Some of us are academic, at home behind desks.

Some are practical, at home behind a bench.

Neither are superior to the other, and whether we wear a suit or dungarees is irrelevant.

But somehow the idea has emerged that only people who went to university and who wear suits are successful.

Ridiculous.

Whether they are called School Certificate, as when I went to school, O-Levels, CSEs or GCSEs doesn’t matter.

What is important is that schoolchildren study what is right for them, and emerge with a qualification that reflects their skills.

If they go on to an apprenticeship, emerging as an engineer or a carpenter, that’s right for them.

If they go on to university and emerge as a solicitor or a financial adviser, that’s right for them.

When I was a secondary teacher, I watched the woodwork and metalwork shops closed down, and pupils obliged to do something called Craft, Design & Technology, and involved using a carpentry bench as a desk and sitting at it doing academic work – it broke my heart.

All that wonderful practical equipment allowed to rot. And pupils who found academic work beyond them forced to sit at desks or a computer.

The answer? Ask the teachers of Year 6 to advise as to who goes on to a practical college, and who to an academic one. Give the parents a say before making the final decision.

No test. Just as Year 13 choose their options for their final two school years with guidance from teachers and parents.

That way we get round pegs in round holes, and specialist artisans.

And we would have skilled people helping to bring us out of recession, plus no frustrated and hence aggressive sixteen-year- olds trashing anything they can lay their hands on.

John Stanton Leicester Avenue Rochford

...Michael Gove is the first Education Secretary in 50 years who actually cares about raising standards.

It would be unforgivable if Labour and the Lib Dems prevent these long overdue changes from coming into effect. Let’s hope Prime Minister David Cameron backs him, even if it means throwing Nick Clegg and co out of the Cabinet.

Nigel Blore
Mercer Road
Billericay