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I disagree with Nicholas Barr's criticism (Letters, THES , May 23) of Damian Green ("Will you stand for Blair's bloody-mindedness?", THES , May 16).

It is too simplistic to say we need more graduates to aid growth. Well-trained graduates of vocationally relevant courses bring obvious benefits to the economy, as do intelligent, articulate humanities graduates with well-trained minds and clever pure scientists.

But why would the economy need lots of people who have scraped a devalued 2.2 or 2.1 from a course dumbed down because students are too thick or badly schooled to cope ("Dumbing down rife, poll reveals", THES , May 23)?

Richard Austen-Baker
Reading University