COLETTE WARE,
Sir, - Concern has been expressed in this newspaper about declining standards and boorish behaviour in Ireland. Recently we had the depressing distinction of being regarded as obnoxious tourists. In addition, 23 per cent of Irish people cannot perform basic literacy tasks such as reading a bus timetable.
My experiences since last March as a school supervisor suggest that ASTI bears some responsibility for the emergence of a yob/anti-intellectual culture. I noted the following:
1. The dedicated ASTI member believes that the education system exists for the benefit of teachers. Relationships with students and parents follow from this belief.
2. In school corridors, eye contact with students is avoided and they are not greeted. To do so would acknowledge their existence as persons.
3. Classes start late but finish on time as the teacher's coffee break is sacrosanct.
4. Internal exams start 10 to 15 minutes late but finish at the appointed time, again to protect the coffee break.
5. When staff meetings and in-service days are held, class contact time is reduced.
6. Classrooms are as drab and dreary as possible. No use is made of the wealth of free material available from embassies, the United Nations, etc. To do so might stimulate student interest. On no account involve students in the management of their classrooms.
7. No effort is made to correct student speech. Teachers seem to be content with sloppy sentences which invariably include "you know", "I mean to say", "like", and so on.
8. Drama groups, debating societies and student councils have no place in the ASTI vision of education.
I also gained the impression that it is ASTI policy to:
1. Claim as frequently as possible that parents are partners in education of the children but arrange meetings at the most difficult times - usually at the expense of teaching time.
2. Resist inspection and accountability at all costs, including the publication of statistics. Treat the public like fools.
3. Whine constantly about all changes to the curriculum as if change was unique to teachers.
4. Constantly proclaim the high salaries earned by some other graduates but avoid being specific about other employment available to teachers. Glide over teachers' favourable conditions such as the 18-22 hour week, long holidays, excellent pensions and a sickness scheme that defies logic.
5. Endlessly congratulate teachers on the economic success of recent years, overlooking the fact that much of it was due to imaginative Government policies, ideas embraced by those who went abroad and the educational capital of previous generations.
One could go on. The decline in candidate numbers for so-called hard subjects such as history, physics and chemistry is not surprising, nor are the retention problems at third level.
Secondary education needs reform which recognises gifted and devoted teachers. A general pay rise is not the answer; it will not ensure a return to civility and decent standards. - Yours, etc.,
COLETTE WARE,
Castletownshend,
Skibbereen,
Co Cork.