Madam, - Michelle Hoban (December 8th) does not seem to understand that it is not the teachers who are being called upon to make sacrifices, but the most disadvantaged children. If class sizes are increased, it is the weakest students who will suffer most.
If absent teachers are not substituted, it is the weakest students who will suffer most. It probably doesn't make much difference to a bright, motivated student whether he or she is in a class of 20 or 40, but a weak or socially disadvantaged student will require more individual attention. They will not get this in larger classes.
I was disappointed to hear Marian Finucane and Nóirín Hegarty on the radio on Sunday reminiscing about how large classes were when they were going to school - the implication being that they themselves did okay in spite of this. They didn't say that because of the large class sizes approximately 25 per cent of their peers grew up to be illiterate adults.
It frustrates me that there seems to be a common acceptance (media included) that the advances made in education over the past few years were a luxury which could be discarded at the first sign of a downturn, and that every time teachers protest about the flaws in our education system they have a self-serving agenda.
I am not a teacher and I no longer have any children going to primary school, but I do appreciate the necessity of early education as a social investment. - Yours, etc,
TOM FARRELL,
Forrest Rd,
Swords.