A Chara, - I wish to refer to the use of statistics in an article by Louise Holden on grinds (Education Today, Nov 2nd). In this article, the results of a study of "more than a thousand students throughout Ireland" were used to state that an overall national average of 70 per cent of sixth years were taking grinds, 59 per cent of fifth years, etc.
The Irish Times presented the statistics on the take-up of grinds as nationally representative. In truth, all 1,000 students responding to this survey were students already paying to attend seminars on study skills organised by Student Enrichment Services.
The Department of Education and Science would be concerned that the article may have given a misleading impression to parents and students in relation to the number of students taking grinds across the country. - Is mise,
MUIRIS O'CONNOR,
Statistics Section,
Department of Education
and Science,
Dublin 1.