Letter: Homework: last straw for pupils

Sir: I am appalled by the Labour Party's proposal about homework times ("Schools head Blair's election agenda",13 January). I already attend school for seven hours a day, five days a week - 35 hours at school each week. Add to this my present time spent on homework - about an hour per day - and I already work 40 hours a week. If I have to work an extra half an hour per night, that will be forty-two-and-a-half hours. That is more than an average working adult.

I have always felt that I and other secondary school children (answering all those questions for the teachers) should get paid for our labour at school and home. However, I never complain, I just sit and persevere. But now, I have been pushed over the edge. It is time to negotiate a pay settlement - at least pounds 2,000 per annum. Terms are negotiable. My times are limited, but I could manage a working packed lunch.

JONATHAN DALTON

(aged 14)

Datchet, Berkshire