Galway In Days Gone By

State examinations

Having sat for the last examinations that will be held in the Saorstat under the much-criticised Intermediate system, the pupils are now enjoying, we hope, well-earned holidays.

“If all the year were playing holidays, to sport would be as tedious as to work.” Under the Intermediate system, schools that intend to achieve results had to work hard. The adult, inured to mental toil, has often marvelled how the students survived the test and retained good health.

But youth is wonderfully resilient, and if the Intermediate offered hard work, it also offered good prizes.

It is rather disconcerting to find that, in a country that talks so much in a general way about education, there has been practically no discussion on the new system of examinations.

The managers and teachers of secondary schools are best qualified to speak on this important subject, and the public is entitled to demand from them reasoned criticism or approval of a system that will alter the entire outlook on the intermediate training of our young people.

Thorough education is of vital importance to a poor country like Ireland. It demands the fullest assistance that the State can afford. It demands further that parents shall be able to watch its progress from year to year.

Pictured: Children enjoying the music during the Oranmore Galway Shawl Festival open-air concert on July 15, 1988.