“Could school be making you stupid?”
That’s the bold question posed on episode three of David McWilliams’ Ireland, set to air on TV3 on Thursday evening.
As a father of two teenagers, McWilliams – who repeated the Leaving Cert himself – voices concerns regarding the state of Irish education, arguing that current methods kill creativity and curiosity, while Dragon’s Den investor Eleanor McEvoy goes one step further, calling for the state exams to be abolished.
“It is an unfair system of testing a child as they come out into the world,” she says.
“I can’t see reform working, it has to be abolished… I still have nightmares about the Leaving Cert. According to the school system, I was the person least likely to succeed… If you get out of the school system with your self-esteem intact, as far as I’m concerned you’ve succeeded.”
That theory is backed up by Web Summit co-founder Paddy Cosgrave, who calls out the “below average” standards of Irish schooling and fears that we may end up with the worst education system in the Western world, should we continue to de-invest in it.
David McWilliams’ Ireland airs this Thursday at 10pm on TV3.
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