Sir, - In response to Paul Taylor (April 3rd), one would be tempted to suggest that some teachers have spent too long in the adolescent atmosphere of self-absorption, talking to nobody else but each other. The aggrieved, petulant tone of his letter was quite sad really, because it shows that he, like many members of the ASTI, still doesn't "get it". By their own attitude to Leaving Certificate students, they managed, all by themselves, to alienate the very people who could have been their strongest advocates - parents.
I would have willingly written and spoken in support of teachers, but their own Machiavellian tactics, and what amounted to breathtaking contempt for vulnerable students and worried parents, has ensured that the respect and acknowledgment they crave will elude them for a long time to come. For this, they have nobody to blame but themselves. - Yours, etc.,
Angela Hanley, Beech Park, Athlone, Co Westmeath.