Madam, - I agree with Margaret Goode (August 15th) that there are no shortcuts in maths. As one of the many students who received their Leaving Cert results this week, I feel my grades reflected my efforts. That said, I had to stay back at school to attend extra maths classes. There were simply not enough classes to achieve a decent grade without taking grinds.
Considering the scope and difficulty of the maths course, perhaps more classes should be dedicated to it. Irish should be taught like other languages and given the same level of emphasis. Time could be taken from Irish poetry, for example, as we already have a poetry course in English. This could give students the time they need to achieve a better result in maths. Five thousand failures is an appalling figure for a subject which has much more practical use in today's world than Irish. - Yours, etc,
SEAN RYAN, Keelgrove, Ardnacrusha, Co Clare.
Madam, - "Mol an óige is tiocfaidh sí." This year more than 50,000 students passed Leaving Certificate maths. Success should get more attention than failure. - Yours, etc,
CECILIA ROCHE, Kimmage Road West, Dublin 12.