I WOULD have thought that the TES Scotland would be leading the search for routes out of the Higher Still crisis, not indulging in personality attacks as in the “Spoiling his paper” piece about Lindsay Paterson in Jotter (August 25). The notion that people who speak out may suffer in their careers is neither new nor occasion for a serious journal to celebrate.
Professor Paterson is a superb advocate for comprhensive schools, as well as a perceptive critic of the habits and hierarchies of complacency which have brought Higher Still down into the mire of unworkability.
In the midst of the worst crisis in Scottish education, it might be better for the TESS to question those who wouldn’t listen, rather than those who offer warnings loud and clear.
John Aberdein
Grieveship Brae, Stromness, Orkney
