Peter Kaye, of Teignmouth, writes:

I was amazed to see in your situations vacant adverts that Teignmouth Community College deems it appropriate to use taxpayers' money to employ a litter picker.

On the figures provided, I calculate this will cost around £3,600 a year plus employer's NI contributions and management costs.

In my schooldays, students rarely dropped litter because (a) teachers had a presence which prevented it and (b) we were brought up not to do so. Dropping litter would have resulted in punishment, such as... litter picking.

It seems TCC has missed a golden opportunity to use litter picking as either a positive experience for pupils to learn about collective responsibility for their environment (eg volunteer student litter picking teams or even litter-picking competitions), or as a beneficial punishment for wrong doing.

Punishment is, by the way, good, not bad. Sadly, what a minority of TCC students will learn is that it's OK to drop litter as someone else is paid to pick it up.MORE LETTERS IN OUR DIGITAL EDITION