ALTHOUGH I’ve always wondered about criteria for inclusion, I am disturbed by a lack of substance and comment current in the letters page; so perhaps one on the plight of British education might act as a stimulant.

A recent report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) found English school leavers among the least literate and numerate in the developed world; the report strongly indicates an education system barely fit for purpose.

Presumably it’s unintended irony when an actor’s voice ends an ad with: ‘You do the math’.

To survive as a civilised nation and transcend the slings and arrows of an outrageous world, requires high earning and organisation.

The bleakness of the OECD report is borne out by a British Chamber of Commerce statement that many employers have been left “disheartened and downright frustrated” by poor levels of literacy, numeracy, communication and time-keeping among school leavers and graduates, which bears out much of what Chris Woodhead has said. And now, as if to add piquancy, we have the Birmingham Community Safety Partnership report. So what causes poor results?

They spring direct from the Marxist armoury that introduced political correctness notions into education, during an era of high immigration, which proved a source of status and enrichment for numbers of would-be middle class elements.

Everything worthwhile about Britain’s past is denigrated by the left, using pseudo-Marxist theories that attack soft targets – chiefly the young and impressionable.

Leftists should spend a long time pondering Aldous Huxley’s prophetic introduction to Brave New World.

STEPHEN WARD

Tudor Close

Oxford