A fair crack of the whip

`I knew from a young age that I wanted to be a jockey and in no way did my days at Rathcoole Holy Family Community School stand in the way. I completed my Leaving Cert in 1997, the same year I was champion amateur jockey, and in fact I rode three winners the week of the Leaving itself.

At 16 I started riding seriously and rode a lot during those last few years at school. But there was never any real conflict with that and in fact the school was very good to me. I would get a half day almost every Thursday for a race meeting.

The principal, Tomas O Se, and the vice-principal, John Walsh, were very helpful to me and never stood in the way. If anything ever went right then they would be the first to say `well done'. They certainly didn't have any problems with my choice of career.

As for the subjects themselves, well I think English and maths were always the favourite. I was always good at maths for whatever reasons and apart from poetry, I always found English very interesting.

Obviously it is not the most crucial element of my career, but I did honours English and I feel that has allowed me to converse with almost anybody. It's never going to go over my head anyway.

I also enjoyed accountancy and that helps me now in that I do all my own book-keeping. That's been very useful and these things tend to be of benefit for life in general. I also did home economics, which means I could always cook for myself. That's proved important now since I'm living on my own.

There was a clear dislike of Irish, mostly because of the way they teach it. I really believe that you should be taught to speak Irish rather than read it. And the same goes for French. It's all about the verbs and learning to write, but I believe it should be about speaking.

So I'd see the languages as the main area for improvement in Irish education. Languages have always been one of the most important things in the world and especially when you think of the people in France and how they can all speak English so well. I never wanted to go to France to write French. I'd like to be able to land in Paris and talk to anyone about anything I like. And what you see on the page doesn't even resemble what you say. I know it's changing very slowly but I couldn't even do the verbs the day I did my Leaving Cert. I passed ordinary level French but I still couldn't write down past tense or future or whatever. So, more speaking and less writing, please. Maybe it was just me and I couldn't get a grasp for it, but that's the way I feel it should be done anyway.

Still, I think everyone needs an education and the Irish system does provide a good balance. There are some problems in that you are pushed into making decisions a bit young. I knew where I was going, but for other people it was often difficult to choose their subjects.

I suppose I'm used to pressure now, but I still think that people make too much of the Leaving Cert. It's an exam, yeah, and helps determine the rest of your life, but at times the teachers can put too much pressure on you.

There was one teacher in our school who would pile on the pressure and say "this is it, this is it", but it's not it. There were 180 of us in the year but there were only 30 of them who were academic. There were another 150 who didn't see it as the end of the world. I think they needed more encouragement rather than pressure.

I still know a lot of the lads from Rathcoole that I played football with and the vice-principal still lives here in the village of Kill. Most of the memories are of a fun time, especially regarding those few things that we shouldn't have done. I couldn't wait to finish school, but looking back now, it wasn't that long a haul. It wasn't that much of a drag."

In conversation with Ian O'Riordan