Tuesday, December 4, 2007

What's Wrong With Institutes of Technology??

So the annual list of the Top 400 secondary schools featured in the Irish Times at the weekend. So to keep on top of the old current affairs I decided I'd have a look. No surprises in top ten..Seven of them are private schools and the rest are Irish speaking. They are nearly all in South Dublin. Dundalk got a mention though (yes seriously)twice actually with the Grammar School at number 190 and St Vincents at number 347.
Something did surprise me though and that was the way in which this list was compiled. What they basically do is use the percentage rate of progression to third level and the school with the highest is up there at number one. However, and this is the bit I don't like, if there are two schools with the same percentage then the percentage that go to institutes of technology gets taken into account. Then the one with the higher percentage gets the lower place. How unfair is that?
I'm doing a degree course in Public Relations in DkIT at the moment and I don't see why my degree should be looked upon differently than any other degree.
Most people that went on to third level in my year at secondary school went to Dkit. One of the main reasons probably being that it's right on our doorstep. So does that make the school I attended a bad school???
And more importantly is this report belittling the course I am doing in DkIT, the course that I worked so hard for in my "crappy" school??!!

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