Sir, - I was truly horrified to read the first four paragraphs of Rachel Quinlan's letter on gender and exam results (September 4th). Her last paragraph, however, brought a belated smile as I realised she was joking.
Well done, Rachel! I am amused, year after year, to read all this hullabaloo in the press about girls doing better than boys across the board in the Leaving Cert. Nobody ever points out one simple fact: girls work harder.
Every year I tell my first years that the degree they get in four years' time will directly reflect the amount of work they put in and how involved they become in their own learning. It is really that simple.
Since I started teaching in DIT, Cathal Brugha Street in 1993, I have had ten firsts. They were all girls. - Yours, etc.,
Frank Kelly, St Peter's Terrace, Glenageary, Co Dublin.