Sir, – Once again we see a bewildering display of belligerence, ignorance and bad manners being displayed by our teaching profession targeted at education minister Ruairí Quinn during the ASTI conference.
What example does this send to their students? And it is not solely confined to one clown with a megaphone. Teacher union militancy is completely out of step with the behaviour of the rest of their public service peers.
Here we have an educated, enlightened minister who is attempting to drag our archaic educational system out of the stone age and into the 21st century. Anyone who thinks that we have a world class system is living in cloud cuckoo land.
What we have is a very narrow, academically orientated, cramming experience designed purely to accommodate third level aspirants. It has dumbed down numeracy and literacy standards and neglects the whole concept of education for life. It neglects a large proportion of students whose talents lie outside these narrow confines.
Here is a minister who is trying to get the students to think for themselves and cut down on meaningless formal exams. Teachers should stick to teaching and not claim a veto on curriculum reform. Why can’t they just do as they’re told, like the rest of us? Yours, etc,
DES O’SULLIVAN ,
West Bay,
Qatar
Sir, – When are teachers going to learn to behave properly? Each year they invite ministers to their meetings and then treat them with considerable disrespect. If the Minister doesn’t go they see only the negative side of that or feel greatly insulted.
To Mr Quinn I suggest that the best policy is to ask teacher groups to put a delegation together, outline what they want and meet him in a professional manner to look at the issues. There is no need for hi m to go to their annual events and be treated in such a bad manner. It is not acceptable that our students are being taught by people who do not know how to behave properly themselves. It is time for teachers to grow up, get real and be professional in what you want and how you handle others. Yours, etc,
LEO GANTER,
Braemor Road,
Dublin 14
Sir, – Once again our teachers have used their annual conference for a very public display of ignorant and disgraceful behaviour. The abuse and disrespect which they showed for the Minister, who was their invited guest, was a disgrace to their profession and a very bad example to the thousand of students around the country.
If our students behaved in this manner the teachers would be the first ones to want them excluded from school. It is high time our teachers practised what they preach and realise that they are not above the rules of normal civilised behaviour.
They are an embarrassment to the country and need to wake up to the real world. As far as the Minister is concerned, while I do not agree with all his policies, I think he should make a decision not to attend any future conferences unless he receives a guarantee that he will treated with basic common courtesy. Yours, etc,
TERRY DOYLE,
River Forest ,
Leixlip
Sir, – Video footage of teachers at ASTI conferences and similar should be deemed unsuitable for children and teenagers and not shown on television until after midnight. Perhaps a video game based on teachers’ union conferences in general could be developed, based on the competing levels of rudeness and obnoxious behaviour that can be achieved by the experts. Yours, etc,
KEITH NOLAN,
Caldragh,
Carrick-on-Shannon
Sir, – When I was an immature student, teachers occasionally, and with justification, corrected me when they experienced my bouts of puerile and infantile behaviour. It gives me no satisfaction, 50 years later, to recall some of my more obvious errors of judgement, apart from the fact that I learned from what they said, but even more so from their noble forbearance and example. Who can now correct the correctors? Yours, etc,
GERRY CHRISTIE,
Monalee,
Tralee
Sir, – Having seen the reception given to the Minister of Education by a teachers’ union I presume that pupils may be allowed to react in similar fashion to teachers in the classroom whom they dislike. Yours, etc,
= WALTON N F EMPEY,
Rathmore,
Tullow,
Co Carlow
Sir, – Martyn Turner’s cartoon (April 23rd) seems to have flown under the editorial radar. In making a legitimate argument about the debate over education reform, Turner also took an unfortunate and unjustified side-swipe at ministers for education, suggesting that none of them can be popular with teachers. After all, Donogh O’Malley was popular ... I think. Yours, etc,
PATRICK O’BYRNE,
Shandon Crescent,
Dublin 7
Sir, – With regard to M r Ruairí Quinn’s ill-judged speech at the INTO annual conference, might I suggest he direct his concern at the overwhelming gender imbalance of certain professions closer to home. Or perhaps it’s a case of “those who can’t do” preach . Is mise,
DR RUTH CADEN
MB, BCh, BAO ,
Churchwell Road,
Belmayne,
Dublin 13
Sir, – When will we have a Minister for Education who will have sufficient self-respect to refrain f rom attending the annual teachers’ conferences ? Yours, etc,
MARGARET LEE,
Newport,
Co Tipperary
Sir,- Ruairí Quinn is not the first – and I dare say he won’t be the last – minister for education to leave a teacher union conference with an ASTI taste in his mouth. Yours, etc,
PAUL DELANEY,
Beacon Hill,
Dalkey,
Co Dublin