Surely, Bangerter was joking

Was Peter Bangerter serious when he claimed that Switzerland was the oldest democracy? Switzerland where women never got the vote till 1971? Or is it that women were not considered citizens in Switzerland?

By the way, is the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden allowing women to vote yet?

- Joan Williams, greatestj@hotmail.com, Kingston 10

SLB 'disservice'

As someone who has had some exposure to the quality of disservice meted out by the Students' Loan Bureau, I find all of the horror stories outlined in the Letter of the Day (June 7), to be believable.

I am amazed that no one has yet mentioned the slave-like conditions with which they have had to contend to access 'dis' service - the endless lines, being sent outside to wait on a sun-drenched platform until your name is called, becoming a hapless victim to that pervasive government-agency syndrome which dictates that "mi have dis, you want it bad, bad, so let me si you grovel, grovel, grovel until you fully demonstrate your recognition of my power over you".

And then we wonder why there is so much anger in the society.

- Olive Nelson, olivescottn@hotmail.com

Share the blame

I have read most of what Minister Andrew Holness is saying about principals etc and would agree to some extent with this. I would place an equal 50 per cent of the blame on the principals and the Ministry of Education.

There is a set minimum and a maximum ratio for a class, and this is only sometimes followed when student teachers go on practice. Most of the practice teachers pass because of the managing ratio which is conducive to learning. The ratio I speak about is minimum 25 to one and maximum 30 to one.

Because of our overpopulation, the Government does not have enough schools to keep these ratios. The Government says principals are not to send away students. This now leads to a ratio of 40, 50, 60 and maybe 65 or more to one or two teachers.

This contributes to the number of non-readers and poor performance of students. Parents must be blamed too. Not many supervise their children's studies at home.

- Peter Muir, muirpe@yahoo.com, Kingston