Computers

That doesn’t mean reducing computer usage for those with learning and/or physical disabilities, nor trying to imply anything about those with disabilities.

I’m neither ignorant of technology, nor opposed to it. I do not oppose technological aids for those who need them, but I do oppose the unnecessary and inappropriate use of computers and calculators when it’s detrimental to proven teaching methods and to a pupil’s development.

If a pupil uses a word processor in an English class do they learn how to spell correctly?

Are the rules of punctuation, grammar, etc, burned into their minds? Or do they simply learn how to use the spell-checker and grammar-checker icons?

When a pupil uses a calculator in a maths class, do they understand how the answer is obtained or merely which buttons to press?

If computers and calculators in the classroom are so beneficial, literacy and numeracy standards wouldn’t be going down among school leavers and the Government wouldn’t be spending millions trying to raise basic literacy and numeracy skills among adults.

CT Riley, Spennymoor, Co Durham.

IT is always a source of great pleasure to me when I read letters by Peter J Brown (HAS, May 11).

Throughout his life he has laboured under impairments which have made effective communication difficult, but he has had the determination not to be beaten by them.

I do not always agree with what he has to say, but he expresses himself coherently and what he has written about is always interesting and relevant.

I have to communicate these days by means of email because my handwriting has deteriorated so much. I had a very legible handwriting ability, which I was able to take advantage of in full when I worked. My impairments are down to a combination of old age and the mild stroke I had in 2004.

With Peter, the problems he has now are those he has had for life, and when I occasionally meet him he has high morale and a wonderful optimism, which does him credit.

Geoffrey Bulmer, Billingham.