Waste

Even if one is to ignore the smug and childishly rounded invective with which Mr Johnson sets the stage for his amply padded apologetic — and ignore even further his nonsensical non‐sequitur about the demand for Technicians' courses (the Cotton Board, among others, was asking for these in 1951), there still remains the matter of his slick dismissal of a 60–70 per cent failure rate by quoting a 75 per cent failure rate. I stand humbled. If he chooses to gloss over the transference of courses concept as do most others, then we obviously part company quite badly. Not even the considerable mass of sophistry employed by Mr Johnson obscures the basic issue, and his persistent chuntering away about the importance of National selection leads one to wonder whether he would not rather be back under the happy simple days of yesteryear. If, on the other hand, he wants to tighten technical education into a closed educational system he might come out openly and say so. He might also reflect that in doing so he would be contributing to the destruction of its most vital and — in English education — unique feature.