Sir: Your leading article of 23 April: “Some 18-year-olds are unusually mature and some 21-year-olds can do unwise things without being bad teachers.” This suggests that the professional ethics demanded of, say, doctors, need not be required of teachers. But students of all ages are vulnerable to approaches by teachers of any age because of the differences in status and power between the two roles. Students are encouraged to see teachers as founts of knowledge and role models, and school discipline to some extent relies on this. Crushes on teachers are an established, and generally harmless, part of school and college life. A similarly established part of British sexual culture involves fancying schoolgirls and, for some, schoolboys. So for some teachers students can be seen as easy pickings for sexual adventures. As a lecturer I was consulted by a 30-year-old female student who was being subjected to advances by a tutor.

She was concerned that he could arrange for her to “fail” the course if she rejected him.
I do not comprehend why you go on to describe as “a bad law” a measure which seeks to protect students from abuse, maintain professional relationships and ensure fairness for those unwilling to become a particular sort of teacher’s pet.While I would hate to imply that any of these points could possibly apply to the relationship between Chris Woodhead and Amanda Johnston, his claim that such relationships can be “educative” is the type of fantasy beloved of middle-aged men. It is probably also one of the few statements he has made which might encourage applications to the profession.RUTH SAYERSAshburton, Devon. Sir: I’m afraid (and sad) that I was only amused by your report “Oxbridge `no longer elite universities’ ” (22 April). Your report was certainly accurate, although I would claim that Yale and Harvard are only two of very many world-class teaching and research institutions in the United States, including Princeton and the University of California; and that in many fields even they cannot easily claim to be the best

But this is very old news.

For many years, even decades, American scholarship has led the world, and the top US universities have been considered centres of research for the sciences, mathematics, classics, linguistics, philosophy and others.
I was one of many mathematicians who left Britain during the Eighties and Nineties when cuts in funding at all levels of education made it clear that academic research and teaching were no longer valued. Not only did the United States live up to its promise as a land of plenty, but when I was faced with the choice of returning to England or staying in California to work, the country which had most actively displayed its appreciation of my talents became my adopted homeland.Britain still educates the top 5 per cent of its population better than any other elite class in the world. But in all other areas of education its crown was long ago passed on.STEVEN HILLIONSan Francisco. Sir: Who writes your editorials? Whoever was responsible for the patronising, cold-hearted dismissal of the public response to Jill Dando’s death (28 April) has forfeited the right to claim any understanding of society, modern or otherwise. Of course people can make the distinction between a television personality and their own friends and family. To derive pleasure from watching the former in no way detracts from the affection felt for the latter.
The world is full of horror and aggression and so the death of a public figure who so luminously represented the opposite is bound to be experienced as a personal loss. To infer that this means people have nothing else in their lives is insulting and plain wrong.Flowers are an expression of love, admiration and respect and should be recognised as the traditional way of acknowledging the passing of an honoured life.