Demand for university places

Sir, – There are some students who would be much more suited to apprenticeship-type courses or the excellent vocationally oriented post-Leaving Certificate courses but parents, peers and society are creating an environment, driven by the media, where one must go to college. Hence students with neither ability nor interest enrol in universities. They find they cannot cope with the academic demands placed on them and drop out after a few months.

Ireland used to have a system of technical education at second level. In many towns there was a “tech” and a second-level academic school. The academic students went to university and the practically-oriented students went to study for the trades. Now all the distinctions have become blurred, and everyone is filling out CAO forms to enter the points race for college. Many schools feel under pressure to look good on the league tables for third-level entry rates you publish, which further drives demand for places, and as a result taxpayers’ money is being spent on a system in which a high dropout rate is inevitable. – Yours, etc,

MARY LYNCH,

Fermoy,

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Co Cork.