Letter: Must try harder

I ATTENDED a parents' evening in our local primary school this week when the headmistress gave us a briefing of what the Curriculum for Excellence is all about. It was the most depressing insight into the minds of the Scottish education establishment I've ever had – and I've had a few. Apparently, one of the intentions of the campaign is to reduce the gap between the highest and the lowest achievers (an accidental lapse into the Marxist language they normally use about money, per

What this means wasn't made clear; presumably the intention is to bring the lowest up, rather than the highest down, but I wouldn't bet on it. It's a strange way of putting it, though.

Worse than that were their plans to enable parents, other schools and employers to see the progress of children through their primary school years. The strategy? To replace the current six-tier Level A to Level F in English and maths with a three-level system.

How that's supposed to help identify progress was beyond the headmistress's imagination. And mine. The sooner we can get rid of this ridiculous "government" in Holyrood and allow the free schools option to be made available in Scotland, the better.

Andrew Peters

Clarendon Mews

Linlithgow