Got my LC results yesterday
, and whilst Maths turned out great for me; I know many people who are now restricted from college courses because of the requirement. For example, some people who should have sat foundation maths decided to sit the ordinary paper because they wanted to go to college... then they failed the paper, so have no choice but to repeat.
I would hate to see college entry standards eroded by completely scarpping the maths requirement. Maths is a fundamentally important subject - perhaps one of the most practical significant subjects thaught in modern (supposedly) hi-tech Ireland; however a student hopeing to do a degree in say fine arts or history should not be stopped because maths is not their strong point. Courses with certain mathamatical areas should retain the min. requirements (or even increase them), however those degrees without a strong need for maths should drop the requirement totally.
In addition, I strongly believe far more should be done to improve the teaching of maths. Honors maths is a monstrous course that devours time and energy (I sat 8 subjects for the LC, yet spent at least
70% of my study time on Maths!... and it still was'nt my top result) The standard of teaching is not consistant and many students have to get grinds to achieve their dream results. However, I would'nt just blame all the teachers, our teacher was'nt particularly good, but he did his best for us and made up for it in energy and drive.
It might sound too radical, but I think that maths should be split into 2 seperate subjects, broadly on the lines of the current paper 1 and paper 2. This would make Maths a far more attractive subject to students, teaching time could be doubled, ceratin areas could be dealt with in greater detail, Irish maths ability could improve dramatically and students who invest the
enoromous amount of time and energy necessary in Honors maths would be properly rewarded in the points system.