General Studies - without meaning to sound like a cantankerous old git, isn't that knitting and learning how to write a fecking cheque? There are some joke subjects about. What I really object to is all the coursework that rewards wee girls who put every waking moment into it, and modules you can sit about 4 times.

Chekov,

Agreed.

And 35.4% were As? For God's sake. Why not give everyone an A - otherwise all the other students might feel bad about themselves.

I don't know... I might consider moving back to NI in the future, but the 11+ and the poor secondary school system is a concern for me. What if my kids fail it? Am I going to have to shell out for a fee paying school so my kids get a decent education? How is NI going to attract foriegn investment when a large number of kids leave school at 16?
The grammars are great - I went to one. But the alternative is awful & for the kids that fail that is terrible.
I don't know much about the specifics of Caitriona Ruane's proposal. It is well accepted that England's comprehensive system is a failure. But other countries have excellent education systems for bright kids, without leaving 70% of the population behind.
Anglo-American economies are fundamentally different now than 50 years ago. Manufacturing is dead or dying. We need highly educated workforces to attract the best financial, it, bio-tech, alternative energy, pharma (etc) companies. That pretty much requires that the bulk of the population go onto 3rd level education and DONT drop out at 16.
(The current education system must be part of the reason why call centres set up shop in Belfast but yet 100 miles down the road, where almost everyone graduates from secondary school at 18, the likes of Google set up their headquarters.)

The very fact that well educated, middle class people in Northern Ireland are so worried about the 11+ going, says all you need to know about the standard of education (& life prospects) provided for those who fail.

Isn't it time that Ulster folk, of whatever background, stand up for their own
dialect and remember that when we were young we were known as wee ones (pronounced weigh-ins) not kids. Couldn't Ulster UTV newsreaders and other commentators show a little more respect for our progeny by referring to them as children rather than kids. It would appear they are ashamed to use the Ulster dialect and much prefer to use the terms, "kids" when they mean, "wee'ns," "cool" for anything that they cannot otherwise describe, and "guess" when they mean, "suppose."
Not bad guessers not to be Yanks. I say.