Sir, - May I reply to Peter McDonagh (November 6th), who was so irritated by my letter of October 31st? In this, I merely picked one of the questions posed by Gemma Hussey in her article (The Irish Times, October 24th) about "Ireland's woeful literacy rate" and teachers' responsibility in that. So I am greatly puzzled by Mr McDonagh's irritation and defensiveness at my simply asking what importance is given to spelling and grammar in the schools' curricula today at primary and secondary level.
Mr McDonagh is indeed right in the different causes he cited for the decline of literacy among young people, but do these excuse the fact that the standard of spelling and grammar has plummeted to such abysmal depths over the past decade and more, and that, whatever about our system of education having been rated second in the world, our illiteracy rate is as high perhaps as 25 per cent? Let Mr McDonagh ask any interested parent, librarian, even other teachers. They will all tell him how shocked they are at the deterioration in grammar and the proliferation of spelling mistakes since their schooldays.
Mr McDonagh makes the point that "teachers are the only profession which takes direction from people outside the profession" for what is taught. If this is so, why do teachers not insist on having input into the curriculum? I gathered from Joe O'Toole's article (October 24th) that they do. However, I am no nearer an answer to my original question, although Mr McDonagh does say in his letter that parsing of sentences has given way to "new methods of teaching the curriculum." What are these new methods?
As for politicians and their pay demands, vis a vis those of teachers, we could do with fewer politicians and more teachers, and pay all of them a just salary. However, in my letter I did not either support or rubbish the teachers' pay claim, nor am I in the least anti-teacher, as Mr McDonagh seems to think. My sympathies lie entirely with teachers, especially today when indiscipline, thuggery, bad manners and bad language are so endemic among the young.
For the record, I too was a secondary school teacher, in another life, before marriage. Moreover, several of my siblings and a great many near relatives were - and some still are - members of the much maligned teaching profession. - Yours, etc.,
Vera Hughes, Moate, Co Westmeath.