Secondary school choices in Dublin South

JDD

I come from a family of three. Two older brothers. They went to a local public school. Just because I came along a bit later, and my parents had more money, I went to private school.

My brothers' school was....fine I suppose. It took a lot of kids from our moderately well off suburb, and a lot of kids from a working class suburb. My Dad was on the Board of Management for years, and he said that half their time was taken up adjudicating on what to do with the kids that were borderline about to be expelled.

My brother closest in age to me was very academic. He was always a bit smarter than me and I remember thinking it even back in primary school. He worked hard in school and came second in his class in terms of Leaving Cert results.

I, on the other hand, came maybe in the top half/third of my class when I did my Leaving Cert two years later. Yet, I got considerably more points than he did. Why is that? Well, my brother was in a class where at least half of them had no intentions of going on to third level (no issues with that). A lot of time in the classroom was taken up by trying to get that cohort to pay attention, and to actually do the work.

For me, I was surrounded by kids who wanted to do law, or medicine, or science or engineering. Even the ones who didn't want to go on to conventional university wanted to get in to NCAD, or the Royal Academy of Music, or wanted to start their own businesses. Nearly everyone was aiming high, and it felt like that was just normal. It makes you work harder.

Fast forward to after university. I interviewed at a couple of law firms and got offers to three. The one I eventually went for asked me about my school in my interview. Asked me how I enjoyed it, etc. And I obviously gave a glowing review of the place. A good few months later I heard that that particular partner had sent his two girls to the same school as me. I'm not saying that where I went to school swung me a place, but it felt a little like they were checking out whether I was "one of them". As distasteful as that is.

My brother has done well for himself in the meantime (I still earn considerably more), but I felt sorry that he didn't have that same opportunity to get that extra percentage in interviews, or maybe that connection that would tell him that there was a job going in another company. He doesn't at all have the same network that I do. That's why - even though I disagree with the idea of this two tier system - I am sending my children to the same private school I went to. Because the world isn't fair, and I accept that this is how it works.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121704620#Comment_121704620

It didn't seem to work so well for the 2/3rds of people below in the class.

JDD

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121706442#Comment_121706442

I dunno about that. There were a few in the class that definitely did not want to go on to third level. One became an air hostess, another couple went into a childcare and another became a hairdresser. AFAIK they're all stay at home mums now. Which may well have always been their ambition, and that's perfectly fine. I feel a bit weird saying this, because it sounds like I'm from the 1950's or some ultra conservative country, but they all "married well". In that I mean they all married men who are high earners, who come from wealth. Now, that could be a coincidence. It could be as a result of them coming from well off families in the first place and moving in certain circles. Maybe what school you went to makes no difference. But it seems to me that people tend to look for a partner who is similar to themselves, and has similar experiences, and a similar school experience is part of that.

The others that got lesser points all went off to university anyway, did Arts or other courses and then went on to do Masters. I would say, given our small class sizes, overtime paid to teachers to help after class, and the general importance put on good grades by the vast majority of parents, every student got more points than they would have done in your average public school. Whether the name of the school got them any further in life I wouldn't know. I can only speak to my own experience.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121710366#Comment_121710366

So going to a private school isn't a guarantee of great academic results then.

spurious

All about the networking.

JDD

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121710483#Comment_121710483

Depends if you define great academic results as the maximum you can achieve given your abilities and skills. Basically achieving your potential. That’s how I’d define it.

The only way to guarantee all As for every pupil is to get the Burkes to sit all of your exams 😃

BlueSkyDreams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121710882#Comment_121710882

This is a key advantage of private school.

Building a network.

Its elitist, but its reality and it opens doors for private students that otherwise do not exist.

spurious

I have corrected mock exams from all sorts of schools and there is no real difference between them standard-wise.

bullpost

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121736809#Comment_121736809

Thats it - guy I know was freaked out because his wife didnt want their son playing rugby. He felt this would deny him valuable network. This was a 13 year old.