DEREK BALL,
Sir, - As an expatriate Irishman, I've kept quiet about a number of things happening in my native country of which I disapproved over the years, but this is the limit! Take Irish off the curriculum? No!
As a first or second language, English is spoken by more Europeans than any of the other European languages. Should French, German, Italian or Spanish be taken off national curriculums so that everyone can concentrate on the most "useful" language, English?
Why not? The answer is obvious: it's because language is important culturally as well as economically.
I couldn't agree more with Gabriel Rosenstock's eloquent argument (March 2nd). My Irish nowadays is shaky enough, but I can still remember poems and songs I learned decades ago. Education needs more imagination, not less language. - Yours, etc., DEREK BALL, Glen Road, Lennoxtown,
Scotland.