John Crown (Independent)

I will ask Senator Noone to pass on the matriculation details for that foreign college of physiotherapy and will have a chat with my daughters about it. I echo the Senator's remarks. We had no concert on the matter but I intended to bring up the issue of the necessity for a debate on a particular aspect of the education system which concerns me. We need fundamental, core curricular reform and a core reform of the philosophy of what we aim to teach our students and of what they should have learned at the end of a secondary or high school education. At present because of the necessity of pointsmanship, as it were, on the one hand, and of getting subsistence grades to pass, on the other, we are somehow missing the point of the skills which people should have not only to function as citizens or potential members of the workforce, but also as people who understand the environment in which, one hopes, they will live long lives.

It is critical to try to bring in a mandatory requirement that everyone up to school leaving age, which should be 18 years of age, would have to learn science, in addition to learning the English language and mathematics. I do not suggest everyone should have to do chemistry, physics and biology to the high matriculation levels in place now. However, consideration should be given to the introduction of a consolidated broader science curriculum that people who do not intend to specialise in science would complete. People should be able to understand the big issues of the next century such as ecology, energy policy, population policy and health policy. People should be able to understand, interpret and perhaps have some informed judgment about the various health opinions that they will hear expressed by mainstream and other health practitioners. It is important that people have some rudimentary understanding of the realities of biology and the laws of nature.

It should be mandatory for everyone to study a contemporary modern foreign language in addition to English. I do not intend to get involved in the polemics of the debate about the Irish language. I left school well skilled in written and spoken Irish, about which I am glad, but I am sad to say that I did not leave with a good proficiency in French other than to exam level. This requirement should be at the core of our educational curriculum. In this modern internationalised world in which we live and in which we are so heavily interdependent educationally, financially, fiscally and in terms of the workforce, no one should leave our schools without a decent working knowledge of another contemporary foreign language. I call on the Leader to bring these points to the attention of the Minister for Education and Skills or to invite him to the House to allow us to take part in deliberations on the question of the curriculum.