Don't blame Brexit for Scotland's poor record in learning languages

A Google search will show that candidates for French and German effectively halved between 1996 and 2014 and the Scottish Government has done nothing to arrest that decline and promote the subjects despite shouting loudly about its pro-European policies and beliefs. As the old saying goes, “don’t spoil a good story by telling the whole truth”.

Duncan Sooman, Milngavie.

• MARY Thomas blames the continuing disastrous decline in the study of French and German in Scottish schools on Brexit. As someone who did their German O-Level in 1971, A-Level in 1973 and graduated in German Hons in 1978, I can honestly say that I did not start learning the language because of EEC or EU membership: the UK was not a member when I began. Nor was it a factor in my decision to continue to do so either.

My fellow Remainers from 2016 (such as Ms Thomas) really need to stop blaming Brexit for everything. And most people in the EU now speak (American) English anyway.

Peter A Russell, Glasgow.

READ MORE: From Sturgeon on, SNP has failed the big test on education

READ MORE: It's clear that Scotland's ferries system is broken beyond repair

Give resources to least able

I WAS rather disappointed in the views of Andy Maciver on Scottish secondary school assessment and attainment ( “Mind the gap - but focus on opportunity, not attainment”, The Herald, August 9).

He describes himself as being liberal but paints a conflicting and right-wing image of assessment.

He suggests that during the Covid epidemic so many pupils got good grades, and asks "how do colleges, universities and employers differentiate?”. The implication is that the purpose of our secondary schools is no more than that of a feeder. If schools are viewed as the handmaiden of a specific end user it is inevitable that schools will be playing the tune they have called for.

Mr Maciver appears to endorse an unfair exam driven regime which has developed through a process of normalisation of results such that an annual attainment gap is built into it. In an age when many young people will still leave school with little more that a hopeful heart and a willing hand, I believe we spend proportionately too much time desperately trying to increase the percentage of five-Higher students.

Modern teaching technology has the potential to effectively facilitate the transferring of more resources for learning from the most academically able pupils to the least. I view it as morally justifiable, after all, it is no task for suns to shine.

Bill Brown, Milngavie.

Ferries decision was correct

I HAVE read with interest and some sadness various correspondence concerning the two new CalMac ferries. As one who has more than a passing interest in shipbuilding and seafaring, I don`t agree with the argument that the design concept for the Glen Sannox and the Glen Rosa was fundamentally flawed. Any naval architect worth his or her (sea) salt will tell you that any ship design is a compromise and few designs will satisfy every service requirement, including coping with adverse weather with impunity. One issue which we sometimes overlook or ignore is that the ferry route from Brodick to the Ayrshire coast is neither the River Clyde nor the Firth of Clyde but on the Approaches to the Firth of Clyde which is far less sheltered than say Gourock to Dunoon. This was reinforced for me last April as I stood on the heaving deck of the twin-hulled MV Alfred as she rolled and pitched her way from Brodick to Troon.

I was reminded of many crossings on twin-hulled ferries serving the various piers which make up the extensive natural harbour at Sydney, Australia, which is far more sheltered than the Approaches to the Firth of Clyde. A fleet including quite small catamarans (several hundred tons each) in Sydney is fit for purpose but not the only suitable choice.Our own Caledonian Isles is approximately 5250 GRT. In my view the provision of two or three small ferries, single or twin-hulled, “zipping across" our ferry route would have been a very poor alternative with the real prospect of frequent cancellations from Day 1.

No, the decision to build the Sannox and Rosa was the right one but probably not at the same time.They are both beautiful and functional creations despite serious shortcomings with respect to the dual fuel system and very major problems caused by late delivery and overspend. Of course there have been notable precedents for overspending public money, not least in the construction of our Parliament building.

My retrospectoscope points me to the history of the first, second and third Glen Sannox.

The first was a beautiful paddle steamer which soon became one of the world's fastest paddlers.She however burned too much coal and having been requisitioned to ferry troops across the Channel in the First World War, she was sent back to the Clyde to resume service.

The second Sannox was a handsome two-funnelled turbine steamer, fast, smooth and quiet but she rolled rather too much, having been born long before the advent of Denny- Browne stabilisers, a superb Scottish invention.

The 1957 third Sannox brought major benefits to Arran with her much-increased car carrying capacity with modern economical diesel machinery.

(Dr) Ramsay Vallance, Lenzie.

The Glen Sannox (Image: PA)

A right that no one has

ALAN Fitzpatrick (Letters, August 9) suggests that a referendum should decide upon a reinstatement of the death penalty. He refers to the deterrent effect yet acknowledges that there is no statistical evidence that such an effect exists.

Neither Mr Fitzpatrick, I, nor anyone else has the right to decide whether someone should live or die.

For the avoidance of doubt I would like to make it absolutely clear that I have no religious faith.

David Clark, Tarbolton.

• REGARDING Alan Fitzpatrick's letter supporting the death penalty (Aug 9), as he acknowledges miscarriages of justice, I assume he would accept and support a member of his own family being executed in error?

Dr Kevin C Duff, Alloa.