From the archive: Letters from readers: Scottish education 18 June, 1929

Published on 18/06/2012 00:00

SIR, The letter signed “A Lady Teacher” in to-day’s Scotsman answers, I think, the question so often asked: what is wrong with our education?

It hits the nail on the head at any rate on one matter. Education cannot be measured out by years, or according to age, as if minds were like yards of cloth. I am delighted that a teacher has the courage to admit that modern education is not producing results equal to those of former days. No doubt the old dominie was not perfect and schools were not palatial, but boys, and even a few girls, went forth from them to “conquer the world”, and to make Scotland famous for its education. For my part, I do not believe in the value of “a smattering of science”, and I wish the time so spent were given to history, without which there can be no training in citizenship. Scottish history is the Cinderella of subjects. Louisa Innes Lumsden