Scrap the points system, reduce homework, introduce continuous assessment and drop the "compulsory" tag from English, Irish and maths. These are just some of the views of students surveyed for the Scoil Report.
Only 19.3 per cent said they were in favour of the points system. While 42 per cent were neutral on the issue, 38 per cent were against the system.
A large majority - 76 per cent - wished to see the introduction of continuous assessment for up to 50 per cent of their final grades.
Asked to pick five from a list of potential new subjects, 56.9 per cent selected computer studies and the same number chose world development studies. Some other subjects picked, in descending order of popularity, were psychology, sociology, archaeology, media studies and pre-nursing studies. Least popular were western civilisation, biblical studies and classical studies, which are already available in certain schools in the Leaving Cert.
Some 70.7 per cent said Irish should not be a compulsory subject all the way through school as it is at present. Fifth- and sixth-year pupils spent an average of 2.69 hours on homework a night. Two-thirds said this was too much.
