Making assessments about the education system of any state is a risky business and comparing the system of one state against another is even more fraught.
For reasons of political sensitivity, it is not surprising there are few people on the international scene queuing up to compare one system against another.
While the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has produced a report brimming with comparative statistics and tables, its staff was loath to call them league tables during a briefing with journalists last week.
While the phrase "league tables" carries negative associations for some in the Irish education world, there is no doubt the annual Education at a Glance report represents one of the few ways to measure the system here against those in other advanced economies.
While it is surprising to learn that almost half the population between the ages of 25 and 64 have never got past Intermediate Certificate level (now the Junior Certificate), there is no doubt that great strides are being made in educational participation.
This is particularly the case at second level, where the Republic is approaching the 90 per cent rate for the number of school-leavers completing Leaving Certificate education. This compares with the early 1960s when getting that far in one's education was regarded as an aberration.
With the battle for second-level education almost won, the attention of governments will increasingly have to turn to third level. According to the OECD report, access to advanced degree courses indicates "the degree to which the population is acquiring high-level skills and knowledge".
Using that barometer, one wonders whether the policy-makers are happy with the performance of the Republic in this area; 28 per cent of our school-leavers go on to these courses - normally regarded as gateways to the professions - compared to an OECD average of 40 per cent.
While this gap of 12 per cent could be seen as a continuing problem, it could also be seen as masking considerable progress. For example, it is the same rate as in Germany, Austria and Belgium, which, until recent years, were ahead of the Republic. Beneath all these figures other problems continue to fester. The report says the Republic has the third-highest rate of student absenteeism at second level in the OECD.
It will come as a surprise to many to learn that more than 7 per cent of students are not at their desks on a typical school day. This problem of absenteeism is associated in most minds with truancy and the figures are not encouraging.
For those who successfully reach third level, there is an increasing likelihood they will take on a degree or diploma course in computing or a related field.
For example, of those who qualify with a degree, 5.7 per cent graduate in computing. For those who do diplomas and certificate courses, 10.3 per cent graduate in computing, which is almost three times the average rate in other OECD states.
While this would suggest we are becoming a race of computer experts, we are however also producing huge numbers of arts and humanities graduates.
Of those qualifying with degrees, 22.4 per cent are in arts/humanities disciplines. Put simply, we produce more than twice the number of arts graduates as engineers.
While science is failing to attract sufficient interest from secondary pupils, according to most observers, the OECD figures show that, taking into account life and physical sciences, more than 10 per cent of our students graduate in science.
Despite this apparently high figure, many educationists would like to see it closer to 20 per cent.