Can we learn from divide on education?

YOUR interesting report on a North-South divide in educational attainment raises a number of questions (Yorkshire Post, November 25).

Are the differences in GCSE grades between different areas statistically significant? If not, is there a problem?

Are the judgements made by Ofsted inspectors valid and reliable?

If not, should their procedures be investigated before considering the divide?

However, for the sake of argument, let us assume valid and reliable differences exist.

Then the next question must be can the South, including London’s schools, offer a model that could be adopted by the north?

It seems a number of London academies place great emphasis on unthinking obedience.

Uniforms must be worn; shoes must be black and well-polished; pupils must rise when a visitor enters the room.

One observer has described the pupils as “cowed”.

Moreover, there is a long-
hours culture in which pupils 
are drilled and drilled 
and drilled.

Imposed respect, if that is 
not a contradiction in terms, may offer an easier life for the teacher but is of limited value in promoting responsible self-reliance in the pupil.

Parrot-learning may yield a grade C but does nothing to help future application to a new problem.

So is this the way forward? Of course not!

From: Valerie Moody, Rosedale, Hodge Lane, Little Smeaton, Pontefract.

Further to your Big Debate with regard to the North-South divide, I concur with Arthur Quarmby, (Yorkshire Post, November 28) when he says a problem occurs with the mindset of people living below the Watford Gap.

This was illustrated for us some time ago when a relative who had been made redundant from his position at work flatly refused to even consider any jobs offered up here “in’t North”. Leaving Essex was not an option.

I flew into Doncaster-Sheffield Airport last week at 1pm and was amazed and saddened to see exactly two aircraft, including the one I had disembarked from, in this huge area. Nothing else to be seen anywhere.

I have written about my concerns over the viability of this airport continuing to operate and wonder why passengers from the South East could not travel North to fly from Doncaster instead of continually enlarging facilities in the South where airs pace is already overcrowded.

I have had to travel to Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted on many occasions – so how is it different for our facilities at Doncaster, superb potential as they have, not to be used to the full?

An answer to his prayers

From: William Dixon Smith, Welland Rise, Acomb, York.

In his Saturday Essay (Yorkshire Post, November 30), the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, states: “If we truly want to tackle the issue of such widespread inequality in society then we must find solutions that do not just give people a hand-out, but give them a hand-up to lift them out of poverty.”

I recall such a solution in operation: the welfare state.

Only governments can deal effectively with problems on this scale.

If private donations were the answer, we could run the country on voluntary taxation.

One burden faced by the poor that the Archbishop neglects to mention is council tax.

The Government acts like an absentee landlord of old, sighing sympathetically but insisting on payment from rich and poor alike.

Food banks are a shameful thing, and a telling symbol of our failure to build a just society.

Motorway link beats HS2

From: Philip Wilks, Lumley Street, Castleford

RARELY do I agree with Ed Balls, but his brave stance on HS2 must surely be his saving grace.

The £50bn and rising budget for HS2 cannot possibly be value for money for the people of Yorkshire.

The almost gridlocked M62 has now been forced into using the safety hard shoulder, and similar provisions are to start on the M1.

While I agree that these measures are the only quick option, they can only be classed as a stop-gap measure.

The M67, which is already 
built in Lancashire, should now be extended to Sheffield, Rotherham and Barnsley so as to relieve the M62 and join the fifth and sixth most populous cities in the UK with their first motorway link.

At a budget of about £1.25bn, this would surely be better value for money and render the region more economically viable and efficient, while avoiding future gridlock and ensuring much safer and less stressful journeys.

Independence from London

From: Nigel F Boddy, Fife Road, Darlington.

THE main driving force behind calls for Scottish independence is not the difference between England and Scotland but the difference between London and the rest of the UK.

Scots want to exercise control over immigration by pulling up the drawbridge at Berwick and Carlisle.

They see open immigration 
as madness. The provinces 
agree.

MPs at Westminster believe letting as many people as possible move to London brings prosperity.

They won’t admit that London’s success is in part about speculating in property.

Much of this is dangerous and some of it is fraudulent.

Whoever we send to Westminster to speak for us will in the end become someone with a vested interest in the London property market.

If we moved the Government out of London, the unity of Britain might just be saved.

Parliament runs Britain as if only London matters.