I am puzzled by Dr Anthony Seldon's criticism of parents who move home and take on a larger mortgage in order to get their children enrolled in good state schools (The Argus, February 4).

What should they do to obtain the best education for their children in our class-ridden educational system?

If Dr Seldon is saying there should be no need for them to uproot their home and family, I quite agree. But in order for this to happen, there need to be changes in social attitudes and, more particularly, our educational system.

Educationally, there should be little, if any, advantage in whether children went to this school or that school. Whether a school is located in a leafy suburb or an inner city, the quality of teaching should be excellent and all children should be educated to reach their full potential.

This would mean that schools in the private sector would exist only for those parents who remain afraid that their children would, in some way, suffer by mixing with children from different social or ethnic backgrounds. Such a fear is, I believe, based on a lack of confidence in their ability to influence and guide the values of their children.

If we had local authority schools of equal excellence, the present fears which beset many of our wealthier parents would become unjustified and private schools would wither on the vine - as they should - thus removing the need for legislation.

That such secondary schools would be comprehensive goes without saying and it is encouraging to see that bright children in these schools do just as well, if not better, than children in selective schools.

The real advantage to society would be that it would become more united and, therefore, more contented than the very divided one we live in at the moment.

-Reg Jenkins, Hove