Jim Young in his letter (Letters, December 27), says that interested parents and volunteers can “add to the mix” and they will continue to be present in schools.

Fine, but what would we think if a boarding school was “rescued” by parents and volunteers and that one of the volunteers was defending that situation in the local press and also telling us the situation would continue? If we had children there, how much confidence would we have in leaving them there?

Mr Young mentions a “fixed scale of school hours”. Can he show how this scale works and make a comparison with the hours I received in infant literacy teaching in 1958? That was four hours daily, 20 weekly, approxinmately 1,600 in total by the time I was aged seven in 1960 – and no requirement for volunteers or parents.

The state infant school I attended was like a boarding school in that there was no requirement for home help and we went home every day.

He states: “I do have a problem, though, with the idea that learning can only take place in school – the whole of life is a continuing learning process.”

I agree with this bland and out-of-context platitude and would add that a good start in infant school is essential for the school years after age seven, as the whole of school life should be a continuing learning process.

He goes on to mention his own successful 1958 school experiences of “rote”, which obviously propelled him through his school years and prepared him, like me, for a life of continual learning – no volunteers there then?

He criticises “continual examination”, but in 1958 we had continual monitoring of one of the teachers looking over our shoulders with advice from day one, so no examinations were required for infants then.

He also criticises those who make educational decisions for sending their kids to “old style” (private) schools. Mr Young and I were educated in “old style” (state) schools. If you think today’s system is worth defending, why not advise the “old style” (private) schools to start using inadequate teaching methods so that they can then justify using parents and volunteers? If you don’t like that idea, why not help to reinstate infant school literacy hours to 1950s levels – it’s what parents do at home because the schools fail to.

Last, but not least, does Mr Young have “previous”? Is he really just an enthusiastic local Reading Campaign volunteer or does he/did he work in education and have an interest to defend?

S NICHOLSON Campbell Road Oxford