Re: "Education in the Marketplace" (Consent No. 5)

It's not only unfortunate but disastrous for the nation, that the scores of billions of dollars which have been spent in the past 40 years on so-called "advanced" teaching methods, have produced two generations of people, the large majority of whom cannot read, cannot write, cannot spell, cannot speak properly, can't do simple mathematics and so on. It's inexcusable that taxpayers should now be called on for further millions to try to solve illiteracy problems in a large segment of the population which went through this system.

Like you, I believe that the only thing that will stop this nonsense is a good dose of old-fashioned competition, in the form of an educational "voucher system". Unfortunately, I see no evidence in the present-day socialist welfare state of Canada, that either our vote-seeking politicians or our long-mollycoddled unionized teachers will allow this to happen.

December, 1988
Dr. William E. Goodman
TORONTO, Ontario