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24 August
Post-Leaving Cert Stress Disorder
What's Best For Ireland's Students?
by
SoftwareGuru
Reading the latest "Going To College"
articles in the Irish media this month would almost leave your
head spinning, so you can only guess how stressful it must be
for the students themselves.
Study grant confusion, predetermined CAO course choice
preference, forthcoming tuition fees, new medical aptitude test
for potential medical students - not forgetting the impact
of the Leaving Cert result itself - are all obstacles that
Irish students must negotiate.
Those in charge of shaping the education system in Ireland
haven't exactly instilled a joy of learning into pupils or
students.
Instead of teaching our children that learning should be an
enjoyable lifelong adventure, we put pupils through an
intensive, stressful few years of subjects where they learn to
beat the exam and are left with an overall negative experience
usually described as "well, I'm glad that's all over!".
How is that beneficial in the long-term to the economy? Where
will innovation and invention come from when it is fundamentally
against the skills taught as part of beating the exam system?
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Can't They Teach Us More Than This?
Advances in science and medicine have greatly prolonged the
average life span of people in the western world and yet we
still cling on to a system whereby a ridiculous amount of
pressure is put on pupils to decide their future before they are
even of a legal age to be considered an adult.
If the state doesn't acknowledge pupils as adults until
they are 18, why ask pupils to make important adult life
decisions before then?
It's almost as if those who are in charge believe that they came
through the same system so therefore it's good enough for the
next generation.
If Ireland's brittle economy and so-called financial experts are
anything to go by, clearly that is not the case. The art of
learning in Ireland is suffering and will continue to do so
until massive changes are made to a deeply flawed system.
The Irish Independent article on 'How
To Go About Deferring A Place' outlines all of the key
aspects that students should be aware of in the event they
decide to take a year out.
Student debt is such a serious issue that taking a year out to
work and save money towards going to college can be a rewarding
experience as long as it is part of a clear plan.
Taking a step back from the intensity of post-Leaving Cert
stress will also provide the opportunity to ask yourself the
question:
Is there a career for me beyond the paycheque which will satisfy
my personality and ambitions?
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Another Brick In The Wall
The truth in all of this is that we are now in the digital age,
an era where transitions will be made even faster than before.
How we approach the art of learning will become of paramount
importance as technology advances at a rate far beyond anything
we have experienced previously.
Future generations must be prepared to adapt and embrace
significant change throughout their lives.
Ireland still has a 20th century education system as the early
reverberations of the 21st century's digital era continues to
change the world around us.
Ireland's future teachers and future education industry experts
will be receiving their Leaving Cert results this week. Let's
hope that when the time comes, they'll make the necessary
changes to update the entire outlook and ideology of learning in
this country.
Irish students deserve better.
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Posted by
admin
at
10:05
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Read more about student issues at Software4Students.