I went to a 'state school', (a 'Community School') way back in the late 70s, early 80s, then on to university.
University was not the choice of most of the kids at the school at the time and still isn't, but I am not sure this is an appropriate way to measure the performance of a school. As an example of a non-university route to a satisfying career, I can show you this example, featuring a guy I went to school with:
www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/first-encounters-dylan-bradshaw-and-paul-foley-1.1638557
The school I went to has changed quite a bit in the almost 50 years since. Of my friends who still live in the catchment, I can't think of any who have sent their own kids there. There are a few reasons for this, including preference of partners for another school and ease of getting kids to school in the morning if the trip to work is in another direction. However, it isn't what it used to be academically. That being said, about a quarter of students head off to university or the equivalent every year. (Including one student to the Royal College of Surgeons two years ago, Hatstrategicallydipped - I was impressed because it is hard to get into).
Way back then, we had very little sex education, but we definitely had some. Two girls from my year got pg before leaving school. A few who didn't go to university had babies a year or two after the Leaving Cert but had been involved in relationships with their partners for a few years by that point. Most are still with their partners, have homes of their own, families..
From what she’s told me the boys from Blackrock all think they’re god’s gift to mankind.
LOL, YYY, twas ever the case. Clearly, 'plus ça change'.
(Though the girls I knew in university from Mount Anville and Alex were among the nicest.)
@LadyfromtheBelleEpoque, I agree much was known about the camps and the Holocaust, but at government level only; the general public were not informed, hence the shock of the soldiers who stumbled upon the camps. One of those soldiers was an uncle of mine who was a nephew of an Irish government minister of the time. My uncle was an officer, an engineer. He retired from military service after his military experience ended a few km south of Bergen Belsen.
I know that the common narrative around education is that Irish is best. Tbh, I am sick of this. I don’t think we compare like with like as there are so many good UK institutions that exist outside of the cities that few in the Irish communities really experience.
I completely disagree with the idea that good schools outside of Dublin are few and far between. This may have been true back in the 1960s but it isn't now. I also disagree with your contention that girls study nursing and boys go to an ag college and then back to the farm, that that this is the expected route for most boys and girls.
I disagree because it is clear that somebody is applying for and being admitted to over 40,000 third level places offered in Ireland annually, and those places are not all in nursing or ag (though I also take issue with the implied disparagement of the ag area, in which there are enormous opportunities, all requiring some specialised ed).
In 2019, 57k students sat the LC, and 50k were offered third level places.
I also disagree because the 2018 PISA rankings objectively disprove your opinion.
The key findings of the 2018 assessments include:
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Ireland ranks 4th out of 36 OECD countries and 3rd out of 27 EU countries for reading literacy
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Ireland ranks 8th out of 77 countries/regions involved in PISA 2018 for reading literacy[1]
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in reading, Ireland has significantly fewer low-performing students (11.8% below level 2) and significantly more high performers (12.1% at levels 5 and 6) than the OECD average
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PISA results show the difference in performance between schools in Ireland is lower than the OECD
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in Ireland, the difference between schools in student performance in reading literacy is less than half of what it is, on average, across OECD countries[2]
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post-primary schools in Ireland can therefore be considered relatively equitable, as well as having above average performance in the three assessment domains
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Ireland has a lower percentage of low-performing students in all three domains than on average across OECD countries
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girls perform better than boys in reading, with a difference of 23.2 score points[3]
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Ireland’s performance in science and mathematics has remained relatively stable – above the OECD average scores – between 2015 and 2018 cycles
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girls perform slightly better than boys in science but the results are not considered statistically significant
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in science, students ranked 17th out of 37 OECD countries, 11th out of 28 EU countries and 22nd out of 78 participating countries/regions
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Ireland has a lower than average number of low performing students in science
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in mathematics, Irish students ranked 16th out of 37 OECD countries and 21st out of 78 participating countries/regions
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Ireland has a lower than average number of low performing students in maths
www.gov.ie/en/press-release/f6e114-major-international-study-finds-irelands-students-among-top-performe/