Schools’ ethos not conducive to study of maths

SEVERAL recent reports have highlighted how second-level students have underperformed in mathematics, science and technology.

Most of the blame seems to have been heaped on poor teaching methods (or simply poor staff) and lack of spending on education.

However, I would like to suggest an another reason. There is a still a strong Catholic ethos in our education system, especially at primary level. Whether intentional or not, I believe this is not conducive to the type of minds that excel in these subjects.

I’m not suggesting that religion is the antithesis of science — as Dawkins might have us believe — but that the two approaches to understanding are fundamentally different.

Science and technology require minds that are open to discovering truths, taking responsibility for your own conjectures and conclusions, and possibly overturning or ignoring previously held views. There is no such thing as dogma in (good) science. It is a meritocracy of viewpoints... a masterclass in objectivity. This identification of ‘science’ as a discipline, or a way of working, is important. Far too many people associate it with the fruits of those endeavours rather than the means by which we discover and learn.

If the big ‘truth’ is that there is a God, then science would find him, but truths are an endpoint to a search, not a starting point. Ireland’s education system needs to encourage enquiring minds and be honest about what we truly know and don’t know — without fear of clashing with some prevailing ethos inherited from the school’s owners.

Tony Proctor

Curraheenavoher

Ballymacarbry

Co Waterford