AOIBHLINN HESTER,
Sir, - Ciara Brennan (September 19th) states: "It sounds snobbish and rude, but that's the way it is. The issue is not whether or not a student can afford a college place, but whether or not they have the intellect and attitude necessary to get one."
I'm afraid I must disagree. The issue is whether the student's intellect has been developed from an early age by parents who have the time and the education to help with homework, and who have the money to pay for "grinds" and extra tuition if the student falls behind, even in primary school.
The issue is whether the student's attitude to education is a positive one, nurtured by a family environment that approves of, understands and has experience of the Irish education system. The issue is whether the student is surrounded by a peer group that reflects a similar positive attitude to education, whose members all come from families where educational ambition is encouraged.
While these advantages may be taken for granted in middle-class suburbs, in marginalised areas bright children already know that the Irish education system is not as egalitarian as it purports to be.
Luckily for some, sociology is not yet a Leaving Certificate subject. - Yours, etc.,
AOIBHLINN HESTER,
St Patrick's Terrace,
Dublin 1.
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Sir, - What a failure the education system has been for Ciara Brennan that she is unaware of, and unable to empathise with, the difficulties faced by less privileged students. - Yours etc.,
SUZANNE PHELAN,
Scribblestown,
Dublin 15.
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Sir, - John O'Keefe (Opinion, September 18th) states that the reason for the greater number of university entrants from the Institute of Education is that "it employs the best teachers and guarantees the best results". Yet your news item on this matter informs us that the institute has "several hundred" students sitting the Leaving Certificate whereas in most real schools only 120 students sit the exam. This is the true reason for the greater number of university entrants from the Institute.
A school should be about more than exams and points. As a Northerner who benefited from state education, I have always been amazed and depressed by the emphasis in the Republic on exams and points. They are important, but the rounded individual is more important.
Mr O'Keeffe states that "competition invariably improves the product offered". Education cannot and should never be a product. It is a process nurtured by dedicated underpaid teachers in under-resourced schools. Mr O'Keeffe and his boss are selling an expensive product. For Mr O'Keeffe to suggest that this has wider implications for education is nonsense. - Yours, etc.,
MUREDACH DOHERTY,
Lower Beechwood Avenue,
Dublin 6.