Sir, – As the younger people return to school, Fintan O'Toole's article ("We need schools for messers, dreamers and misfits", August 31st) serves as wonderful way to reflect on what education is for.
Writing on the art school movement in the UK, he says, “The art schools were an act of faith: if you give young people a chance and don’t fret too much about trying to control what they’re doing, they will find a way to do something good.”
I would suggest this can be true for students in any school or college.
Indeed research shows university students develop a sense of belonging from more informal (non-assessed) aspects of their studies such as societies and clubs and not so much from the lectures taken on their degree courses. Students often build identities (eg, engineer, historian, scientist) through participation in informal communities.
As an academic, I have had the pleasure of seeing students flourish through them: ideas, creativity, friendships, careers tend to follow.
Central to this being a success is the idea that higher education supports students rather than controls what they are doing.
Just imagine the wonderful things our young people in college and schools would work on if they weren’t being constantly told their grade on an exam was the sole measure of their worth.
– Yours, etc,
Dr SHANE BERGIN,
School of Education,
University College Dublin.