I READ The Herald for a number of reasons but first and foremost for the Letters Pages. And what a cracking trio of letters we had from Stuart Mitchell, David Crawford and then John Edwards (July 2) in response to Kevin McKenna's article on the values of private education (“Private schools exist only to maintain power of the elite,” The Herald, June 29).

I write as the father of two graduate sons who have, between them, more degrees than your average American female singing group from the 1960s, including one doctorate.

I only managed the one (OU), at a very late age, and all of us products of state education. But let us be perfectly clear, as Mr Crawford says, what you buy from private education is contacts and privilege, not any kind of intellectual superiority. As evidence I give you Boris Johnson, David Cameron, Jacob Rees-Mogg and a multitude of others.

John Jamieson, Ayr.

I MUST apologise to Allan C Steele (Letters, July 3) for his disappointment at my performance; I’ve had the same comment often in a different context. In my defence I can assure him that my children completed both primary and secondary schooling with the same cohort of classmates and have retained more childhood friends than I did after my personal convoluted pathway through the state system.

Given my views on the iniquitous private schooling system my actions may seem hypocritical if at the same time perhaps strangely pragmatic, however the result was the outcome of extended family pressures and just as in the politics of Brexit, one side of the argument loses and just has to make the best of it and look for positives.

As to the financial burden, children are expensive little beasts to raise at the best of times even when educated in the state sector, and my £250,000 guesstimate was based on the possible accumulated compound interest from wisely investing schools fees and inevitable add-ons. Would I do it all again? I don’t really know; the only certainty is that I would have spent it all on them one way or another and would still be wondering if I did the right thing. Maybe I should have squandered it on sex, drugs and rock and roll: wait a minute....

David J Crawford, Glasgow G12.

YOUR current batch of university degree results includes an astonishing number of First-Class Honours. Does this indicate that today’s student is infinitely smarter than his/her counterpart from the 1960s and 70s? More to the point, should employers have any trust in modern university gradings? I certainly don’t.

Jack Irvine, Glasgow G46.

Glastonbury overkill

ASIDE from the phone-number remuneration levels, licence fee changes, excessive repeats and other “he would say that, wouldn’t he” comments from BBC Director-General Lord Hall ("Hall: BBC ‘now better on fair pay’", The Herald July 2), maybe he could “justify” devoting no less than 30 hours of TV programmes to Glastonbury in only three days from June 28-30, on BBC1, BBC2, BBC4 and BBC Scotland, plus another five hours just before and after these dates.

John Birkett, St Andrews.

Play nice

THELMA Edwards (Letters, July 3) could perhaps consider herself fortunate that when aged eight parental jurisdiction only barred her from a potential playmate from a not-so-well-to-do part of the town. At about the same age I got a new pair of dungarees and was told to play outside and keep them clean.

R Russell Smith, Kilbirnie.