A chara, - The abortive attempt to knock down the nurses' home at St Vincent's Hospital was a metaphor for modern Ireland. If it works, why not break it apart to make it work even better (which it won't, of course)?
There are many examples which one could list but we'll confine our letter to the teachers' dispute. The ill-informed letter in your paper from Francis Thackaberry (January 19th) is an insult to all teachers.
As members of TUI, we are outraged that we (through no fault of our own) have not supported our ASTI colleagues. We fully support their work-to-rule campaign. Those who suggest it is illegal or unethical are wrong and are obviously intent on alienating all the good will from which generations or Irish students have benefited.
Contrary to Mr Thackaberry's suggestion that we regard it as "insensitive" for the Government to pay our ASTI colleagues for carrying out their work-to-rule, we commend and support the ASTI strategy and condemn the Government's actions. The teachers' 22 hour class-contract work is merely the first half of their job; unpaid supervision is not.
"Modern Ireland" is intent on shackling all workers to a workbench. It is an insult for employers to suggest that benchmarking is merely a way to deliver a higher salary to workers. People who believe life can be controlled and improved through measurement should read The Tyranny of Numbers by David Boyle. If all our schools are not producing "optimum results", then measure the teachers' input, measure the output, but don't dream of looking at the real problems: social inequality and a Government ideology which supports and promotes the richer sections of our society with consequent fallout in the class room.
It has been said before: real life is not static. Teachers deal with real-life situations (in addition to teaching) every day. If you try to measure what we do, we will have to stand still. Do you want "still life" in our schools? Since such "measurements" have been imposed on English and Welsh schools, 400,000 people who are teachers have left their classrooms, resulting in havoc.
As David Boyle points out in his book, there is a move to shift control from teachers and doctors to accountants and auditors - "a kind of modern imperialism with no respect for local understanding". It is simply impossible to measure the immeasurable: "The closer you get to measuring what's really important, the more it escapes you . . . when we measure life, we reduce it."
It is also disappointing to see your paper - and indeed the media in general - mostly support the short-sighted views of the Government and some of the public. - Is muidne,
Aine Hennelly, Mary Ryan, WIN (Women's Initiative Nationwide), Malahide, Co Dublin.