Despite Leaving Cert league tables, our children are not mere numbers

A LITTLE information is a dangerous thing, and a little information is what was used to print the school league tables published last weekend.

Some years ago the Department of Education fought all the way to the High Court to overturn the Information Commissioner's decision to provide newspapers with the Leaving Cert results achieved by each school.

Such information is used in Britain to produce elaborate annual guides to the 'best' and 'worst' schools, along with the predictable headlines about top gainers and top losers.