Sir, – Now that schools and universities have settled back in to their annual routines, it is perhaps a good time to draw attention to what some of us regard as a serious shortcoming in the “school league tables” published in some newspapers. These tables purport to place our Irish secondary schools in a kind of order of merit but since they base their figures only on the number of students graduating to Irish universities and colleges, they place at a disadvantage the schools that send a relatively high proportion of students to colleges overseas.
A large boarding school like ours, with overseas students who “go home” to university, does not have these students recognised on these tables and the many students striving to maximise their chances of getting first choice of subject by applying to colleges overseas are not considered either. Publishing these lists solely on the basis of Irish third-level institutions and presenting them on an “order of merit” basis seems to be quite limited at best, unfair at worst and does not give parents and prospective students the full picture. – Yours, etc,
ROSEMARY
MAXWELL-EAGER,
Warden and Principal,
Wilson’s Hospital School,
Multyfarnham,
Co Westmeath.