Sir, – May I give some advice to the many parents of students who will be sitting their Leaving Cert? It has been such a tough year for all these young people. I have just turned 70 and I still have nightmares about sitting mine.
Tell your young sons and daughters, and often, that you love them. Tell them that you hope they will do their best but whatever the outcome they can come home and they will be loved just as much as ever. Tell them there is lifelong learning and the Leaving Cert is but one, relatively small, stepping stone along the road of life. And always remember, the ones who do best do not always succeed best in life. I sat my Leaving Cert in 1969, and the pressure was horrific, way over the top.
I survived and learned very quickly there was a lot more to life than the Leaving Cert. – Yours, etc,
BRIAN McDEVITT,
Glenties,
Co Donegal.