JOHN F. FALLON,
Sir, - The figures about college entry patterns to UCD and Trinity are very interesting but come as no surprise. Equality of educational opportunity, the chance to climb to the top of the educational ladder, remains a myth for the many when hard cash appears to be the great discriminator between those who enter university and those who must remain outside.
Of course, Mr Dempsey is unhappy about the inequality at the heart of the third-level system in which socio-economic status and social class are dominant. But what is he going to do about a system where inequality in wealth is taken as the norm? If willingness to pay large fees to gain points for admission to third-level college seems to work for those who can afford it, it is the duty of the Government to see that expenditure should involve a redistribution of resources from the wealthy to the less powerful. That is how the Minister can make a real difference if a socially just educational system is to be attained. - Yours, etc.,
JOHN F. FALLON, Boyle, Co Roscommon.
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A chara, - Many peculiar and tenuous arguments are being made in your columns about the role of social and geographic factors in determining access to college. Perhaps the facility for placing their feet on DART seats gives the youth from "leafy suburbia" an advantage in swotting for exams.
Why do social engineers and educational commentators not give adequate credit to parents for their supportive role, which often requires personal sacrifice? - Is mise,
TONY QUINN, Dalkey, Co Dublin