Madam, - In the aftermath of this year's Leaving Certificate results, I cannot cease to marvel at the actual presentation of the document itself, which trembled in the hands of each student on August 18th. Not only had every student to live the nightmare of opening the letter of tidings but he/she had to calculate the actual grand total he or she had been awarded in the blink of an eye. The combinations of grades would even have confused Pythagoras. The less numerate among us parents took some time to ensure we had correctly calculated the result.
The Department of Education could simply list the number of points scored for each subject and go a step further by indicating the grand total (highest six subjects) at the bottom of the certificate. - Yours, etc.,
DECLAN MEAGHER, Blackrock, Co Dublin.