February 2, 1929

Sir, I have just been officially notified about the proposed reorganisation of schools into junior and senior schools. It is the duty of everyone concerned to try to make the experiment a success, but I hope that no one will assume that the majority of children have completed their elementary education at 11. Many children have not mastered the three Rs at 14. There is a danger of too much handwork being taught at the expense of English and arithmetic. The majority of working men and women are still inarticulate.

W Margrie 65 Trafalgar Road, SE London

50 years ago

February 5, 1954

In its report on the second paper of the examination in English literature at advanced level the Joint Matriculation Board pays tribute to the few candidates who gave delight by their distinction of mind. It notes too the much larger band who produced satisfactory work. But such candidates were, to an extent that shocked the examiners, in a minority. All eight examiners reported that a high proportion presented the fruits of their study of acknowledged English classics in a written form that was, to a serious degree, illiterate. The evidence of ignorance about the most elementary points of English usage was frightful and frightening.

25 years ago

An industrial dispute kept the TES out of production from November 30, 1978 to November 16, 1979.