Sir, – Given that so many Irish-language schools are at the top of the league table for entrants to third-level education, what is the justification for the 10 per cent bonus marks given for answering certain Leaving Cert papers through Irish? The old idea was that since studying through Irish resulted in students acquiring less knowledge, that their marks should be topped up to sustain them in that challenging activity. Clearly that’s nonsense. So why does the Department of Education continue this practice, an obvious corruption of the examination marking system?
The 10 per cent is an example of the sort of institutionalised favouritism to select groups which was the hallmark of governments in the past. Now it should be ended. – Yours, etc,
DONAL FLYNN,
Breffni Terrace,
Sandycove,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – Surely schools where all the pupils opt for third-level education are failing somewhere along the way? – Yours, etc,
PD DOYLE,
Clontarf Road Dublin 3.
Sir, – Gráinne Faller (Opinion, November 26th) writes that the cessation of the publication of league tables in Wales decreased school performance and increased inequality. But the evidence quoted only points to the short-term effects.
Faller fails to acknowledge that these tables, introduced by New Labour in the late 1980s, decrease social mobility in the long run. A vicious cycle emerged because rich parents moved into the neighbourhoods within the catchment areas of the best publicly-funded schools. This then caused house prices in the given areas to rise so that only children of wealthy families could attend these schools. As a result of such neo-liberal policies, Britain is now a more stratified society than any time since the second World War. Your paper’s commitment to these tables could soon have the same effect in our country. – Yours, etc,
BEN LENNON,
Edenvale Road,
Ranelagh, Dublin 6.
Sir, – I suggest the information provided in the school league tables (November 26th) is of little value because:
1. The figures are simply based on the percentage of students who progress to third level education with no indication of the points required for different courses.
2. It fails to take account of the fact that in some schools a significant number of pupils either go on to a university or other third-level institution outside the State. This applies in particular to schools in or close to Border counties and schools which have a significant number of non-Irish nationals. Not surprisingly in the latter case, a significant number decide to pursue third-level studies in their home country. Moreover, some schools encourage their pupils to look beyond these shores when considering third-level options, not because there is anything wrong with Irish third-level colleges, but to broaden their horizons and widen their course options.
3. It fails to give credit to those schools which may encourage some pupils to take a gap year and to use that year to pursue socially useful activities and/or for personal development.
If you are going to publish information on individual schools it should be a more objective marker, such as the mean number of points obtained in the Leaving Certificate or perhaps the range of points obtained. However, I suggest that publishing any information of this nature on individual schools is socially divisive and that its only purpose is to enable parents to boast that their Johnny or Jane will perform better at school at X than their neighbours’ children at school Y, even where this is not necessarily true.
I do accept that some of the information on the geographical variations in both the private and State sectors provides interesting data which are worthy of further analysis and investigation. However, as acknowledged in the article accompanying the tables, in many cases these simply reflect the variations in socioeconomic status in different parts of country and the proximity to third-level institutions.
In conclusion, the currently provided information on individual schools is at best meaningless and at worst socially divisive. This is in marked contrast to the articles in the main body of the paper which provide useful advice to parents on selecting a school. – Yours, etc,
CHRISTOPHER HONE,
Green Isle Road,
Clondalkin,
Dublin 22.