Madam, – It is clear by now that most of us want rid of Fianna Fáil in government and rail against its crass incompetence and neglect of civil society. We cry out for an alternative and wonder why the various opinion polls continue to give the main opposition party, Fine Gael, such paltry ratings.
The answer, however, is writ large in the vacuous meanderings of Brian Hayes (Opinion, November 2nd), who suggests 10 ways “to break the grip of smugness” in our education system. His proposals are either of a level of obviousness – “‘Boost teacher quality”, “Improve the teaching of Maths” – or are so contradictory and pointless as to make you desire an educational system in which their articulation would be met with guffaws of laughter.
Each of his crude points could be met with a brief reply, but it is unlikely that they would penetrate even the outer suburbs of his thinkings. The points system ain’t pretty, but it is fair; publishing school reports favours the already advantaged, which is why he wants it; paying more for university courses that give greater monetary gain means they will always be the preserve of the already privileged; abolishing Irish as a core subject in the Leaving Certificate does not mean that more students will do other languages; “Leaving a teacher in the classroom for 40 years” might actually give us those rare qualities of experience, and what used to be called wisdom.
Then there is “spot the contradiction”. On the one hand, school principals are overburdened with too much administration, and in the next sentence they spend too much time in the classroom. We must have more teaching “evaluation on an ongoing basis” and “mentoring”, presumably going forward, but “a major cull of educational bodies is also needed”. Teachers must be freed up to do what they do best but they’d better be examined and bureaucratised every step of the way. Schools should follow their own agendas, but they sure as hell must teach maths better.
And after that, the gems of wisdom: “Choice is a good thing”, “Teachers need guidance on teaching methodology”, “Good teachers make all the difference”, “parental expectations are very strong factors in why some students go to college”. Funny how nobody ever thought of any of these before.
Somebody once quipped that Brian Hayes was an old man trapped in a young man’s body. It might be truer to say that he is a cliché wrapped in a truism inside a platitude. – Yours, etc,