Exemplary achievements - The path to success is well known

We saw again yesterday the relentless nature of life’s cycle — birth, growth, achievement, death, the pain of absence and then almost inevitably rejuvenation.

As one of the most charismatic and fondly regarded Irishmen of his time — Páidí Ó Sé — was buried in Ventry the talents, energy, ambitions and considerable achievements of a quartet of Irishmen probably too young to have seen Ó Sé win any of his eight All Ireland medals were honoured on the world stage.

Ó Sé, even in death, was singled out though. He got, according to West Kerry tradition, a Cuireadh na Nollag — a phrase describing a death around Christmas, an invitation to the afterlife particularly blessed in Irish lore.

The four young Irishmen — Limerick brothers John and Patrick Collison, CoderDojo’s James Whelton and Jonathon Cloonan of GroupM advertisers — were listed on Forbes magazine’s “30 under 30” — a list honouring international innovators and entrepreneurs so successful in their 20s that they have been recognised as agents for positive change on the world stage. Ó Sé has left us great memories but these young men will help build the future, hopefully a prosperous one.

Forbes honours the top 30 achievers in 15 categories from around the world ranging from education, energy, music, science, and healthcare to sports, technology games and apps and marketing. Highly regarded, the honours, in Irish terms at least, show what can be achieved through education, ambition, well-founded confidence and work.

Tempting though it is to bask in the reflected glory and imagine that the education system that produced these young entrepreneurs is good enough for purpose, recent reports and Education and Skills Minister Ruairí Quinn have reminded us all that is not the case and that we need to do much more to help our students match their best contemporaries around the world.

Two major international reports on pupil achievement published last week show that our children are doing well but need to improve if we are to realise our ambitions around a knowledge-based economy.

In reading, maths and science Irish pupils scored significantly above the international average. However, pupils in a number of countries outperform Irish students in all three subjects.

The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study ranked Irish students 10th out of 45 however students in five places performed significantly better than Irish students: Hong Kong, Finland, Singapore, the Russian Federation and Northern Ireland.

The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study placed Ireland 17th in maths and 22nd in science out of 50 participating countries.

The national Literacy and Numeracy Strategy is being used to benchmark our students against highest international standards and Mr Quinn has asked the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment to reconsider how time allocated to various subjects in the curriculum influences success or otherwise in various areas.

These are positive developments and will undoubtedly influence the next generation of Irish men and women — and teachers — especially if they learn from Ó Sé’s legacy and realise that his sporting success, which will hardly be matched let alone surpassed, was based on unquenchable determination and simple hard work.