Letter: Term-time holidays

Sir: Parents who take their children out of school for holidays in term-time are downgrading the importance of school in their children's eyes. They clearly feel that it is more important for them to have a cheaper holiday than to support the teachers in educating their children.

Until parents stop putting holidays before education in schools, we will not develop the sort of positive culture of education that our society needs. Marian McCain's sarcastic hyperbole that "teachers would prefer children to be manacled to their desks" shows how out of touch she is with reality.

J M DAVIES

Yelverton, Devon