Sir, - Apparently Cllr Michael O'Dowd does not think the citizens who elected him can make "fair" decisions about their children's education. He writes (October 14th) that the publication of schools' examination results would lead to some schools being "penalised" for working with students with special needs. He isn't clear about who would impose penalties, but suggest some system of "value added" comparison of schools.
Fine, but please let us also have the "crude" facts of examination performance. There is no argument for concealing them, other than the elitist notion that grownups can't be trusted with the unvarnished truth. - Yours, etc.,
Patrick Kinsella, School of Communications, Dublin City University, Dublin 9.