A chara, - I write in response to the report of the Higher Education Authority carried in your edition of last Monday. As a student myself it is no surprise to me (or indeed my friends) that the percentage of people dropping out of third-level education is so high. How can it be otherwise? My fellow students and I are expected to complete between 30 and 40 hours of college lectures per week, fulfil the other obligations attached to this "privilege of education", such as lab write-ups and project work (around 15-20 hours a week), and then take on extra paid work to fund our basic existence. Is the reason for such high drop-out rates not blatantly obvious? Can there be a bigger misnomer than that of a free Irish education system?
When will this Government accept that it is not enough to open the doors to education? It also has a responsibility to ensure that all students have an equal chance of emerging on the far side. Lyndon B. Johnson once wrote: "We must open the doors of opportunity. But we must also equip our people to walk through those doors." I take this opportunity to plead with the Government to equip our students to walk through the doors of educational opportunity and finance us adequately so that we are not forced to emerge before we reach our educated destination. - Yours, etc.,
Simon Martin, St Brendan's Road, Drumcondra, Dublin 9.