Jamie Fahey’s article (I had to fight my way through class barriers into my job. Why has so little changed?, 23 November) brought back painful memories for this working-class, immigrant-heritage woman who went on to gain an MSc from LSE and an MLitt from Oxford.
It wasn’t until I was a special educational needs coordinator in a school that I reflected on being sent to speech and language therapy as an adolescent. I did not have speech delay or any known affliction. What I had was a working-class accent, and my selective secondary school presumably wanted to help me succeed. So, while friends played tennis, I learned to speak “properly”. I still wonder which was time better spent.
Clair Battaglino
London
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