Lessons from education past

AS the Education Secretary Michael Gove seems to be looking backwards rather than forwards in the matter of examinations, I wonder if any of your readers remember the School Certificate which was abolished in 1951.

If you got five credits, you were awarded your Matriculation, which enabled you to go on to Higher School Certificate at 18.

My certificate was administered by the University of London and there was never any argument about its validity. I never understood why this exam fell out of favour but I suspect that it was too hard for most children and the Government had started thinking about comprehensive schools. Is this a sign for the future?

Winging it

From: Gerry Vickers, Poole Lane, Burton Salmon, Leeds.

WHY, when someone is firmly believed to be at the top of an aeroplane in flight, is it described as “wing walking”?

How can standing in the same spot throughout the flight be wing walking? When some brave soul actually takes a stroll to the end of the wing and back, perhaps accompanied by a suitable dog, say an Airedale or a Skye terrier, then that really will be wing walking.

School run

From: Andrew Mercer, Guiseley.

DO so many children need to travel to and from school by car?

They never used to in my day. What can be done to stop the school run choking our roads at peak times?