Sir, - I am invariably intrigued by the number of people who, like Gary Byrnes (November 28th), manage to recover from the brainwashing they received at school I am equally intrigued by the fact that so few people seem to recover from the media brainwashing they receive after school (Mary Kenny is a notable exception).
I had the pleasure of attending a national school until Primary Cert - and survived a regime which included a liberal sprinkling of the leather and the wooden stick. My biggest fear, however, as I remember it, was of being "thumped" by bigger lads on the way home from school.
My experience when I moved to a Christian Brothers secondary school was of extraordinarily dedicated teachers, both lay and religious, virtually no resort to the leather (I certainly never saw one which measured two feet long), and memories which are entirely positive.
I seem to recall that we didn't start Latin until secondary school - and I wonder about a 12-yearold being slapped for not knowing his Latin - but then the brainwashing received after you leave school may also affect the memory. - Yours, etc.,
From T. O. Nolan
Kill Lane, Dublin 18.