Sir, – I sat my Leaving Certificate just shy of a decade ago. It seemed accepted at the time that the system was outmoded and that change was both necessary and inevitable. Leaving school, I couldn’t have predicted the knowledge revolution which lay ahead. Neither could I have predicted that the Leaving Cert would change so little.
In an age where information is so accessible, the Leaving Cert’s focus on rote learning and memorisation is, at best, a questionable use of student and teacher time. At worst, the system inhibits students from developing the creativity and self-directed learning skills the 21st century demands. This seriously undermines the rhetoric which presents Ireland as a “knowledge economy”.
The delay in meaningful reform is puzzling. Proposals mooted to date are mostly slight modifications rather than constituting a fundamental overhaul. It is argued that the current system, warts and all, is at least one in which there is public trust.
Articulating and implementing change that meets the challenges of the 21st century isn’t easy. But the education of our nation is an area in which we should have high ambitions. Repeatedly failing our students like this is too high a price to pay for the devil we know.– Yours, etc,
GRÁINNE CONROY,
Barclay Court,
Blackrock,
Co Dublin
Sir, – Given the proposal to give points for higher-level grades below 40 per cent (August 12th) to take the risk out of doing higher level, why not abolish ordinary level altogether and allow every student to do higher level? The benefits would be enormous. The transformative raising of higher-level participation would be the envy of the world, the multinationals wouldn’t find enough space for their new premises, the universities would be full, youth unemployment would be a thing of the past etc. Why not begin by giving five points for writing your name on a higher-level answer book (bonus if you write it in Irish and include a mathematical formula), 10 points if you write out all the questions, your name in Irish and include a mathematical formula etc. Bring it on! – Yours, etc,
JOHN HURLEY,
Clarina,
Co Limerick