YP Letters: Thinking critically is a vital skill in schools

THERE are a variety of ways of defining a “good school”. Libby Nicholas lodges herself at one political pole by saying ”the most important thing for successful schools is they teach a curriculum that is very rich in subject knowledge” (The Yorkshire Post, October 7).

Effectively that is saying that successful schools get pupils to pass exams which are heavy in subject knowledge. Unfortunately the world is not that simple.

Her view of “skills” as “allowing pupils an insight into why some of them find learning difficult and why others seem to learn quickly” is unnecessarily restricted. She ignores the “skills” needed to understand a subject. Knowing that “John was a bad king, whilst Richard III was a great king” is worthless unless one knows the process through which that judgement was made. History is a life skill it teaches us to weigh up evidence, not to just accept it.

Science, too, is based on reasoning skills, as well as practical ones. In Year 9 I was top of the class in Woodwork Theory and bottom in Practical. My knowledge was worthless because I could not apply it, other than in a theory exam. I was unceremoniously told “Next year Davies, you are doing Art”.

People who propound the primacy of subject knowledge seem to fear that pupils will develop a questioning attitude to life rather than just accepting what is presented. In the real world things are frequently not what they seem, in many cases there is no “right” or “wrong”, but it takes skill to recognise that.

In some subjects, like Woodwork, practical skills are vital. In Science, practical and reasoning skills are needed to apply subject knowledge effectively. In other subjects, the balance is different.

The modern world is far too complex for anyone to know everything. The recent referendum showed the need for critical thinking and an ability to investigate information to determine its veracity. Was Richard III a great king?

Cyclists free to flout law

From: Peter Hyde, Driffield.

OH how things have changed and not necessarily for the better. In 1954 the ‘Brakes on Pedal Cycles Act came into force and,as a young bobby in Hull, I was set to stop people going to work and inspect the brakes and told to issue a verbal caution to anyone who had deficient brakes. A month later, the force had a blitz and numerous cyclists were taken to court and fined.

Today we see people happily flouting the law while riding cycles. It is common to see cyclists ride on footpaths to avoid stopping at red traffic lights, while cyclists without any form of lights ride at night.

The fact is that as a cyclist you are able to totally ignore any laws is solely due to the fact that, until an accident happens, our hard working police just don’t have the time to bother with minor infringements by cyclists or any other road user for that matter.

Standstill on motorways

From: Arthur Quarmby, Underhill, Holme.

WHERE did all the money come from in the 1960s to build – in a very few years – pretty well the whole of the British motorway network, when nowadays we cannot even afford even one new one, but have to do with a bit of widening by taking in the hard shoulder?

What price the truth?

From: Keith Turnbull, Doncaster.

EDDIE Peart believes the truth about Orgreave, regardless of cost, is much more important than expenditure on other things including general elections.

Many reports suggest that the police waded in first and therefore initiated the battle.

The reports of the injured show more police casualties than pickets, which concurs with the view of Dr Hilary Andrews (The Yorkshire Post, October 3) who was an acting A&E doctor at the time.

What is to be gained by using taxpayers’ money to fund a public inquiry on this issue? I believe we can draw our own conclusions from the facts that are available.

Making the headlines

From: Colin Cawthray, Stowe Garth, Bridlington.

RE the letter ‘We want better service from the BBC’ (The Yorkshire Post, October 4).

Paul Kirby criticises Look North due to the amount of time – 80 per cent of the programme – spent on the Olympic heroes parade. I have often wondered if Look North from Leeds is a fit for purpose programme.

Some time last month, the first item on both the lunchtime and 6.30pm bulletins was Yorkshire CCC losing the title, the second item was about a sex abuser’s jail sentence. This happens quite often. Is the programme a sports or local news programme?

I am fortunate that I can also watch Look North East presented by Peter Levy, a consummate professional. He presents local news first and sport towards the end of the programme.

Incidentally why does Look North Leeds need two presenters when the national news only needs one?