It is reported in today's Times that QCA (Govt's Curriculum watchdog) is considering whether in the future, children could learn how to send text messages and surf the internet rather than read books and write essays uynder radical proposals to reform English lessons. The idea, it would seem, is to make English lessons reflect the impact of technology on the way people speak and write. Lessons should take account of the new language of text messaging and the effect of the internet on reading skills. The proposals in Meeting the Challenge represent a fundamental rethink of the teaching of literacy............. In the same paper, the CBI and other employers are complaining that most of the young people in work cannot speak properly, write correctly nor cope with basic maths.