Sir, – It is ironic that Ian d’Alton (July 25th) should on the one hand want students to be taught how to think, while on the other decry subjects that do precisely that. I refer to Latin and Greek in particular. Both these subjects require precision in the use of language and this comes from prior precision of thought.
I would have believed it obvious that these skills could be applied to science and technology with profit. At the very least, precision in language would help us to avoid using the grandiose to describe the ordinary.
If education does not teach students to identify the real from the artificial, the profound from the superficial, the permanent from the temporary and the important from the trivial, then it has failed and no amount of entrepreneurial spirit or knowledge will make the slightest difference or make up the deficiency. – Yours, etc,
D KEOGH,
Killarney Heights,
Bray,
Co Wicklow.