Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I am trying to remember when he was here last, but when he is here he makes very useful contributions. Even though he is the Minister of State with responsibility for innovation and technology, he also realises the importance of history. We do not know who we are unless we know where we came from and what our history is. As a nation, we have a phenomenal history going back centuries, but our democracy is a very short history. Sometimes it can be a very blinkered or thwarted history, depending on the teacher. It often would not have been a very fair history. Things might have broken down according to the teacher's view of the civil war, which is a criticism of both sides. I am very confident that in recent years, the teaching of history has been very fair and balanced. Unfortunately, not enough children are taking history seriously. We are in the world of Facebook, Twitter, e-mails, the Internet, AskFm and so on. That is all very important, but history is extremely important as well.

I completely subscribe to the principle of not making anything compulsory. If I had my way, nothing would be compulsory, because learning should be a love. We need to engender and develop a culture of the love of learning. I recently asked children whether they were looking forward to going back to school this year, and they all answered that they were. I do not know what was wrong in my day, but I certainly did not look forward to going back to school after the summer holidays. Things are improving and these kids are happy to go back to school and are somewhat motivated.

My view is that the points race is deconstructing quality education. I completely subscribe to the principle that people should want to learn and learn for the right reasons. I would subscribe to an interview process and a continuous assessment process for children applying for university. Technically that could be seen as not fair. It could be said that human interaction could create an unfairness about it, but overall it would be a far more holistic approach. I know students who are studying medicine and they neither have the communication skills nor the humanity to be doing medicine. I know students who are involved in science and other areas who find it boring and would not have the creativity for such disciplines. I know students studying law who got the points because they were mathematically oriented, but law is not about maths. The points system is flawed and there is a far better way of doing business.

I welcome this motion and given Senator O'Donnell's background in education and love of language, it is coming from a genuine source. It is very important that Seanad Éireann would debate, discuss and deliberate this aspect of education. In fact, we should be looking at all aspects of education. We should be looking at training our young people to be ambassadors of culture and our language. When I was in school, the teaching of the Irish language turned me off it for years. My love of it has been reignited as a result of Senator Moran's daughter giving me grinds over the last two years. We must look at a change in attitude to education. We were known as the nation of saints and scholars, but being scholars is not about the points system. It is about knowing who we are, knowing our history, wanting to learn, appreciating books and not wasting the day on Facebook or Twitter, but spending the day acquiring knowledge. Knowledge is powerful, but is not dangerous. It is what gives people freedom. It allows people to be equal. Education is the single biggest driver to get people out of poverty, and every penny spent on education is well spent.

I welcome the motion. I welcome the debate this evening. I am delighted to have had the opportunity to speak and I hope we have many more debates on the issue in this Seanad and in future Seanaid.