Sir, - I am somewhat baffled by Brian McCarthy's claim that the Leaving Certificate "has a supreme national and international status". I've spent substantial amounts of time away from Ireland over the past decade and never met a foreigner who has even heard of the Leaving Cert, let alone regarded it as "supreme". In fact I'm fairly sure that my own acceptance into a university near London came about because my three Cs in the Leaving were mistaken for an acceptable "A level" result!
I had to emigrate to get access to third-level education because the "supreme" Leaving Certificate discriminates against those of us who do not have photographic memories and an aversion to sunlight. No system of examinations, tests or interviews is ever fair, but by having one monolithic mechanism for deciding who is fit for a third-level education the State has done its citizens a major disservice. - Yours etc., David Rolfe
Walnut Creek, California, USA.