What's the talk of education?

Cuts to the Modern Languages in Primary Schools Initiative

Here, we see the lack of any real joined-up thinking in our education system, all because of choices the Government is making. I bet the civil servant who made this decision to cut foreign-language teaching does not speak a foreign language. Everyone knows that it is much easier to teach younger children languages because they learn quicker – David McWilliams, davidmcwilliams.ie

Currently, our students even have a problem communicating effectively in English – Analyzer, politics.ie

I think making children learn foreign languages in school holds them back and stops them from developing their intelligence in the most important aspects of learning. Maths, science, geography, history are far more important than being able to speak a few words of someone elses language – junius, politics.ie

If we close ourselves off, we will miss out on so much. Students should experience as much as possible while in schools. Going back beating the three ‘R’s into people and holding up Ireland in the 1950s as some kind of utopia is not my idea of how people should live – greengreen, politics.ie

Cutting modern languages in primary school is completely short-sighted. It is proven internationally that the earlier children are exposed to other languages the better they absorb them, and this has a long-term benefit. To save such a paltry amount of money at the expense of a massive potential gain is nuts – Orion, boards.ie

Its a shame to see this go. It was through learning Spanish in primary school when I was nine, that I developed a love for languages. I’m now studying Spanish and French as part of my undergraduate degree – djcervi, boards.ie

I am not sorry to see it go – my kids are in 5th class and I feel they need more time on their English and Maths. They do so little of each on a daily basis and I would prefer they go into secondary with a good grasp of the basics before they start another language – aisher, boards.ie

ESRI report says streaming according to ability in schools is bad for students

This is hardly groundbreaking stuff. The way children are taught in primary and secondary school are completely different. More needs to be done to bridge that gap. Weaker children who receive so much teacher support up to sixth class suddenly find themselves in second level completely alone – Miss Tree, thejournal.ie

I think they’re bang on the money. Hopefully, this report will blow the fallacy out of the water that getting stronger students to study in the same class as weaker students will somehow drag the stronger students down – James Gaffney, thejournal.ie

You need to interpret the article. Streaming does indeed improve the performance of the brightest students, but it also drags down the weakest and even more so. It is then accurate to say by extension that weaker students will negatively impact on stronger students. Knowing this, do you end streaming for a more egalitarian outcome or do you reward hard work and intelligence and maintain the status quo? I’d opt for the latter – G Charles Osborne, thejournal.ie

In my school, you wanted to be in the higher classes not to avoid being dragged down, but to avoid bold, scary students – @CecilExplorer