Sir, - In regard to the silly little charade that is the students' strike, has so much changed in the year since I took my Leaving Certificate? Has secondary schooling suddenly become the place to be at? Has secondary school become fun or enjoyable? Does the normal school day now consist of love lessons, football and disco bars, as opposed to long lessons, eight minutes of sport and a dodgy canteen? Hardly.
As ever, the school bell remains a starting gun for a sprint to the classroom door, and most teenagers think the teachers' strike is fantastic. The only students who are genuinely worried are those appalling, do-goody, must-succeed-at-everything types, who have in turn arranged a mini-strike of their own. The rest of the students are merely in for the laugh of getting one up on their teachers, with the bonus of a half-day and potential telly appearance thrown in.
The real cause of Leaving Certificate stress syndrome is over-expectant parents. Some of them have been coyly whispering the phrase "Trinity College" into the ears of their beloved children since age nought, and now have Marian Finucane on speed dial. This teachers' strike is not about this year's Leaving Cert, but all future Leaving Cert examinations, and the future of the teaching profession. So if any of you goody-goody two-shoes students can stop thinking about yourselves for a second, then maybe you'll cop on and realise that the teachers' strike is in the students' interest (for both dossers and kissups alike). - Is mise,
Seanan Kerr, Bothar Min,An, Uaim, Co na Mi.