MATT COOPER: LET TEENS TAKE THEIR OWN PATH
MANY mammies spent yesterday either speaking or texting in code about their beloved offspring’s Leaving Cert results.
Nobody, as I observed yesterday – because my wife was at it herself after our second daughter’s results came out – gives full details to their peers.
Other mammies were either ‘happy’ or ‘delighted’ with the performance, with some admitting to being ‘a little disappointed’, which might be a subtle way of saying that they are absolutely furious with the performance of their son or daughter.
Indeed, there were a few who I suspect may have been more than a bit disappointed but who, in public, at least, described themselves as being among the delighted.
Read into any of that what you will.
There’s no harm in it, but I’ve discovered, since my first daughter did her Leaving Cert two years ago, nobody seems to tell you what their son or daughter actually got… and the students themselves are just as reticent with the detailed information.
Gamesmanship
In some cases, in fairness, it’s because they may not want to be seen to be showing off as much not wanting to admit that they didn’t do as well as they expected or hoped… or as well as their friends may have done (given that they can’t find out exactly how well, or not, they did).
Tongues will likely loosen for some from tomorrow onwards, when the CAO offers of places for courses in our third level institutions are made.
Suddenly the breakdown of individual subject grades will no longer be as important, once an offer of a place, apparently desired, is secured.
There may, however, be some gamesmanship at play here too, with misleading information being disseminated as to what was really little Johnny or Mary’s first choice and as to whether or not they had the points for it.
Perhaps the disclosure of a place on certain courses, or even at certain universities or colleges, may in itself be an admission as to the receipt of a lower number of Leaving Cert points that had been anticipated.
It’s amazing the stuff that I’ve heard in recent years too when it comes to the courses that will be done.
Arts is not a ‘good enough’ degree to be doing, according to some, but Arts at a university is better than any course at a third level institution that isn’t an established university, according to others.
This, I’ll admit, tends to come from parents who have spent money on a private secondary school education – and who believe that investment now demands a return by attendance by the offspring at certain thirdlevel institutions… and not others.
And we do have a situation as a result, where the main Dublin universities have a disproportionate number of students who originated from fee-paying secondary schools and where there is an under-representation of those privileged young adults in the various institutes of technology.
It is not the only distortion in the system.
We have made a fetish in this country of as many young people as possible carrying on to third-level education once secondary school is finished.
The proportion of school-leavers going on to higher education has increased dramatically from about 10% in the 1960s to well over 60% nowadays.
The number of students in higher education has climbed to a record high with almost a quarter of a million people studying a third-level course last year. One in every 15 adults in the State is studying in one of our universities, institutes or colleges. It means Ireland is the EU member state with the highest proportion of school-leavers progressing to higher education.
Overall, that has to be good, and must have been very helpful to the IDA in persuading foreign multi-nationals to locate in Ireland, and to indigenous Irish companies who have expanded at home and abroad.
But such analysis can mask significant problems.
We have a system where the vast bulk of those from higher or middle-income families go on to third-level education even if they are not suited to the courses they follow – or where many who would be well-suited are still unable to afford the costs of going to third-level education, even when grant assistance is forthcoming.
This is especially the case for young adults from rural Ireland who have the expense of finding accommodation in the town or city where they have to go. The cost of living in our major cities may be higher but children who can live with their parents while they are at further education enjoy a significant advantage.
As significant is the fact that many people end up doing something to which they are not suited.
Proof that third level doesn’t suit everybody comes from the most recent study – for 2018 – which found that nearly 5,800 students, or 14% of all new entrants to third level, did not move on to the second year of their course.
Students from what are deemed disadvantaged schools are almost twice as likely to fail to make it past their first year in college compared to those from fee-paying schools.
What a shame it is when a young person makes a commitment to education at a third level institution and finds that, for whatever reason, that they do not want to keep going or feel unable to do so. That can hardly do their self-confidence any good. And how difficult does it become for them to then find a worthwhile alternative?
Support
In addition to financial pressures, there is a reason to believe that too many teenagers and young adults are persuaded – sometimes by parents, peers or career guidance counsellors – that third level education is essential to their future, when it’s not suited to them.
Just as the Leaving Cert is not suited to some people – who cannot handle the academic requirements as well as others – or the learning by rote that it rewards, then third-level education can exacerbate that requirement.
Unfortunately, too many Irish mammies want their offspring to move into professions rather than trades and, as a result, apprenticeships can be frowned upon, despite the on-the-job experience, decent starting salaries and good opportunities they can offer for reasonably or highly paid future employment of a kind that suits.
Just as we need computer programmers, we want carpenters, and electricians are as necessary as engineers. The Leaving Cert should be as valuable in providing the foundation for people to enter trades as it is for the professions that are served by third level education, which is why the number of honours achieved and the points earned are only one part of the value of the secondary school system.
As for my daughter? Her results are her own business – and it’s not for me to give any clues publicly as to how she did – but we’ll support her in whatever informed choices she makes as to her future. We’ll be happy – even delighted – about that.