JUNIOR CERT RELIGION:"WHAT IS the meaning of life?"

So mused Junior Cert students of Religious Education yesterday. Students with a love of music, work or friendship had a chance to give expression to their world view in the higher level paper.

More than 25,000 students, almost half of all Junior Cert candidates, took the exam yesterday. The subject is offered as a core subject on the junior cycle in many schools.

Students were generally happy with the exam, which was an improvement on the “very lengthy” offering of last year. There was a very broad spread of questions ranging from religious notions of forgiveness to historical questions on Judaism.

There were, however, some testing moral questions on the paper, which is in line with previous years, according to commentators. The Junior and Leaving Certificate Religious Education syllabus has been described as the school subject that most closely mirrors arts at university.

The paper featured short and long question sections and demanded a lot of writing, but “not as much as last year”, according to teachers.

Students tackled a comprehension on Oscar Romero, head of the Roman Catholic Church in El Salvador, and were asked to profile the way in which a person’s judgment of right and wrong can develop as he/she grows.

A question on the meaning of life asked students to: “outline how an experience in life could make a person wonder and ask questions about the meaning of life” and “in searching for answers to questions about the meaning of life people sometimes turn to family, friends, music or work.

“Choose two of the above and explain how each can help people to find answers in their search for the meaning of life.”