Madam, - There is a difference between correlation and causation.
The fact that students who have undergone transition year obtain, on average, an extra 40 points in their Leaving Certificate does not, as your Editorial of August 26th claims, refute parents' view that the year can slow academic momentum.
There may be a correlation between taking the transition year and achieving higher points, but the higher points could have been caused by a variety of factors - including being a year older and a year wiser. If a full extra academic year had been taken, perhaps the students would have achieved an average of 80 extra points.
Instead The Irish Times and policy makers can seize on this particular statistic, apply some bogus reasoning and then tell parents that the ESRI report "firmly contradicts" their views.- Yours, etc.,
AIDAN WALSH, Hollybank Avenue, Ranelagh, Dublin 6.