Leaving Cert 2022 and whingeing students

Very true, how we got here is just extraordinary, I'm not minimising the challenges students face but whilst no defender of Norma Foley (utterly dreadful), every effort has been made to support students.

Whatever about the fist year of the Pandemic and that was tough, allowing this pandering to continue is just beyond absurd and alot of it being pushed by certain media outlets 🙄

That’s exactly what they’ll try-the mental health card has been played to death now- life isn’t a bed of Roses and sometimes you must sacrifice and work hard to get to an end goal. These lot of whimps want to skip that hard bit of course and have it handed on a gold plated plate. Because they’re worth it.

The notion of “predicted” (ie made up) grades is the greatest load of rubbish I’ve ever came across. Thankfully teachers know and acknowledge this too and are resisting the urge to pander to these princesses. The LC had been dumbed down so much now it may as well be abolished if any more is chipped away

LOL, 'why' a person wants to do a subject. What is this, Britain's Got Talent?

Actually it's not. Could you provide a correlation between LC points and IQ? We do know that fee paying schools dominate but we also know that fee paying students actually do worse when they get to university.

Having worked there I can confirm that. Dominated by people from fee paying from schools whereby you pay to get your child into university. I was actively trying to combat that. I actually asked one Harrow alumni how he got into science as he was totally unsuited to the post.

Thanks for mentioning the high drop out rates. This isn't mentioned at all in relation to the points discussion. Science in general has high drop out rates. I have taught people with 500 plus points who couldn't grasp a concept as well with someone with more passion for the course.

This exactly. So many got into science because they were told it was good for their career rather than having an inclination for it. Getting 600 points, i.e. memorizing facts doesn't make you a good scientist i.e. someone with the ability to find out something new.

The real problem is that the exam is no longer fit for purpose. Students are treated like sponges, expected to soak up facts and regurgitate them in a three hour period.

I would have two sections in the exam, one a short test of the necessary basics which must be learnt. The second would be an open book exam requiring the student to answer in-depth questions requiring understanding and logic but not necessarily remembering facts. The students would need to be taught how to use facts and research rather than learn by rote. This method of teaching would mean the students are more involved in their education and not just sitting listening to facts.

My heart goes out to the numerous students forced to endure the archaic school system which is suited to about 20% of the population.

Continuous assessment and projects do not give a level playing field. Even the the best teachers can be swayed by the behaviour of their students and projects benefit pupils who have better support and resources from home.

Teachers will always find it hard to grade their pupils for numerous reasons and the exam becomes worthless.

So, according to this thread, our schools are populated by:

(a) unnoticed genuises with sieve-like memories who are unfairly denied access to high-points courses, and

(b) idiot savants with eidetic memories but without the capacity for independent thought who drop out of any course they get into.

Twaddle.

The correct, appropriate and proportionate response has been made in my opinion.

Students who have missed time through no fault of their own will be sitting modified exams with much more choice of question than usual. So if a topic was covered when they were absent they won't have to answer a question on it.

The "think of the time they've missed" argument doesn't hold up.

Ironically, the hybrid idea would only penalise these students further as their "predicted" grades will be lower than a comparable student with very good attendance.