The Leaving Cert, like democracy itself, is imperfect and it can and should be improved. But the Leaving Cert is a better exam than many of its detractors appreciate and two of the standard criticisms of it are misguided. The first is the charge that the Leaving Cert neglects higher-order intellectual skills in favour of lower-order knowledge - in current jargon these are sometimes called `process' and `product' knowledge.
Higher-order skills include skills of analysis, application of knowledge, personal interpretation and evaluation, construction and elaboration of arguments, and lower-order skills involve basically the replication of memorised information.
Until we have further conclusive evidence, we should treat with caution the claim that the Leaving Cert is mainly a test of memorised `product' knowledge. Nobody familiar with the Honours Leaving Cert in particular can be in any doubt as to the demands it makes on `process' knowledge. Success at this level cannot be plausibly dismissed as the mere skill in reproducing information which has been learned by heart without necessarily being understood.
Students who do well in such subjects as English, history, physics or mathematics must show evidence of higher-order cognitive `process' skills in order to engage in sophisticated reasoning of a discursive or mathematical character. And students cannot do well in Irish and foreign languages without showing some facility in using the languages in question.
The second charge is that the requirements of the Leaving Cert dominate the curriculum to the detriment of significant educational goals, particularly the promotion of civic and moral virtue.
As long as a form of assessment actually assesses what it is designed to assess then it is only natural that it should affect the curriculum. But whether the Leaving Cert does so at the expense of other educational aims, this is a result of a choice on the part of teachers, parents and young people themselves. If the development of moral and civic virtues is neglected, this is due to the priorities enshrined within our culture rather than to its system of assessment.
The reason for there being such an emphasis on achievement in the academic sphere is due to the esteem attached to academic/professional work in society. The esteem attaching to such work is almost universal. Notions of social esteem and the competitiveness which they give rise to are not caused by the Leaving Cert itself.
In any case, even if it were possible to design valid and reliable instruments to assess achievement in the virtues, the whole idea of such asssessment has a suggestion of absurdity about it. Is it realistic or sensible to aspire to assess generosity, concern for the welfare of others or civic spirit?
