No Mickey Mouse degree

I AM incensed at the description of ‘Mickey Mouse’ degrees (Mail). My son went to Plymouth Marjon, one of the universities in the article, to study outdoor education and sports science. He graduated with a 2:2.

His love of outdoor pursuits started as a Boy Scout, so it wasn’t a case of opting for an easy degree — it was what he really wanted to do.

It was not an easy course and the research dissertation mockingly referred to was, in fact, challenging.

The independence and life skills the university gave him was almost as important as his degree.

He arrived a shy teenager with low self-esteem and emerged three years later confident and sure of his own abilities.

He has since taught in a primary school for more than ten years, been promoted, and developed the school’s sport to such a level that it wins local and county tournaments.

It is renowned for its sporting excellence, which is mainly down to my son’s efforts.

Had he studied for a more academic degree he was not interested in, and for which he was unsuited, I doubt that he would have achieved so much. Education would also have lost out on a great teacher.

MARGARET HILL, address supplied. IF THE education on offer is exemplary, then perhaps the cost of studying for a degree is incidental.

However, if the teaching is poor quality and not value for money, students and their parents should withhold some of the fees. R. I. A. GREEN, Malvern, Worcs.