SIR - I was fascinated to read Councillor Simon Cooke's letter (T&A, November 1) regarding literacy standards in primary schools.

He cites an 1838 report on the "training of pauper children", which suggested 87 per cent of 12-year-olds could read and 67 per cent could write.

He compares this statistic favourably with today's 80 per cent of primary children who reach the nationally-defined standard for literacy.

Councillor Cooke may well wonder if teachers are "not working effectively", but I would rather trust educational policy to a teacher.

He cannot see the obvious difference between a statistic based on whether someone can show an ability to read or write to no defined fluency on one hand, and well-defined pedagogical standards of functioning literacy on the other.

The two are completely different. My five year old daughter can read and write, but she is not yet up to generating reports of chemistry experiments.

Since Coun Cooke's figures come from an article available on the internet supporting the idea that free state education should be ended and private education - plus "pauper schools" for those of us who can't afford it - reinstated, we can perhaps understand how politicians gained their reputation for using statistics mischievously.

Nick Whiteside, Bromley Road, Shipley