I agree with Adam Trimingham (The Argus, August 30) that school life could be pretty hard in the post-war years, with the austerity, the emphasis on proper discipline and physical fitness and the lack of opportunities for further education.

Nonetheless, in spite of it all, most youngsters thrived on it. Children need a properly structured working environment to produce their best.

Adam writes about authoritarian regimes not being tolerated now but, in all walks of life, you have to have discipline, otherwise indiscipline and anarchy reign. What is important is on whose behalf that authority is exercised. In the last analysis, I believe it has to come from God's law of right and wrong, tempered by the spirit of Christ.

Adam's unhappiness at school could have had something to do with his lack of sporting success, the area where he so wanted to prove himself. However, overall, I feel Latymer Upper did an excellent job in giving him a good education. Perhaps now is the time to exorcise those demons by going back and thanking the school?

-Alan Nunn, Pipers Close, Hove