Free Education in Ireland a Joke

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dodo

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I have been getting the children's books ready for new school year, between books, copies ,arts,crafts price for 3 primary school goes all under 8 was over 350Euro and I know the school will send out an envelope for me to fill with cash,I normally do fill the envelope but this year things seem to be harder and tighter with the down turn, so I am not to sure at the moment, just wondering will this effect the way the school looks and educates my children just a thought ,some people have said it does.
I Happen to have MIL here on holidays from Finland,which by the way is the number one educating system in the EU, the children do not start school until the year they turn 7, They get for 1st and 2nd level free books,copies pencils etc and also a dinner throw in for good measure.So I never want to hear the term we have free education in Ireland we don't
 
I just spent much the same and I made a "contribution" to the school of €1250.00 to provide additional rooms in our new school. To be fair, I have no issue doing this as I got a good education (Makes me read too many Michael Moore books :) ) but why should education be free - it is a priviledge and we are lucky in Ireland to have what we have. Sure it could be better but what we have is far better than many? We could all contri
 
quarterfloun said:
but why should education be free - it is a priviledge
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In my book education is a right and not a priviledge,The reason so many people throughtout the world have no schooling/Education is because it is not free, Do you not think if people in the 3rd world got free education nd did not have to worry about the cost, how different their lives would be.
 
dodo said:
I normally do fill the envelope but this year things seem to be harder and tighter with the down turn, so I am not to sure at the moment, just wondering will this effect the way the school looks and educates my children just a thought ,some people have said it does.
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It doesn't matter if you fill it with €5,000 or you don't return it at all, your children will still be treated the same as every other child.

You call the education system a joke but at the same time you're giving the school money that you don't even have to. So if you're out of pocket this time every year, did anyone force you to fill that envelope? Don't pay, problem solved.

I've read your post a few times, I reckon this is what you meant
 
micmclo said:
It doesn't matter if you fill it with €5,000 or you don't return it at all, your children will still be treated the same as every other child.

You call the education system a joke but at the same time you're giving the school money that you don't even have to. So if you're out of pocket this time every year, did anyone force you to fill that envelope? Don't pay, problem solved.

I've read your post a few times, I reckon this is what you meant
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I don't think our education system is a joke ,
I think the fact that people say we have free education that is what I think is a joke, As far as I know we are 2nd only to Finland in the education league in the EU
 
Yeah, my reply wasn't clear but I wasn't implying at all that the education system was poor. I was only messing one word from post 4 but it changed it entirely;

I was only confused that some people feel obliged to hand over a "contribution" and the complain about cost.
Don't pay that so you can use your money for books, arts and crafts and uniforms instead

Sure does anyone even know where those contributions go? I suppose to running costs for the school but it's not exactly clear or traceable.
 
I agree. The education isn't a joke but calling it "free" is. My kids have been through both the public and private schooling system in the UK. In both their books, stationary etc. were provided, I just had to pay for trips and lunch although in the private school that was provided.

That said, the irish education is much, much better than what they recieved over the water so while I grunt a bit about having to pay for textbooks and even the jotters they write in it's something I grudgingly accept because of the standard of education they recieve. I just wish the schools were in better repair.

The school shouldn't treat your child any different if you don't pay the voluntary contribution although I have heard of one school in recent years who sent the kids out at home time with flouresent pink reciepts....if their parents had paid!
 
Bubbly Scot said:
That said, the irish education is much, much better than what they recieved over the water so while I grunt a bit about having to pay for textbooks and even the jotters they write in it's something I grudgingly accept because of the standard of education they recieve.
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This is interesting. From quite a young age, I have always been told that we had a "better" education system than the UK. In later years I began to doubt it somewhat.

Can you say why you think it is "much, much" better?

When you say the UK Bubbly Scot, do you differentiate between Scotland & England/Wales? Because the other "received wisdom" for me growing up was that the Scottish highers (is it?) system was considered preferable to O & A levels. But maybe that was because it was closer in structure to the Irish system.

Sounds encouraging that you think the standard of education provided here is worth the costs involved.
 
In the process of putting my fourth through secondary school, and I just buy the books that are on the school book list which they receive in June as a matter of routine and necessity. However, the one thing that really 'gets my goat' is when (one week into the school year), I receive a letter from the French teacher or the English teacher very nicely saying something to the effect....... "I would prefer to use this book in class instead of ____________ . I hope this change of textbook will not caue any inconvenience". So far I have had to buy an English textbook and a French textbook, leaving the original two textbooks which I had purchased as an unnecessary expense.
 
ophelia said:
However, the one thing that really 'gets my goat' is when (one week into the school year), I receive a letter from the French teacher or the English teacher very nicely saying something to the effect....... "I would prefer to use this book in class instead of ____________ . I hope this change of textbook will not caue any inconvenience". So far I have had to buy an English textbook and a French textbook, leaving the original two textbooks which I had purchased as an unnecessary expense.
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Did you complain to them, and point out the unnecessary expense caused to you?
 
Actually I have and I would again, only they would have a perfectly reasonable excuse to offer me, like.............. "Yeah, their previous teacher was happy with that book but personally; and I'm a very experienced teacher, find that the students respond to this new book much more".
I bought The Merchent of Venice (as requested) last yr for my 2nd yr child and they were told to put it away for 3rd yr as 'the language was too difficult for them'. I was so annoyed I took that one up with the principal to be told that ....... "Yeah, children seem to absorb Shakespeare so much better in 3rd yr".
Now I was asked to buy a different version of the same play this yr. Aaaaaaaaagh, you just can't win!
Teachers change yearly and it really comes down to what book they want to use, regardless of what books the child has previously bought.
 
What way does the curriculum work then? Surely a text is either on the curriculum or it isn't?
 
"Yeah, children seem to absorb Shakespeare so much better in 3rd yr".
Now I was asked to buy a different version of the same play this yr.
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I didn't know Will was doing re-writes?

The "revised editions" are crazy and I reckon the publishers do this on purpose to get us to buy the same book again. We had to get a revised edition last year and I went through the book page by page & there was one small change....and it was actually a grammer error in the previous edition, so I & all the other parents had to fork out to pay for their error!!

Luckily we don't get tapped for "voluntary contributions".
 
sam h said:
I didn't know Will was doing re-writes?
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Very funny sam h!

In fact the play they were asked to buy this year, has almost every single line explained underneath. My daughter objects to this strongly and feels that firstly, she would like to read it straight through, as you would any book, secondly that it is undermining their intelligence and thirdly, what do we have a teacher for if everything is so over-simplified for us - her words, not mine. Are these editions just canny tools for teachers? The previous edition was just a cheap little Penguin and she finds it far more interesting.
 
The average tax burden in Ireland is around 30%. It's 43% in Finland.
When will people in this country realise that you can't have socialist services and capitalist taxes.
Basically in Finland the government takes your money and spends it on school books etc whereas in Ireland it lets you buy them yourself.
There are many examples of where this applies. Personally I think I will spend my money more efficiently than the government will.
 
In my own schooldays my parents objected strongly to this 'revised edition' business and I had to take on the secondhand books of my older sibling where appropriate. As such Merchant of Venice was a different edition to most of the rest of the class. It made no difference to the learning experience. There was a small bit of faffing about to find the correct page in class because my page numbers were slightly different, and occasionally I had to copy the homework question from someone else because my copy didnt have it but as Samh has said - Will is not doing rewrites, the play is the play.
 
truthseeker said:
the play is the play.
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Nope, "the play's the thing..." Hamlet

BTW I agree that this revised version business can be ridiculous - when I was in school (when to be fair they were mere hedges) the teacher would know that different versions / revisions were being used and would accomodate both.
 
sam h said:
I didn't know Will was doing re-writes?
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Wasn't there some story about them having to change the title of the movie version of Richard III because they feared that the US movie going public might go looking for the previous two installments in the franchise? (Or something like that). :)
 
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