Drawing the line on classes of degree

The tragicomic scenes being played out at the University of East Anglia (THES, March 10) again confirm the need for a thorough revision of final degree assessment practice.

As both university teacher and head of department, I ought to be looking forward to results day in summer and congratulating relieved and proud students of all academic ability on successfully completing an arduous degree programme. Instead, I shall be cowering in my office awaiting the arrival of a number of deeply distraught young men and women whose efforts have not propelled them above the magical upper second line and who now regard themselves as having "failed" their degree.

Class remains at the core of the British social malaise: what better place to begin the process of national renewal than by abolishing this anachronistic and increasingly indefensible academic version and replacing it with a grade point system appropriate to the needs of a modern university education.

MARTIN CRAWFORD

10 Ladygates

Betley

Nr Crewe

Cheshire