The first of two parts. The second part will appear on Wednesday's Opinion Page.

The importance of improving standards of basic education has been recognized for some years by all the main political parties in Britain. It is agreed that teaching methods must change and that the curriculum must put more emphasis on the three Rs (reading, writing and arithmetic). But school teachers do not accept some of the measures that the government, backed by public opinion, want to take.

There are good arguments in favor of some modern teaching methods that put the main emphasis on project work and are designed to encourage children to develop their own individual talents. But these methods required well-trained and inspired teachers, as well as children who are self-disciplined and given appropriate help and encouragement by their parents. Unfortunately, there are not enough teachers of the required caliber and increasing numbers of children, especially from single-parent families, lack self-discipline and parental supervision. Another problem is the number of children from immigrant communities who lack necessary linguistic skills to take proper advantage of such modern teaching methods. Industry and commerce increasingly complain that their new recruits from schools lack basic skills in literacy and numeracy.