Leaving Cert fairness claims don’t add up

A DEFENCE put forward for the current Leaving Certificate points system is the claim that all students are treated the same and consequently the system has an in-built fairness.

Take the following scenario: two students, Mary and Kate, had been friends all through school, studied the same subjects and both wanted to become vets.

When they checked their Leaving Certificate scripts, Mary found that she got 90% in Maths (HL), Chemistry (HL), DCG (HL), Physics (HL) and 85% in English (HL) and Irish (HL). Kate found that she got 89% in all of the foregoing subjects.

When they added up their raw scores, Mary’s came to 530 and Kate’s to 534. But Mary got 580 points and Kate got 540. Mary was offered a place in veterinary science and Kate was not.

To add insult to injury, Kate also got an A2 in higher level French whereas Mary got an A2 in ordinary level.

J N Mackey

Athlone

Co Westmeath