Madam, - Twenty-four years ago I scaled the heady heights of an E in pass level Leaving Cert maths. Motivated by a few years in dead-end jobs, I scraped into certificate-level mechanical engineering, where I maintained perennial D-grade status in maths.
Things changed when I went to England for two years to upgrade my average diploma to honours degree. Inspired by excellent lecturers and motivated students, I averaged in the mid-90s in every maths examination or piece of course work I sat. The reason for my transformation: 80 per cent rote learning (sheer hard work) and 20 per cent dawning comprehension (the exciting bit).
Predictably, I am still weak at maths, but what I did learn from that brief exposure is that maths is a remarkably beautiful language. And like any language, one has to be taught to speak it. While having much sympathy for the current Leaving Cert students who appear to have been subject to a clumsy ambush, I welcome the thinking that lies at the heart of it. Rote learning does nobody any favours in the medium or long term - least of all the students who so quickly leak it away again. - Yours, etc,
IAN HICKEY, Lauderdale Terrace, Bray, Co Wickow.