The leaving cert, was it worth it?

somefeen

I hear the pres are starting soon.

I never did the leaving cert, but it sounds like an abysmal experience.

It used to bother me that I hadn't done it, but now that I'm 25 it doesn't seem to matter and I don't think it ever really did matter. I've gotten on OK-ish with my A in junior cert foundation maths.
I think if I have kids I'd have serious concerns about putting them through it.

So people of After hours, do you have a leaving cert and was it worth all that hassle.

Ruu

Leigh anois go curamach ar do scrudphaipaer... na treoracha... agus na ceisteanna... agoinn, le cuid Ahhh

Stavros Murphy

I do, and it wasn't. My kids don't. They do have a degree in pulling stuff apart, putting it right and selling it though.

Femme_Fatale

But if you want to get into third level it's mandatory (unless you want to take the extremely long route) so yes, for lots of people it's definitely worth it.

Lots of careers require a third level qualification too.

And, hackneyed a phrase that it may be: the leaving cert increases your options.

donvito99

As a means to an end, yes.

thecatspjs

I think so. It helped to give me focus, and I'm good in exam based environments. It obviously doesn't suit everybody though.

oceancat

nah didn't do it never had no interest in school sooner i was out of the place the better, doing alright now have made a good career out of serious hard graft, started off as a deckhand on fishing boat now i own 1, not much to be made with the last few months mind ya

Tetra

Was it worth all the stress and worry...no. I am glad I did it but I wish I had worried about it a lot less. I have been through a lot in my life and there are much worse things.

Candy_Girl

somefeen wrote: »

I think if I have kids I'd have serious concerns about putting them through it.

Why Surely you'd want to encourage them to to go to college and get a degree? It might have worked out for you but that's not the case for everyone, it's a lot harder to get a job with no qualifications behind you.

Yes it's worth it.

KungPao

My biggest concern is: why isn't it called the Senior Certificate?

anncoates

It was for me because I needed it to get the further eduction that was relevant to the job I do now but to other people it might not have been, like people that started (or developed )their own businesses or people that went into trades and made a career that way.

shruikan2553

It was a means to an end. I wanted to go to college so looked up how many points I needed, 400 so aimed for that. No point putting in the effort for more than that so I didn't. Once accepted by the college the results were useless.

Ludikrus

100 percent worth it. Ducking it can be a first step down the path of least resistance. There are exceptions and I know a few, but I'd say 80 - 90% of the lads in my class who weren't arsed about the leaving are still not arsed about much now.

Femme_Fatale

Candy_Girl wrote: »

Why Surely you'd want to encourage them to to go to college and get a degree? It might have worked out for you but that's not the case for everyone, it's a lot harder to get a job with no qualifications behind you.

Yes it's worth it.

Well not everyone wants to get a degree, but I don't understand the OP saying he'd have "concerns" if he had kids doing the leaving cert. What on earth would these concerns be? They should be encouraged in whatever they'd like to do, and if that includes going to third level, then they need the leaving cert.

There are flaws with the leaving cert but it's not exactly traumatising. Although teachers saying it's the making of your life and you should be studying three/four hours a night can fuk off. It's not the making of your life, it's a step. And if an hour a night of study is enough for a pupil, then that's loads.

Talib Fiasco

Yeah. I'm in college having a great time both academically and socially while people who dropped out are on the dole and have a child and look like sh*t...for that alone it's worth it. And I haven't even left college yet. LC was sh*t craic and nearly brought me to tears but is essential in this day and age.

MultiUmm

Femme_Fatale wrote: »

Well not everyone wants to get a degree, but I don't understand the OP saying he'd have "concerns" if he had kids doing the leaving cert. What on earth would these concerns be? They should be encouraged in whatever they'd like to do, and if that includes going to third level, then they need the leaving cert.

There are flaws with the leaving cert but it's not exactly traumatising. Although teachers saying it's the making of your life and you should be studying three/four hours a night can fuk off. It's not the making of your life, it's a step. And if an hour a night of study is enough for a pupil, then that's loads.

How else would they sell expensive and overpriced grinds to stressed out students and parents?

Femme_Fatale

Talib Fiasco wrote: »

people who dropped out are on the dole and have a child and look like sh*t...for that alone it's worth it.

It reads as though that would automatically happen to anyone who drops out of school before the LC. :pac:

Talib Fiasco

Femme_Fatale wrote: »

It reads as though that would automatically happen to anyone who drops out of school before the LC. :pac:

3 in my year did due to being pregnant so I guess I'm judging from my own viewing which is unfair but whatever

Mr. McGreg

Ruubot2 wrote: »

Leigh anois go curamach ar do scrudphaipaer... na treoracha... agus na ceisteanna... agoinn, le cuid Ahhh

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep

StupidLikeAFox

The more I look back on it the more I realise I didnt appreciate it when I had it. It gives you the opportunity to spend a couple of hours a week on broadening your knowledge in a nice mix of all sorts of topics - history, maths, english, science etc etc - these are the topics I like learning a bit about these days but have a stupid job which takes up all my time, which limits the amount of time I can spend on these more interesting things.

littlelulu

Mr. McGreg wrote: »

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep

An ceid cainteoir...........

Geekness1234

I'm in the nightmarish process of it now and I can tell you it's so worth it. I don't see a reason why you shouldn't do it, or have "serious concerns" over future kids doing it.
You don't need the full 625 points, anything above 280 (I think) will guarantee that you have a chance at getting a place in a course somewhere decent.
Say if academics aren't your thing you can do the Leaving Cert Applied, and still benefit from the environment of senior cycle school, and the valuable experience of preparing for exams and sitting exams.

orangesoda

I did A-Levels, school was hectic compared to university, 9 to 4 in school and then in 3 days a week at university, usually half day. GCSE's were a nightmare as a 16 year old, 11 subjects i had.

Vito Corleone

LC was piss compared to college.

Femme_Fatale

Vito Corleone wrote: »

LC was piss compared to college.

Give me college exams over LC exams any time though - the stuff I had to study at college was actually interesting.

The Pheasant2

The LC was grand - having one is pretty much essential for jobs these days...qualification inflation and all that. If you discouraged your kids from doing it you'd be seriously limiting their options.

yawhat!

I Never let the leaving cert worry or stress me out one bit!
The exams are a complete and utter joke!
I only started studying a month before the leaving cert. Needed 320 for the course I wanted, ended up getting 380.

humbert

It wasn't hassle, I liked most of my subjects and while I didn't have great attendance I was happy to read the books before the exams and did well.

Without it my options would have been a trade or my own business and neither appeal, at least so far.

I have a lot of mobility in my field, I can move when I want to. I like that.

Sir Arthur Daley

I did the leaving once, i hate having to emigrate.

Jester252

It was worth it but it wasn't the be all and end all I though it would be. I know my LC results no longer matter but I couldn't get to this point without them.

Nino Brown

Its a ridiculous exercise which proves very little, other than measuring a persons ability to regurgitate useless information. But by not making your children do it you would be putting them at a huge disadvantage in life, and teaching them that if something is hard they should quit.

Mickey H

The Leaving Cert is as useful as a paper fire blanket in the grand scheme of things. You can still get to college without it, although it's a much longer route without it.

It's got its flaws, but it's not the worst.

The worst thing about it is the teachers who spout the "It's the most important exam of your life" sh!te. It most certainly is not.

Exams I've done which are much more important for my career progression:
- B.Sc. (Hons)
- Masters in IT
- Cisco CCNA
- VMware VCP

Having said that, I would advise everyone to do it and give it a good go. However, do not stress over it and ignore the teachers who claim it's "life or death". It's not.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

carzony

I was a good student but never cared about school so they decided to put me in LCA (Leaving cert applied)I got a good result but Little did I know that I couldnt be accepted into college with it.

Now i'm doing a stupid FETAC course just hoping I pass so I can go further.



Can someone tell me though..

Where is the sense in putting a student that hates education in a class that makes things even more difficult and makes going to college an even longer process?

I seen my ex teacher the other day (the one that placed me in LCA) Jesus the thought of punching him really was tempting...

FameHungry

I'm doing it next year and I think it will be worth it though teachers are doing a good job making some students petrified of it and getting them to do after school study for over €100 per term. You're basically paying to stay there for 2 hours to "study" when you can do that for free at home. What a complete joke...

Galwayguy35

No.

I hated school with a passion and it was a fight to get me to go everyday as I had no interest in it.

I'd have been out of it in a shot only the old man forced me to stay on, I passed the LC but never needed it.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

The whole secondary education system is a load of bollocks - the leaving cert is merely a celebration of not having to do that shít anymore

asteroth

somefeen wrote: »

I hear the pres are starting soon.

I never did the leaving cert, but it sounds like an abysmal experience.

It used to bother me that I hadn't done it, but now that I'm 25 it doesn't seem to matter and I don't think it ever really did matter. I've gotten on OK-ish with my A in junior cert foundation maths.
I think if I have kids I'd have serious concerns about putting them through it.

So people of After hours, do you have a leaving cert and was it worth all that hassle.

Are you fcuking crazy?

Without a Leaving Cert what's the best job your kids can hope to get? Some manual job? You're severely restricting their chances if you are going to discourage them from going as far as they can education-wise. So Irish and History and stuff like that are not very useful but fcuk it, learning ANYTHING is exercise for the brain (which is a muscle after all and needs exercise to improve). What if your kid, after years of going to school and hating it suddenly developed a fanatical love of geography at the age of 15 or 16 to the point that he wanted to go to uni and study it and then went on to travel the world to places like Antartica and the Galapagos Islands and the Serengeti and lectured and wrote books on meterology, etc?

Hell of a lot better than mopping blood and fisheads of a trawler.

FURET

A lot of people who haven't done the Leaving Cert don't get to college and earn low wages / perform menial jobs for the rest of their lives.

The Leaving Cert doesn't guarantee an above minimum wage career.
Not doing it doesn't guarantee crappy jobs forever either.
But the Leaving is, for most people, one of several important steps on the ladder to an economically comfortable existence.

Badly Drunk Boy

KungPao wrote: »

My biggest concern is: why isn't it called the Senior Certificate?

The Leaving Cert has been around a lot longer than the Junior Cert...

Menas

The leaving cert was easy compared to uni exams.
Without it I would not have gotten to spend 4 years partying at university.
I would not have gotten in to my current career.
I would not have gotten a "brain labour" job and would have started in a "physical labour" job.
I would not be earning what I am today.

Unless you're entering a trade, have no ambitions over a minimum wage job, or are either entering a family business or starting your own, the LC is essential.

I wouldn't be able to pursue my career choice without the LC, and of course it's more important than subsequent exams at university. If you don't have the LC, you don't get the chance to sit those subsequent exams (unless you take a particularly lengthy and tortuous route).

As for putting your kids through it, it's good practice for those other times in life when they have to knuckle down and deal with things you don't like. You can't protect them from everything, and it's probably not a good idea to either.

cloud493

Nope. I've got along perfectly fine without it. Not massively rich or working some fancy job, but doing ok.

beveragelady

carzony wrote: »

I was a good student but never cared about school

Where is the sense in putting a student that hates education in a class that makes things even more difficult and makes going to college an even longer process?

I don't know anything about your abilities or your particular case but in some schools LCA is looked upon as a sort of corral for troublemakers. Students who have shown an unwillingness to work or a have a bad attitude to education are encouraged to do LCA so they don't have a negative effect on a leaving cert class. That's not the case with every school, but it's definitely true of some.

OP, encourage your kids any way you can to get the most out of education. It's not all about going to third level, it's about having the option of going to third level. With a decent LC under their belts they can still decide "Feck it all, I don't need to go to college, I'm going to follow my dream of being a professional Ludo player." With no leaving cert their options are limited.

Secondary school is five solid years when they get to invest their time and energy in themselves. Make them feel that they are worth that effort, and make it easy for them to stay in school. There's a lot of drama and angst about the exams every year from a vocal few, but the vast majority of students just tap away without making a big deal of it.

Daveysil15

I never needed it. Most of the subjects were completely useless and it never covered anything I was actually interested in. I did a computer course after I left school. The LC was of no use in that regard, as I.T classes in my school involved queuing up once a week to use an old Wang computer which resembled an antique - I learnt nothing from it. I've worked in a couple of warehouses over the years, both here and abroad. I work in quality control now for a pharmaceutical company. I received training on the job and my course helped as I have to use a computer.

Different strokes and al that; its not for everyone. Look at Bill Cullen, he left school when he was 13. I think the LC is overrated but maybe its just the school I went to was a kip. Most of the teachers were terrible and didn't have much of a desire to teach. It was badly equipped too and didn't have many options for extra curricular activities.

It's a qualification worth having but it doesn't really teach much that's actually useful. It definitely made me overestimate my own intelligence and abilities. I got 570 points, mainly by rote learning pages and pages of notes that I would then forget about a few days later. Then I got to college and eventually found out that tactic wouldn't help me pass exams, then discovered relying on my own intelligence (or lack thereof) wasn't helping me either and so I went from being what teachers regarded as a bright "top student" to feeling like a completely useless fúcking idiot. Which I still very much feel like today.

It'll be 7 years this year since my LC and it remains the last thing in my life I did well at. Possibly the last thing I'll ever do well at. So while it's definitely worth having when it comes to applying for jobs and courses and stuff, it totally fails at preparing you for the realities (i.e. shítness) of life in any meaningful way imo.

Butterface

Deleted User wrote: »

It's a qualification worth having but it doesn't really teach much that's actually useful. It definitely made me overestimate my own intelligence and abilities. I got 570 points, mainly by rote learning pages and pages of notes that I would then forget about a few days later. Then I got to college and eventually found out that tactic wouldn't help me pass exams, then discovered relying on my own intelligence (or lack thereof) wasn't helping me either and so I went from being what teachers regarded as a bright "top student" to feeling like a completely useless fúcking idiot. Which I still very much feel like today.

It'll be 7 years this year since my LC and it remains the last thing in my life I did well at. Possibly the last thing I'll ever do well at. So while it's definitely worth having when it comes to applying for jobs and courses and stuff, it totally fails at preparing you for the realities (i.e. shítness) of life in any meaningful way imo.

I agree, it's definitely worth having even if you don't plan to go on to further education. However, it's not exactly the best preparation for a lot University courses, especially in the humanities.

The LC desperately needs an overhaul, and maybe in the senior years there could be an option to specialise more like there is in the A-levels or Int Bacclaureate. Instead of adding in a subject like Home Economics or Music as a soft choice to bring up your points, they could cut the amount of exam subjects you have to sit to 3 or 4 that are more career focused.

Anyway, regardless of that, it's still worth doing. It's always good to test yourself and get out of your comfort zone a little.

Femme_Fatale

Daveysil15 wrote: »

Different strokes and al that; its not for everyone. Look at Bill Cullen, he left school when he was 13. I think the LC is overrated but maybe its just the school I went to was a kip. Most of the teachers were terrible and didn't have much of a desire to teach. It was badly equipped too and didn't have many options for extra curricular activities.

Bill Cullen is one person. What about the hundreds of thousands of others who left school at 13?
It's not a case of the LC being over-rated or under-rated or rated at all. It's just a necessity for most courses/careers.
There is too much bullsh1t pressure associated with it for sure, but that doesn't change the fact that it gives people far more options.

SmurfX

Never really found the Leaving Cert stressful at all, it's not like you don't have summer exams every year and this one was especially well prepared for with past exam papers and mocks.
The biggest bummer with it for me was how it ate into my summer.

carzony

beveragelady wrote: »

I don't know anything about your abilities or your particular case but in some schools LCA is looked upon as a sort of corral for troublemakers. Students who have shown an unwillingness to work or a have a bad attitude to education are encouraged to do LCA so they don't have a negative effect on a leaving cert class. That's not the case with every school, but it's definitely true of some.

.

That's true, the scumbags I was in class with was just unreal. I was never a bad student but I did realise very quickly that it was a load of bolix and I started mitching a lot.

Funny I got the best result in the class and I was never there lol That'll show you how stupid the other were.

I just realised reading this thread that I can return to college as a mature student instead of relying on FETAC? I'll be 22 in march??

Butterface

carzony wrote: »

That's true, the scumbags I was in class with was just unreal. I was never a bad student but I did realise very quickly that it was a load of bolix and I started mitching a lot.

Funny I got the best result in the class and I was never there lol That'll show you how stupid the other were.

I just realised reading this thread that I can return to college as a mature student instead of relying on FETAC? I'll be 22 in march??

You could still apply for an Access course in a university. It's usually a year long course that will introduce you to studying at university, and you can spend the year deciding what course you want to do and apply as a mature student then. As far as I recall, you're not considered a mature student unless you're 23 in the January of the year you apply! You will still be classed as dependent on your parents before that point, so for fees and grants etc, it's important to know.