Sir: Nowadays, most schools charge very high fees for providing education, which is a very unethical practice. I recently heard an interesting conversation between a boy and his mother on the subject. The boy, who was 15 years old, was asking his mother to let him drop out of school and buy him a laptop. He tried to convince his mother by saying, “You will have to pay almost Rs 0.4 million for the next two years. Let me drop out and allow me to take my examinations privately with the help of a laptop that will cost 75 percent less than my school fees. I can study more efficiently with the help of that laptop compared to the process of rote learning under the supervision of absentminded teachers.” The boy seemed to have made more sense than half the country at this point. It seems that the administrators of many private schools believe that if they charge a high enough amount of money for their services, their institutions will stand distinguished among other schools in the country. However, the ridiculously high charges are doing nothing except increasing the expenses and the blood pressure of the common man. The result is that even teenagers are making such suggestions. A school is supposed to teach a child everything he needs to learn. However, learning and teaching patterns are changing now. Lately, “teaching a child how to learn without a school” is the latest trend that is gaining popularity in the western world. SYEDA MAHEEN QADRIKarachi