I read with interest your article (TESS, March 22) about how Glasgow’s middle classes seem to be fleeing from the state secondary schools into private education.
Perhaps I could offer a few thoughts on why middle class parents do not want their children to be held back in S1 and S2 by them being put into mixed-ability classes where a disproportionate amount of the teacher’s time is taken up by pupils who are slow learners or who persistently display disruptive behaviour. Nor do the parents wish time to be wasted in S3 and S4 by being forced to do a number of fairly pointless short courses in the “technology and creative modes”.
I have been working for the last 25 years in the state education sector here but, if I had the chance, I would now gladly send my children to a suitable private school.
WILLIAM COOPER 5 Highfield Circle Kinross
