The numbers on the Glór na nGael petetion are slowing down now.

It now stands at 6702

See: http://www.petitiononline.com/gaeilge/

and: http://anghaeltacht.net/fisenda.html

Beir bua

Eoin

Just curious as to how many signatures you need. I already signed it, I think I was 1900, so I probably can't sign it again.

Beir bua agus beannacht

Cad a cheapann sibh faoin graf seo:-

http://www.setwomenstats.org.uk/set4statistics/figures/index.htm

Clearly, a lot of English people drop English for their A-levels. I have not signed the petition - I am not sure if it is the right thing to do, although I am less likely to give FG my no. 1 vote.

How many signatures were you hoping for?

It is definitely the right thing to do to sign the petition. If Irish is made opitional it will have tragic consequences on the future of the language. In Britan they made languages opitional for GCSE and within three years there was an decrease of 30% in the people studying French and Spanish. We cannot let that happen with Gaeilge. Languages are much harder to study than other subjects such as biology or bus org. The best way to learn a language is through practice so therefore it needs more time than other subjects. You can cram other subjects so therefore students would take the easy way out and choose cramming subjects instead of languages. Also if someone wanted to study medicine and had to choose between biology and Gaeilge they would have no choice but to opt for biology. That is therefore denying the student the right to study Irish. In other schools they will eventually, bit by bit, stop teaching Irish all together if there is not a demand for it. Fine Gael's arguments are very flawed. I don't think they thought it through properly. That said there is an urgent need for change in the Gaeilge curriculum and in the way teachers are trained to teach it.

Your correct in what you sayin jamie. If students chose their leaving cert subjects because they are interested in a certain subject then making Irish optional would be a possibility but because the Leaving Cert is just a glorified memory test students would not take a chance at picking irish because of the difficulty to getting any high marks in leaving cert honours irish. I know people who went to Gaelscoileanna who agree with me that irish is a very hard honours subject and although they love to speak irish, they rather do a subject that would allow them to achieve maximum points such as geography or business.
I only achieved a C+ in honours irish, i was expecting alot higher.. There is too much consentration on written irish in secondary school and not enough comhra, diosporaiochtai agus ag eisteacht le cainteoirí dúchais..

His argument is not that making Irish optional will allow for other subjects, but that making Irish optional will further the language. This makes no sense to you and I, but Fine Gael seems to think that it's good reasoning.

"His argument is not that making Irish optional will allow for other subjects, but that making Irish optional will further the language. This makes no sense to you and I, but Fine Gael seems to think that it's good reasoning."

Nono thats wat i meant. I was saying that if irish was optional then students would resort to picking other subjects rather than irish because its easier to get higher points in them...

Yes, I understood that, but I thought that you were implying that his argument was "If students chose their leaving cert subjects because they are interested in a certain subject then making Irish optional would be a possibility". I was just saying I don't think it is. I apologize for any misunderstanding.

By the way, what it "cert"?

certificate

leaving cert, just means leaving certificate, its the exams you complete in secondary school.

Secondary school splits into 2 major exams, Junior Cert and Leaving Cert. junior cert is at the end of third year and Leaving cert is at the end of your final year (6th)

For the first 3 years you study 11-12 subjects which are all compulsory, then do your Junior on these subjects.

Your junior results determine whether or not you can do honours or ordinary level in maths irish and english for leaving cert. Along with the previously mentioned subjects you pick for from say a list of 12 subjects ( you mainly pick easy subjects unless you want to do a course in university/college on that subject eg. economics or accountancy)

The reason you pick easy subjects is because you can obtain a maximum of 600 points. Each exam you do ( 7 of them) ios worth 100 points, and the lowest result is not counted. ( an A+ on an honours paper is worth 100 points, whilst an A+ on a ordinary paper is worth 60)

You pick easy ones so you can get the course you wanted which may be quite high in points say 450 or 500. If you pick hard subjects (that your interseted in) you may not get your point. So its a fine line you take on whether to take subjects which you like or subjects which are easy.

What i was saying in the previous post was :
"If students chose their leaving cert subjects because they are interested in a certain subject then making Irish optional would be a possibility "

If irish was optional, many students may not take irish because it is not needed for college ( exept primary school teaching), it is a very hard honours exam to get points in, and alot have basic irish because of a lack of a decent system in most primary schools. This will deter students. exhausted.

The Irish language curriculum needs a massive overhaul. Perhaps 50% of the JC/LC exam should be comhrá and 25%/25% aural & written.

They have to make Irish easier and more attractive to those students who pick a subject purely to get the points.

Then they should give it more points.

They cant really giv it more points without redesigning the whole points system.. Its out of six hundred points so if you give one sublject more, you have to take away from another. I think the only solution is what Ceolmhar suggested. a total rehaul of the curriculum. Its laughable when you sitting there discussing irish poetry and short stories when half of the class cannot form a simple sentence like i would like to go to the cinema or something like that. That is no exaduration! Its sad the way teachers ignore students like this aswell and just push him onto the stack of an already overwhelming amount of students doing foundation irish and then barely passing it..

PS Foundation Irish is a level of irish you can sit for your leaving cert which most of you could do after a few weeks of learning irish. If anyone begs to differ with me, go ahead. Thats just what i've seen.