Competition contributes to anxiety

Readers comment about cheating in exams, animal cruelty and written Arabic.

Readers say there is something wrong with the education system in India, where cheating pupils have been helped by people who climbed the walls of their classrooms. (AP / Press Trust of India)

Your article about stress, The puzzling growth of anxiety in the modern age (March 20), caught my attention.

I think the problem is that too many people try to be better than their neighbour, have a bigger house than their brother and pretend to be something they are not.

Name withheld by request

Each and every one of us is anxious about what the other person has.

When we can’t achieve what we want, it leads to unnecessary stress, rage, anger and frustration.

Matthew Litty, Dubai

Health, family and faith: these are the three pillars of life.

They help us to remain steady regardless of how bumpy things can become. Nothing else really matters.

Tim Davison, UK

Cheating reflects badly on system

It is so sad that Indian students feel under great pressure to perform (How exam cheating in India is symptomatic of a much bigger problem, March 21).

They feel that their own skills are not enough to get them into the university they want.

This would seem to point to a serious failure in that country’s education system.

Samantha Attfield, Abu Dhabi

I can’t believe this is happening. Do some people really teach their children to cheat?

Brigitte von Bulow, Abu Dhabi

Animal killers are cowards

It was disturbing to read Gunmen slaughter rescued animals in Umm Al Qaiwain (March 20).

The killing of these dogs and donkeys, and similar acts, should be investigated and the perpetrators punished for their crimes.

It is cowardly and brutal to kill innocent animals who did no harm to anyone.

This kind of crime should not be ignored. The welfare of ­animals should be taken seriously.

Maria K, Dubai

Good teachers are essential

I agree with the point made in Creativity in the classroom is the key to unlocking potential (March 14).

Children are creative in themselves, but only talented teachers can motivate and inspire a student to gain more knowledge and help them acquire new skills.

Name withheld by request

Formal Arabic is not widely used

Thank you to Ayesha Almazroui for her article about language (If we want to keep Arabic alive, don't blame English, March 9).

I work in Canada but I write in Arabic, mainly as a hobby. I recently made a YouTube programme in which I had to use formal Arabic.

While auditioning for the show, I was surprised how many adults with good spoken Arabic could not read well.

Ahad Abu Sharke, Canada

Smokers should have a choice

I agree with the opinion expressed in Call for ban on e-cigarettes to be lifted (March 21).

It doesn’t make sense that you can smoke actual cigarettes everywhere but not e-cigarettes.

Hanah Raven, Abu Dhabi

Lift the ban and give people the option to choose. Sam Clarke, Abu Dhabi

Netanyahu is hurting Israel

I refer to Israel's post-election frontier: honesty (March 19).

Benjamin Netanyahu calls himself the prime minister of “the only democracy in the Middle East”, yet he has committed himself to denying nearly six million indigenous Palestinian Arabs their democratic rights.

That extraordinary position will probably lead to European Union sanctions on future trade with Israel, a move to abrogate the EU-Israel Association Agreement that affords free access to trade with the EU states, and a move by the British government to withdraw National Health Service supplier status from Israeli-owned pharmaceutical companies.

There could also be an increase in the global boycott, divest and sanctions movement against Israeli goods and services, an end to the automatic US veto in the United Nations on all resolutions critical of Israel, and a formal application to the International Criminal Court to investigate alleged war crimes in Gaza.

Anthony Bellchambers, UK