Day of judgment on 12 years of study

TEARS of sorrow, tears of joy. A shriek of happiness or the realisation that life - that unknown country which begins when school days draw to a close - may not be as smooth a prospect as first hoped.

Just for a brief moment, the students collecting their results at Rockford Manor school in Blackrock, Co Dublin, yesterday hit the extremes of the emotional scale. The envelope quickly opened, a nervous eye scans the results.

Then: "I did it," or "Oh, God." Judgment - fair but brutal judgment - is cast on 12 years of schoolwork.

Thereafter, the return to earth. Friends commiserate or congratulate, results are compared, guidance counsellor Attracta Kennelly is on hand to counsel and comfort. Her pocket calculator comes in handy for totting up the points accumulated by tense students. For many, points anxiety arrives almost as soon as exam worries are forgotten.

The Minister for Education broke her holiday to visit the girls in her local school, and to impart a few words of advice. You've never had it so good, she told the school leavers, what with "free fees", fewer Leaving Cert students and improved job prospects.

"This is an excellent year in which to leave school. The range of study options is greater than ever, the economy is buoyant and for the first time, Ireland joins other European countries by abolishing third level fees."

Ms Breathnach reminisced about her own passing out: "It's all a bit vague. We sort of wandered up to school in Sion Hill. Then we went to town for the day, but there was no special celebration. But of course, there weren't so many Leaving Cert students then, maybe only one in 10.

"Town", wherever it is, remains the main destination for celebrating students, in Dublin at least. "Everyone goes into town; it's going to end up black and we'll have to come home early because there's nowhere to go," said a pessimistic Eleanor O'Neill.

Eleanor (17), from Cabinteely, reckoned she hadn't got her first choice, journalism in DIT, but would probably get into arts in UCD. "I'm stunned, it's totally surreal. You wait for so long and then it's over so quickly. You don't even have to open the envelope, as it's not sealed."

Sonia Weafer hadn't got her first preference either, but was happy enough to dance a samba worthy of a Brazilian soccer player. Cs in French and accounting were good enough, but a B in Irish was "just fantastic".

By 10.30 most of the Rockford students had picked up their results. The happy ones lingered, possibly for the last time, in front of their school. Other girls left as quickly as they came, without so much as a backward glance.

Ms Kennelly thought the results "very accurate; most students got what they expected and should be offered one of their top choices."

This year's students are more interested in business and computing courses, and less attracted to the caring professions, such as social sciences and physiotherapy, she said. The abolition of fees had taken a great load off middle income families.