WITH reference to the Oxford Mail article in July 13, on page four, headlined ‘Schools must lead efforts to boost reading’, the headline correctly implies that schools are continuing more than 40 years of failure since very rigorous infant teaching was abandoned in the 1960.

Val Smith is reported as saying “what can we do with the children themselves without the home support to foster a culture of a love of books?”

What we must do, Val, is what we did when I went to school. My schools fostered in me a love of books, and the teaching system I experienced worked for orphans, some of whom I met in the navy. But now, because teaching methods are inadequate, the onus falls upon the home, even if you don’t have one!

Melinda Tilley is reported as saying: “schools need an awful lot of parental support and if children don’t get it, they’re at a disadvantage from the start.”

Yes, Melinda, that’s because mainstream classroom teaching methods do not work at all, for any kid, hence the subsequent importance of parental help.

The real problem is that teacher training colleges do not instruct prospective teachers how to teach literacy to infants; the assumption being that if they have a degree then they should ‘know’.

S NICHOLSON, Campbell Road, Cowley