Irish = Joke

This is not a ''i hate irish, i think its stupid'' thread.This is a valid observation about the last two days.

First of all out of 92 students in my year only 3 did higher level.This morning for Paper 2 people were leaving after 15 mins - not a joke.The hall was empty after 45 mins.Surely something has to be done.

I like fine Gaels policy of making irish mandatory til the Junior cert and then an option after that because nobody cares about it( im still not going to vote for them)

I dont think mary hanafin and the education department realise how ****in serious this problem is

whassupp2

same sort of situation in my skool. bout 20 in our centre of which 3 did higher level. 1st of the ordinary students left at 10. All gone at 11 almost an hour before exam finished leaving just 3 higher level students that struggled to finish paper in time. I personally dont mind the language but dont think it should be compulsory.

grimloch

Pretty shocking amounts of people walking out here too.

Faerie

Well I don't think Irish will ever stop being mandatory because the country is full of fanatical nationalists!
But the course seriously needs to be looked at.
Think about it, what have you spent most of the past two years doing? All most people do are the poetry and the stories because there are so many of them and which, let's face it aren't even that good! An Chead Drama is just a copy of Shakespeare! More time should be spent actually teaching us the language and learning how to speak it rather than testing our learning off skills!

smemon

yeah, waste of time.

a language that's dying a slow stubborn death. the world speaks english so we should just focus on that. imagine if we couldnt speak english - the internet would be practically useless!

themole

Those are worrying numbers alright.

What part of the country are these schools of which you speak?

I went to St Marys in Galway and did my LC in 99.

Can't quiet remember the numbers,

there was prob about 100+ in my year, and I would guess that at least 1/3 did higher level. There were at least 2 if not 3 classes.

I did pass btw.

grimloch

I was in Dublin and the first people started leaving after about 45 minutes. There was then a pretty stream of people leaving for the next forty minutes.

Dave Larkin

Seriously? People were leaving in everyone else's schools too? I thought our school was the only one. I was shocked at the ordinary level people leaving after 30 minutes. Only 15 people in my year do higher level Irish.

Yep, something needs to be done!

TerrorFirmer

themole wrote:

Those are worrying numbers alright.

What part of the country are these schools of which you speak?

I went to St Marys in Galway and did my LC in 99.

Can't quiet remember the numbers,

there was prob about 100+ in my year, and I would guess that at least 1/3 did higher level. There were at least 2 if not 3 classes.

I did pass btw.

I only did my leaving two years ago and there was almost half the year doing higher level (myself included), of which, no-one left before an hour or so....I cannot believe the situation would go so downhill in such a short time. I agree with the sentiment thats its absolutely pointless making it mandatory but as for the academic side of it, as stated there was no problems with it as a subject other then the fact we all hated it when I did the LC 2 years ago...;)

Ballerina

i just wonder WHEN ARE WE EVER GOING TO NEED TO KNOW HOW TO SAY PATHETIC FALLACY IN IRISH!!!(this angers me much...)ugh i LOVE irish and im well able to hold a good converation but i was still up til all hours last night and up early this morning trying to learn about poems and stories and i probably wont get an A.its absolutely ridiculous!i think irish should definitely be compulsory because everyone should be able to talk the language of our country but we DO NOT need to know stupid things about poetry when having a conversation.i went to the gaeltacht for 3 weeks and i was able to talk irish very well after it but people go to school for 12 years and still cant speak it....theres something wrong with that......

grimloch

I'm just going to add that I don't really have a problem with doing Irish but the cirriculum really sucks balls.

If they axed some of the shite poetry and stories and focused a bit more of the oral element of the subject I'd have been much happier.

themole

If i had my way the course would be restructured.

The honours course would have literature and stuff, like it does now.

The pass course would be focused on speaking the language to a higher level than is currently required by pass.

I would also not use Irish for points at all.

GrumPy

I left after 32minutes along with about 20 others, out of about 35 sitting the pass paper. Nobody, including me, gives a sh!t.

1. I dont need it for my course
2. I dont like Irish
3. It's my weakest subject, therefore 7th, which I wouldn't be counting anyway even if I did do well
4. The fact that you must do Irish pisses most people off
5. I would never use it again
6. Did I mention I dont need it? and it's my 7th choice anyway?

DonaldDuck

There was 80 in my exam centre(well 2 mixed togheter) and there was 11 people doing honours.First person left at 10,most people were gone by 10 30

Edit:Wow my typing was off in this post

smemon

i dont like irish, i dont need it, i'll never use it again.....

it doesnt stop me playing for pride you wont find me 'giving up' by walking out after 30mins.

what about 14 years of learning to speak it, 9/10 teachers maybe. i wasn't going to flush all that down the toilet and show a complete lack of respect for my teacher and my country's language.

get on with it, the exam isn't going to be stopped just because you walk out.... irish results won't be cancelled. you dont walk out of an exam you've spent 6 years preparing for after half an hour feeling proud of yourself... :rolleyes:

pride is the crutch of the insecure.

NADA

Ballerina wrote:

i just wonder WHEN ARE WE EVER GOING TO NEED TO KNOW HOW TO SAY PATHETIC FALLACY IN IRISH!!!(this angers me much...)ugh i LOVE irish and im well able to hold a good converation but i was still up til all hours last night and up early this morning trying to learn about poems and stories and i probably wont get an A.its absolutely ridiculous!i think irish should definitely be compulsory because everyone should be able to talk the language of our country but we DO NOT need to know stupid things about poetry when having a conversation.i went to the gaeltacht for 3 weeks and i was able to talk irish very well after it but people go to school for 12 years and still cant speak it....theres something wrong with that......

YOu see that's the problem. Most people have realised that it is not there language and don't want it. Do don't force it on them. It's the same as forcing us to do Japanese really.

GrumPy

smemon wrote:

you dont walk out of an exam you've spent 6 years preparing for after half an hour feeling proud of yourself... :rolleyes:

pride is the crutch of the insecure.

I dont feel proud of myself, but I dont give a sh!t about Irish anyway.

GrumPy

NADA wrote:

It's the same as forcing us to do Japanese really.

Ehh no :rolleyes: If they forced us to learn japanese at least if we wanted to do well, we could actually use a spoken language. Whats the pop of Japan? Whats the pop of a few smelly old west coast counties (were it is already practically dead tbh) in our small, european island of Ireland?

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Ballerina wrote:

think irish should definitely be compulsory because everyone should be able to talk the language of our country

Now here's your problem in a nutshell: you're saying that people should be FORCED to learn it. Has such a tactic ever worked? What's worng with getting people to choose it for themselves?

themole

Irish GrumPy wrote:

I dont give a sh!t about Irish anyway.

I was the same way when I did my LC.

Over time your attitude will change, as mine has.

When you go to other countries people find it hard to beleive that you can't speak the native language of your own country.

I am really rather ashamed of the fact that my Irish is ****.

willowmegs

I know more Spanish than Irish

Rob30888

Any liking I had for Irish as a result of the Gaeltacht has been thoroughly crushed by that joke of a course. Is it wrong I'm so thrilled at never having to do it again and hoping it dies a tragic death?

themole

Ikky Poo2 wrote:

Now here's your problem in a nutshell: you're saying that people should be FORCED to learn it. Has such a tactic ever worked? What's worng with getting people to choose it for themselves?

How many people use history, english literature, higher level mathematics, .....

Wez

themole wrote:

How many people use history, english literature, higher level mathematics, .....

History isn't mandatory.. But it is interesting..

English, you need to get through life.. (writing letters etc)

Higher level maths is used for people who want to go and use that kinda stuff in college.. Nobody's forcing you to do higher..

themole

The basic point I am making is this.

When you are doing your LC you are not atcually in a position to fully reaslise what you should be studying.

The same thing as in college courses some subject are mandatory and other optional, but this decision is not made by the student but by the academic board of the Department/school

I am still of the belief that everone learnign "some" Irish is better than some people learning none.

Rob30888

themole wrote:

The basic point I am making is this.

When you are doing your LC you are not atcually in a position to fully reaslise what you should be studying.

The same thing as in college courses some subject are mandatory and other optional, but this decision is not made by the student but by the academic board of the Department/school

I am still of the belief that everone learnign "some" Irish is better than some people learning none.

It's not so much the learning of the language, but what the focus is on, ie. the ****e poetry and prose

themole

Wez wrote:

English, you need to get through life.. (writing letters etc)

The standard of English which is required for "basic" everyday use ,IMHO, would be no higher than 2yd year.

Do I still think people should study literature etc, Yes.

We should be striving to learn more in school, not less.

smemon

yeah themole speaks sense.

because we're young and rebelious, challenge everything that looks/sounds stupid, we inevitably attack any subjects which are open to attack.

i dont 'hate' irish, even though i might say it. i'll regain my love for it over time once all the pressure is off and im not being examined on it.

i'd love if irish was dropped and chainsawed from school, it would make it more valuable to me having done it. my grandchildren would be fascinated by 'real irish' when i string a few sentences together 50 years down the line

themole

Rob30888 wrote:

It's not so much the learning of the language, but what the focus is on, ie. the ****e poetry and prose

True.

As I said in a previous post the system should be changed to focus more on the speaking the language. With the option to do a higer level course which would still include the Irish Literature parts of the course.

Wez

I'm not saying you're completely wrong altogether, just they seemed to be bad examples..

I do think that if Irish was a choice it would do better.. I like doing irish, but the way it's done is a joke..

themole

smemon wrote:

i dont 'hate' irish, even though i might say it. i'll regain my love for it over time once all the pressure is off and im not being examined on it.

I can guarantee this will happen.

It gets usefull when trying to speak about nice foreign birds. That was deffo usefull last night. Me and my Irish friends were in stitches, while all the french friends of mine didn't have a clue what we were on about. A small taste of their own medicine since I don't speak french