Sir, – Surely the answer to the Leaving Cert stress is to relieve students of their smart phones for a period of time before the exams.
Such a move would provide so many extra hours per day for study and sport not to mention a full night’s sleep for all. Civil rights campaigners may object to the removal of what is now an entitlement and would argue that these phones are the new form of education with finger-tip access to knowledge of all sorts. The removal would also deprive the media of what is now becoming a regular annual news bonanza.
There was a time in Ireland when students knuckled down and studied for exams and no question of stress in the equation. The difference between then and now is the combination of the arrival of the smart phones and the proliferation of news hungry media.
It’s back to the drawing board and either the exams are watered down or removed or the smart phones are locked up for the duration. The media will continue as usual. – Is mise,
TED O’KEEFFE,
Ranelagh, Dublin 6.