THERE is far too much pressure on our children today.

Prime Minister Theresa May has announced that all secondary schools in England are to be offered mental health first aid training. This would only address the symptoms of their distress, not the cause.

The cause is the disease of competitiveness, so imbued in society that most accept it as normal. To prepare our children for the world of work, it is necessary, it is argued, for them to undergo this stress.

Worryingly, things are set to get worse for this generation.

More than ten million UK workers are at high risk of being replaced by robots within 15 years. A report by the consultancy firm PwC found that 30 per cent of jobs in Britain were potentially under threat from breakthroughs in artificial intelligence.

Competition always produces losers. If we are to survive as a healthy cohesive society, children’s education should be teaching the benefits of co-operation in all things. With this everyone is a winner and a just social and economic system would develop.

Geoff Naylor

Colden Common