The Leaving Certificate Examination was begun one hundred years ago as a test pupils had to undergo at eighteen before they stepped into the workforce or decided to apply for further education. It proposed a grading system to aid them in defining their skills. There was a two-year study period and assessment time lead-in. In this stretch they had to knuckle down to study, achievement and focus. In doing so many had to leave behind distractions like sports, music and the fug of the dance halls. As we note the differences witnessed in that century, Maxi talks with four well-known Irish personalities to discover their memories of that turning point in their lives.

 

BRENDAN BALFE
Broadcaster Brendan Balfe’s career spans all the broadcasting developments, from the General Post Office programmes to high technology in Montrose, during his time at RTÉ.
“I sat for my Leaving in 1963. Because dinosaurs were running on the earth, there were no choices. One year I was studying French, and the next – because the teacher left – I wasn’t. In my time you did the subjects on the menu, and that was that—no choice whatsoever. I see my grandchildren nowadays with all sorts of options, including post-Leaving Cert.
“I went to Christian Brothers and Oatland’s College and I was shown a curriculum and I did what was on it. I remember I was good at languages, English Irish and Latin. I got top marks in Latin. I got good marks in Geometry and Maths. I shone in Languages. At sixteen I knew what I wanted to do.
“I used to listen to Radio Luxembourg and I loved Pete Murray and I thought to myself, I would not mind having a job like that.
“I remember clearly that when Oral Irish was coming up, and I was advised they would most probably ask what I wanted to do with my life, I asked to know the Irish for ‘Radio Announcer’ and I learned it, ‘Bolscaire Craolacháin’
“At that age, I was doing disc jockey work at the record hops in Mount Merrion. After the Leaving Cert I started writing all the usual letters, you know, insurance companies, banks etc and I got tired of that when nothing happened.

Continue reading in this week’s Ireland’s Own