After reading Julian Cole's review of That'll Teach 'Em ('Well taught out', August 9) I felt compelled to reply.

When I sat my GCE exams in 1959 I was not considered of a sufficiently high standard to take maths.

Last year I passed GCSE with a B grade and have just completed a Familiarisation With Advanced Mathematics course. I have not yet received the the exam result.

I found the contents of the course considerably easier because I endured the "rigours" of a 1950s education and was forced to learn things so well that they have, apparently, endured to this day.

I am not saying education today is easier on the student than it was then - only that I found it so.

Mrs Pauline Myers,

Half Moon Street,

Linton-on-Ouse, York.

Updated: 10:28 Tuesday, August 12, 2003