays vividly in my mind to this day.
As we left the Sportsman, Allan shook hands with Tim Chapman from Cheshire, who had owned his TF1700 from new.
He was so pleased to meet Allan, as evidenced by the photo, as we all were.
I was sad to read of his passing and would like to express our deep sympathy to his wife, family friends, and colleagues, who must greatly miss him.
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Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 26 May 2012
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Temperature: 8 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
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