Letter: Hint from the Government: get out of that state school

Sir: "Popular schools which are oversubscribed will be given the resources to expand." ("Reading standards at low point", 27 January). This dreadful Conservative promise always omits the inevitable sequel: "They will then become exceedingly large and impersonal and thus less popular."

And the corollary, too obvious for members of the Government to need to say at all: "Do not suggest expanding the public school which I used to attend, because this could alter its character."

For the last forty years, size, and with it bureaucracy, have increased steadily in secondary schools. If the Government's idea of a reward for success is a further increase in size, is it surprising that those who joined the teaching profession 30 or 40 years ago react by making for the exit?

IVOR CHAPMAN

London E17