Education

Press, 22 July 1989, Page 20

Education

Sir, —My sincere thanks to Dr Maris O’Rourke for her statement on education (July 15). To my thanks must be added that of those parents who are greatly concerned about their children’s education, also that of the liberal members of the teaching profession and that of people generally who worry over the future of our country. Dr O’Rourke has taught us all a very important lesson, viz, how to vote at the next election. If the remarks of the chief executive-designate for the ministry honestly mirror the views of the Labour Party on education then everyone must realise that that party must never ascend again to the Treasury Benches where they can direct the education of the young through such vague, pointless, ill-chosen avenues. — Yours, etc., GUY C. BLISS. July 18, 1989.

Sir,—The mainstreaming that is integrating physically and intellectually handicapped children into normal schools should start right from when the child starts play centre. This is because the younger the children are the more likely they are to stare. If they were to see disabled children coping in a normal environment, I believe social attitudes towards them would gradually change. Not all disabled children can be mainstreamed, but probably a lot could that are not now. The funding for this could be in place of the money the Government currently spends on advertising cigarettes as a main cause of lung cancer. I have been in normal schools all my life. I use a wheelchair and my peers have generally treated me like one of them.—Yours, etc., SALLY MCNULTY. July 19,1989.