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Object Lessons

Anthony Seldon's call for British private schools to replicate themselves abroad (‘New terms of engagement', August 2012) fails to mention a number of problems that these of shoot schools in Asia are liable to suffer from. In Britain most private schools are foundations of some kind, which allows them to build for the long term. These institutions are ‘larger' than any one child or teacher.

In Asia, all private education institutions require local partners who are looking for a return on investment. Inevitably there is a temptation to cut costs and maximize profits, perhaps by increasing class sizes or replacing internationally hired teachers with local hires. These may be qualified native English speakers, but they do not have the same commmitment to a particular school and its approach. Some may be on glorified gap years or midcareer breaks.

Asian parents understandably want their children to get good grades in= return for their money. The extracurricular activities of the British originals - music, drama, sports and social activities - are, therefore, of secondary importance (with the exception perhaps of music, with its scholarship potential). The net effect of this is that parents who really want the best, most rounded education for their children and can afford it, will continue to look to schools in Britain, not their local offshoots.

Anne Shackleton

Not so unique, then

While it is fair to say, as Shashi Tharoor indicates (‘Bollywood v the Terracotta Army', June 2012), that India should be a much more attractive nation in terms of soft power than China, some of its national features are not unique, as the author tries to portray. Religious and ethnic diversity as well as a rich and long-running culture are much-cited characteristics of Russia, which also emphasizes them as ‘unique'.

It is amusing to watch different nations engage in narratives of ‘uniqueness' when ‘Russianness' or ‘Indianness' are so strikingly similar in tone and objective. Moreover, Russia, like India, is also ‘being itself' when it tries to employ soft power and falls short due to the country's internal political and economic difficulties that get in the way of projecting a more lovable image. The author says that India manages to ‘transcend' its failures. It is surprising, therefore, to read about India's boundless global appeal when so many people I know go to India for business, not tourism, and come back appalled by its entrenched poverty and lack of basic sanitation.

Yulia Kiseleva