Comments on: Enda compulsory Irish for Leaving Cert ?

By: Joe

Joe — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 23:21:52 +0000

It is a useless language with little or no use in everyday life. It puts undue pressure on students, and I can only assume it costs the Department of Education money, that could be spent on more practical subjects, such as science and business. Granted, it is part of our heritage, and our Irish identity, but we should still have a choice to take the subject or not, so those who actually want to do it, can, and vice versa. Also, the way it is taught is questionable, for example, the technicalities of Grammer, and its relevance.

No offence intended.

By: ash

ash — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 17:52:32 +0000

Ok this is pathetic… are people really moaning about learning their national language??? I dont understand… if ur not willing to keep the language or at least make an effort to preserve it (IE. KEEP IT COMPULSORY) ur not irish at heart and thats for. Gaeilge go deo.. tír gan teanga = tír gan anam !!!!

By: Danielle A

Danielle A — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 20:19:23 +0000

I am a Leaving cert student myself and Im not fluent in Irish but i do have a good understanding of the language. I dont think that it should be made compulsory as of course, everyone would abandon the language as they did so centuries ago, its not even that hard if you try to sit down and study it. I mean, you just have to learn of a few letters and a scéal! And you can get extra marks on the aural and tape exam…i really dont see what the problem is!!

By: Brendan

Brendan — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 20:27:09 +0000

As a Leaving Cert student i think having Irish as a compulsory subject is a joke. I understand the argument made that making Irish optional would mean less students would study it, but doesn’t that go to show that love for the language is gone. Many citizens seem interested in the rejuvenation of the Irish language, provided they do not do the leg work. Very few people are personally interested in learning Irish, but seem in favour of its teaching in schools, of Government funding of TG4 etc. It is more guilt that if we lose the Irish language we lose our heritage that makes us care just enough to conserve it, watching it die slowly at enormous expense to the taxpayer.

By: Elaine

Elaine — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 09:19:12 +0000

I agree with all of ye:d

By: Lara...

Lara... — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 00:02:03 +0000

I moved to Ireland from England when I was 7 but with two Irish parents I had already learnt some basics in Irish. I came to school in Ireland knowing how to count to ten in irish and how to say basic things like hello, goodbye and thank you in Irish. I loved this language, it was “cool” and fun…well that was what i thought until I had my first Irish class. From that very first day I hated Irish and I’ve lost more knowledge of the language than I’ve gained.

I think Irish should be an optional subject. The only way Irish will ever be grasped is by having an interest in it, having proper teachers and a slyabus and teaching methods that actually work.

My Irish teacher is an example of the pathetic system of teaching Irish in this country. She can’t even find the glasses on the top of her head, let alone teach a class of 25 leaving certs higher level Irish.

Until the goverment makes major changes in the teaching of Irish no student should be forced to study a near dead language.

By: Sean Hearte

Sean Hearte — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 11:04:07 +0000

Doing the leaving through Irish does indeed mean you will probably get higher points. There still exists the sliding scale of added marks which will most almost certainly translate into higher points in at least one subject.

I do not agree that the sliding scale makes less difference the higher the grade is since as the grade approaches 100%, each percentage is more difficult to achieve ie: the difference between 40% and 45% is a lot less than say 90% and 95% or by far 95% and 100%.

By: Susan Hated Literature » Blog Archive » I always love watching “When Seemingly Innocent Girls Attack” on Fox.

Thu, 10 May 2007 09:32:46 +0000

[...] no longer be a compulsory subject for the Leaving[2] which prompted much discussion, including this post on wysiwyg. Personally I’d say keep it compulsory, but then again maybe everything should be voluntary [...]

By: Katy

Katy — Mon, 07 May 2007 15:09:54 +0000

I think we should celebrate the fact that Ms. Hanafin has now introduced changes in the curriculum, putting much more emphasis on the spoken, rather than written, word.
Ta suil agam go mbeidh an Ghaeilge nios suimiuile do dhaltai anois agus go mbeidh Gaeilge liofa ag nios mo daoine amach anseo. Ta suil agam chomh maith go ndearna Mary Hanafin an dothan chun an Gaeilge a choimead mar abhar eigeantach agus chun daltai a spreagadh i a fhoghlaim.
Slan agus Beannacht.

By: suji

suji — Fri, 04 May 2007 21:34:15 +0000

i seriously agree that irish should be an optional subject not only because its hard for some students but for the ones who came to ireland in their secondry school and is too late to study irish so i hope the government would give permission for making irish language an optional subject. so, i would prefer 110% irish as an optional subject.