Sir, - In The Irish Times of August 15th you refer, in your main story and leading article, to the difficulty or otherwise of obtaining higher grades in different subjects. A number of comparisons are made, but those between mathematics and English are particularly relevant and I shall confine the discussion to these two.
Essentially the same, and almost all, students take mathematics and English to Leaving Certificate level, as these are requirements for most third level courses. This year 53,249 sat the Mathematics Leaving Certificate examination and 52,889 sat English, out of a total of 59,175 students. Those doing mathematics and English are taken from essentially the same constituency. (The small differences in totals can be accounted for somewhat by students who have already taken the subject(s) in previous years.)
Your correspondents state: "Students were three times as likely to get a higher A in maths as in English." "In contrast (to English 5.3 per cent) 15.2 per cent of maths students secured an A at higher level . . ." It is not meaningful to base a comparison of levels of difficulty on percentages, since the numbers of students taking the higher levels differ considerably.
The 15.2 per cent in higher Maths is out of 9,471, making in total 1,439 obtaining an A in higher maths; the 5.3 per cent in English is out of 28,297, giving a total of 1,499 obtaining an A in higher English. Thus, in fact, more students obtained an A in higher English than in higher maths and as pointed out already, these numbers come from essentially the same constituency.
Your leading article states: "This year almost 50 per cent of all students taking higher mathematics scored an A or B grade; the equivalent for English was only 3 per cent . . ." This is technically correct, but again is misleading. The actual percentages and numbers are:
Scoring A or B in higher maths (49.1 per cent of 9,471): 4,650;
Scoring A or B in higher English - (24.6 per cent of 28,297): 6,961;
Scoring "hons" (A or B or C in higher) in maths (81 per cent of 9,471): 7,671;
Scoring "hons" (A or B or C in higher) in English (65.1 per cent of 28,297): 18,421.
As a percentage of those taking the subjects: 2.7 per cent got an A in higher maths; 2.83 per cent got an A in higher English; 14.4 per cent got "hons" in mathematics; 34.8 per cent got "hons" in English. I am not, of course, claiming that English is in any way well off, but I am using the numbers to point out how the statistics have been misinterpreted. A complete analysis of the difficulty of different subjects would need to take many factors into account. Both English and mathematics have far too few obtaining the higher grades, and figures from other countries would bear this out.
There are various reasons why a smaller number continues with higher level mathematics to Leaving Certificate, but I do not wish to discuss these reasons here. Suffice it to say that if the students, teachers and parents really felt it was easier to obtain a higher grade in mathematics, then I am sure that many more would be taking the higher level.
A Government committee in the 1970s, when the number taking higher level mathematics was approximately 5,500, pointed out that to meet the technological needs of the 1980s this number would need to be doubled. We are now well into the 1990s, approaching a new century, and the required numbers for the 1980s have still not been attained. With the new emphasis on numeracy and technology, and all the old and new quantitative methods required in various aspects of science, engineering, technology and finance, it is vitally important for our future that many more he encouraged to pursue and attain honours mathematics. Yours, etc.,
Dept. of Mathematics,
University College, Galway.