I READ with interest the latest Programme for Student Assessment (Pisa) results – they reflect very poorly on our education system and on our culture, with cultural issues predominating (“Anger after schools have worst results in reading and science”, The Herald, December 7). To anyone who has seen the BBC documentary called School Swap, where three youngsters from Wales attended schools in South Korea, then all the talk about the critical importance to attainment of pupil and parental aspirations suddenly makes sense. In the lifetimes of many readers, the majority of South Koreans were illiterate. After the Korean War, the South Koreans realised that the way forward was through education and the drive for learning and qualifications has never faltered since then. Not least with North Korea on their doorstep.

Interestingly enough, when it comes to basic literacy and numeracy in particular, the teaching methods in South Korea are quite “old-fashioned” and there is a lot of rote learning. As a former teacher of English, I have never had the slightest problem in encouraging rote learning of the basics as a means of encouraging creativity. My favourite maths teachers say the same thing. But the really striking thing about South Korea is the dedication of the children and the parents themselves rather than the quality of teaching or even of resources. Indeed, as the BBC documentary demonstrated, there is a religious zeal underpinning their determination to succeed. With levels of commitment like that on the part of parents and pupils, teachers could probably get away with blue murder when it comes to methods and materials.

So perhaps it is not the existence of poverty that leads to a diminution of aspiration and determination among Scotland's poor, but rather their response to that poverty. Do they make poverty an excuse for failure or do they use it to spur them on to better things? It is interesting to note, for example, that whether Chinese children are from poor or from privileged backgrounds, they all seem to have high aspirations and a determination to succeed through education. As a result, the gap in attainment among the haves and the have-nots of the Chinese community is narrow almost to the point of non-existence.

The Scottish Government is pinning its hopes of closing the attainment gap on pouring resources into the areas of greatest need. And it wants to devolve more power to school heads and parents. Empowering local decision-making is a legitimate aim, and extra resources can make a big difference – but only if local decision-makers, heads and parents alike, are of the highest quality in terms of their commitment to the importance of education and in their knowledge of how to use the resources wisely.

The biggest challenge will still be to change our culture. How do we persuade poor and often hapless parents and pupils to rediscover that education is the solution and not an irrelevance to their needs? Perhaps we should start by educating the parents about their attitudinal role in the matter and rely less on state intervention that is otherwise bound to be at best limited in its effects and, at worst, an awful waste of money.

Richard Lynas,

89 Courthill Avenue, Cathcart, Glasgow.

SINCE I was, for several years, a member of the EIS education committee, nobody should be surprised that I take offence when I read phrases like “appeasing the vested interests of ... the teacher unions” (Bill Nicol, Letters, December 8). However I can confirm that I and my former colleagues did indeed have vested interests, namely the success of the pupils that we taught in our day jobs and in whom we invested our professional and emotional capital, and the success of our own children who were studying and in some cases working in schools at the time.I have never been sure of when the Scottish education system was world-leading but it certainly seems to predate the appearance of International comparisons, which rather begs the question of how we knew this “fact”. On the other hand I can be reasonably sure about the genesis of its decline and this would pre-date the current Scottish Government and even the existence of the Scottish Parliament. For much of the last 20 years of my teaching career the prevailing culture was one of a constant cycle of change accompanied by continuing cuts to education budgets. It is probably testament to the hard work and commitment that goes into the system daily that we have not reached this point sooner.

The solution that Mr Nicol and many others suggest is to give more control to schools and, in particular, head teachers. While some would, no doubt, rub their hands at the prospect, many others would see this as a good ruse to devolve the management of blame for any failure down to school level. It is notable that the analysis of what works in successful systems seems to show a subtle balance between allowing schools and teachers professional autonomy while offering good quality external support.

For our schools to climb up the table again we need to see political vested interests put to one side and consensus in planning the way forward. After all everybody wants the same outcome. Don’t they?

Robin Irvine,

4 Abercromby Place West, Helensburgh.

THOSE times when "the educational system in Scotland was held in high regard" (Letters, December 8) prevailed until roughly the mid-1960s when the fateful policy of comprehensivisation was imposed, and the closure implemented (by rabid socialist ideologues) of those magnificent secondary schools which had refined their scholastic and scientific output so expertly that their pupils could confidently take on the world, including the finest from England's public schools, and remain proud for life of the institution which had nurtured them.

The ancient High School of Glasgow was one of those revered establishments. I attended it in the 1960s and am still in awe of its foundational principles: authority, breadth, rigour and ethos. Authority – a charismatic headteacher inspiring the highest standards in staff and boys; breadth – the normal Leaving Certificate embraced Higher English, maths, sciences, classical and modern languages, possibly with history, geography, music and art; rigour – the level of mastery demanded equated to second year university nowadays; ethos – that most important element of all, an atmosphere of excited devotion to academic learning stimulated by boys from all backgrounds whose studies thrived without bullying, discrimination or indiscipline, in a milieu solely dedicated to learning's advance and rounded personalities against a background of centuries-long tradition.

But all that was contemptible to some with power they were incompetent to wield. So it is the supreme tragedy of Scotland in the last 50 years that such excellence was so wilfully obliterated and such a pathetic substitute, today in the form of a so-called Curriculum for Excellence, installed – to the heart-breaking detriment of her youth.

Stuart Mitchell,

29 Windyedge Crescent, Glasgow.

DR Alan Britton, a senior teacher at Glasgow University's School of Education, brings balance to the outcry over the Pisa results (“Pisa provides flawed foundation for major school reform”, The Herald, December 7), pointing out that Pisa "offers only a snapshot of what has changed over three years in only three aspects of education and from a relatively small sample of students". It must also be remembered that John Swinney only became the Cabinet Secretary for Education in May of this year, and his listening approach has been widely welcomed.

I read the letters from Bill Brown and Ian W Thomson (December 8) with astonishment. Mr Brown suggests that part of the problem can be illustrated by the traffic cone on the Duke of Wellington's statue as "indicative of a society where officialdom and the ‘powers that be’ are often treated with flippancy and contempt". I would suggest that the traffic cone, which has become as much of an institution as the Iron Duke himself, is an indication of the pure dead brilliant Glaswegian sense of humour, but I admire Mr Brown for gamely admitting that it is "a rather bizarre observation to make". Mr Thomson's reminder of the severe discipline in the schools of yesteryear and the dreaded belt which he describes as "a teaching aid" should make us heartily glad that those days are past now, and in the past they must remain. The young children I know enjoy going to school and a happy, positive atmosphere must make learning easier and more enjoyable all round. Certainly, there are important issues which must be addressed, but in appointing John Swinney to his post I believe that Nicola Sturgeon could not have put the future education of our children into safer or more careful hands.

Ruth Marr,

99 Grampian Road,

Stirling.

CAROLE Ford (Letters, December 8) yet again lambasts the SNP education policy. I agree that she has a point. However, I don't recall that the School Leaders raised any objections whatsoever to the implementation of Curriculum for Excellence.

Roy Gardiner,

12 Wellpark Grove, Kilmarnock.

TEACHING children to read and the development of arithmetic skills have never been the SNP's priority for schools. There are much more pressing issues of social engineering and philosophical moulding to attend to.

Today (December 8), the Scottish Parliament’s Equalities and Human Rights Committee has taken evidence from some primary schools pupils from West Lothian. To quote the official report, "the children were able to share some of their priorities ... including rights around gender, education, the environment, personal safety and children’s rights. Members agreed to take on board the young people’s views across their parliamentary work."

Some parents might prefer that primary school children were in their classrooms learning basic academic skills, rather than being paraded in the Parliament in order to make MSPs seem particularly enlightened.

"Gender" and "environment", or reading and maths? Would the SNP like to take on board parents' views of which should be prioritised?

Richard Lucas,

11 Broomyknowe, Colinton, Edinburgh.