way, points should indicate not only whether students are ready for study at third
level, but how well they are likely to perform in their chosen subject.
So what?
After nearly a century, it should come as no surprise that our education system
could do with a shake-up. At a minimum, the senior cycle has to be turned around to
face the future, to prepare students for third-level. Progressive grading across the
senior cycle would provide a far better predictor of a student’s post-secondary
performance than an exam; it would also allow teachers and students to strategize
the best route to the individual student’s goal. Well-prepared students making
informed decisions about their post-secondary career should be the aim, not simply
exam performance.
‘The best thing for being sad,’ replied Merlin, beginning to
puff and blow, ‘is to learn something. That's the only thing that
never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies,
you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your
veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world
about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour
trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing
for it then—to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags
it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust,
never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and
never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you.
Look what a lot of things there are to learn.
(T.H. White, The Once and Future King)