“What’s happened to teachers and headmasters, that they no longer seem to have an aura of forbidding authority about them?” (Daphne Caruana Galizia, Notebook, TMID, 10 July).

May I say that your paper is losing all credibility when you allow one of your contributors to slander the education profession and at the same time bastardise the English language... maybe Ms Caruana Galizia should have paid more attention to those “offputting bunch” in her school days. I just wonder who taught her craft. Was it a teacher by any chance?

Ms Caruana Galizia has no idea of what goes on in schools. I suspect her knowledge is obtained from her son who has recently been featured on Youtube!

Ms Caruana Galizia assumes that teachers should control a class. We do not control anything. We work with students to engender a sense of curiosity about the world we live in and we have a passion for that.

Training teachers do not study “controlling”. We also do not command respect; we earn it. I don’t want students to obey me. I’m not there to order student about like the “offputting bunch”.

Children will only learn if there is a supportive culture at home. Parents have to nurture this in their children. Teachers will then use this to further develop a student’s needs.

Battling parents like Ms Caruana Galizia assume that their children can do no wrong and any issue arising in the classroom that causes some discomfort is put down to teacher incompetence. Spare us the diatribe. We have heard it for too long to take it seriously.

Peter P. Dingli

Temlplestowe

Victoria

Australia