Madam, - Martyn Turner's cartoon of August 17th, in which one character asks "How many drinks have you had?" and the reply is "Dunno. . . I can only count up to eight" has a tragi-comic ring. The poor results in Leaving Certificate maths are indeed a cause of concern to all - drunk or sober. May I offer two main reasons for them?
1. The high pupil-teacher ratio in our junior schools.
2. The starting school-going age of four years old by September 1st in the year of admission. This is really far too young to begin formal teaching for these little ones.
To quote an article from The Irish Times of November 2nd, 1992 by Dr Patrick Randles: "In Ireland the legal or compulsory school-going age is six. In 1926 the government, while not changing the legal schoolgoing age, opted to pay a capitation fee for every child when they reached four. No provision was made for the special needs of the preschool child, that is the child aged three to six.
"This was a disastrous decision. It had nothing whatever to do with the interests of the child. It was a political decision. Its basic purpose was the revival of the Irish language."
When will we ever learn? - Yours, etc,
BRENDA MORGAN, Howth, Co Dublin.