I NOTE with interest the article from John Dickie, director of the Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland, (“There is clear evidence growing up in poverty undermines attainment”, The Herald April 18). There have been many warnings to the effect that poverty blights attendance at school for a large number of our children. There are those today going to school hungry and with poverty-related mental and physical issues. We have reports by teachers of children arriving at school dirty, with defective teeth, and unsuitable shoes. We are aware that many children live in damp conditions and, as a result, some indicate that they like going school because it is a warm place to be. How, as a result of factors such as these, can the school experience for so many children be anything other than profoundly unsatisfactory?
It is also reported (“Poorest pupils face postcode lottery over exam results”, The Herald, April 18) that there is, moreover, a significant gap in deprived communities to such an extent, indeed, that pupils in some disadvantaged areas are performing more than twice as well as those attending school in disadvantaged areas elsewhere in Scotland. Is it again any real surprise that schools in what are described as “poor neighbourhoods” in local authority areas like East Dunbartonshire and East Renfrewshire achieved better results than similarly classified areas in the likes of South Lanarkshire and Edinburgh City?
Clearly, life is not fair, and is unlikely ever to be completely so. However, the Scottish Government has failed many of our young and must move on from simply blaming Westminster and do better to improve the educational lot of our children.
Ian W Thomson,
38 Kirkintilloch Road,
Lenzie.
I CONCUR with the reminiscences and observations from John Black (Letters, April 17) in all he makes comment on.
Both my maternal and paternal grandmothers were brought up in the village of St Vigeans, Arbroath, from families that lived in a row of cottages with the barest amenities so described.
I well recall one grandmother, who had borne nine children with seven reaching adulthood, carrying two pails of water several times a day from the pump that served the needs of the villagers, the daily ritual of cleaning a large paraffin lamp that provided light in what could be regarded as the living room, cooking on a stove that adjoined the ever-lit open fireplace with my grandfather cleaning out as and when necessary the outside toilet., the contents of which along with the quicklime were put on the plot at the back door whereby he grew a splendid selection of vegetables. Recycling with a purpose, indeeed.
The children of both families did not have much in material wealth but had the care, comfort and love of their parents and on receiving adequate education at the village school went on to have fulfilling and meaningful lives.
My mother told of the introduction of a children’s benefit (as I think it was) of whatever amount brought about by Lloyd George (as Chancellor as I believe he was at the time) with her mother remarking: “It is to help you, not to keep you.”
How would that comment be received in present day times? The created wealth of today by a large sector of the population by whatever means has certainly not brought happiness and contentment.
John Macnab,
175 Grahamsdyke Street, Laurieston,
Falkirk.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel