Madam, - As a lecturer who has spent more years of her life in education than out of it, I was appalled by my experience at the Higher Options conference last Friday, when fielding enquiries from Leaving Certificate students.
The most commonly asked question was, "How many points do I need for that?", closely followed by: "What job will I get outa that?" Terror-stricken and cynical, most students were unsure of anything apart from the impossibility of obtaining the points for their chosen field of study.
Their insecurity and tunnel vision are disturbing for two reasons. Firstly, they are spending more time in worrying about "getting the points" for over-populated courses of a depressingly conservative nature - law, medicine, business - than in really thinking about what they want out of life. Secondly, the Irish embrace of consumer culture was reflected in the unfortunate students' expectation that they could do anything as long as they had the points - law and medicine being the most expensive (570 points), with biblical and theological studies coming in at the bargain bucket price of 310 points.
I found no evidence of lateral thinking, a willingness to travel or embrace a broader education. In these economically driven times it seems there is no call for artists, intellectuals or free thinkers - what job can you get at the end of that? - Yours, etc.,
GEMMA CARNEY,
Department of
Political Science,
Trinity College,
Dublin 2.