Education must match modern world

the news that Michael Gove would like to bring back O-level exams has sent shockwaves through the education system and also some newspaper columnists indicating that all that this will provide is factory fodder.

The factories that are still in existence these days are hi-tech producers. The days of heavy manual work has long gone as workers are now limited as to how much they can lift.

Everybody that is employed in any industry has to be trained; whether they work at height or work machines they must pass a test to prove that they understand the skills and safety involved.

When I left school 48 years ago, the average number of pupils in the classes at the secondary school that I went to was above 40 and I cannot remember one person that could not read, write or do basic maths.

Today the education authority says a maximum of 25 pupils per class is the limit, yet there are more pupils leaving school without the basic 3Rs.

The world is getting more mechanical and electrical and somebody has to do the actual assembly of the machines and gadgets and going to university does not necessarily help to do this.

Woodwork and joinery used to be a major subject in schools as some pupils who were not the best academics were marvellous with their hands.

Now is the time to change the education system for the better. The number of young people that I have worked with who cannot think about anything except going out and getting legless is terrible.

Hidden charge for NHS calls

From: John Harrison, Rushmoor Road, Bradford.

NIGEL Bywater’s letter (Yorkshire Post, July 2) reminds us that the NHS was constructed as a free service.

How would Aneurin Bevan react if he was a patient of our local medical centre where they still operate their switchboard to ensure each and every patient seeking help of any kind is financially charged?

This is a direct result of the practice decision to use a 0844 number.

My mother and I have received telephone bills that range between 65p and 80p per call. As my mother is 81 and I am registered disabled we need to use the phone quite often, but in joining the practice I did not expect to a yearly bill that can cost up to £35.

I cannot think that anyone would sign up for such expense merely to get an appointment. I note with interest that many practices have accepted the government recommendation not to use the 0844 number.

Surely the time to end this tiresome and expensive tax is now?

From: Derek Hine, Carr Mount, Kirkheaton, Huddersfield.

CARE of the elderly is facing even more difficulties. The Government is attempting to encourage people to stay at home making use of an excellent team of poorly paid carers who try to scrape a living on just £6 per hour plus a low paid mileage rate.

Yet the caring agencies which work under contract to Social Services are preventing their workers from earning “a little bit extra” such as cleaning. The care workers have to struggle on their low pay yet they are precluded from showing an incentive and helping the old folk.

It’s time the Government and local authorities got their act together and assure the elderly that life would be more pleasant in the future.

Weather eye misses region

From: Arthur Quarmby, Holme, Holmfirth.

OVER the years, Yorkshire has been and remains disgracefully and consistently overlooked in the BBC national weather forecast.

The forecaster starts – of course – with London; they then moves along the South Coast to examine Devon and Cornwall, then north to Wales and across the sea to Northern Ireland and back across the sea to cover Scotland.

Finally a quick slip down the whole length of the country (when the eagle-eyed viewer might perhaps get a glimpse of God’s Own County), and straight back to finish where theye started, in London.

I should like to point out that in terms of population alone, Yorkshire is of far more consequence than the South-West, Wales, Northern Ireland or Scotland, and the route of the forecast should be changed to take this into account.

We sit back under these snubs for too readily!

No thanks, Mr Blair

From: Dorothy Cope, Beckwithshaw, Harrogate.

I FULLY agree with Terry Barry’s letter (Yorkshire Post, June 30). Tony Blair did more harm than good when he was PM, and now he comes back and suggests we might, in time, join the single currency causing even more ruin for the UK.

Could it be he is getting one up on his old “enemy” Gordon Brown? The only sensible thing Gordon Brown did was to keep us out of the euro!