This is the first installment of SIN's newest column 'Ill-informed', written by Jennifer O'Connor, a member of the Disability Support Services in NUI Galway. So many facets of life are described in terms of spectrums. A spectrum is thought of by many as a scale of progression describing colours, life stages and on occasion, disability, or illness. For those with such … [Read more...] about Ill-informed: The spectrum of understanding
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Head to head: Against capping – an argument on behalf of human error
Capping is but the latest in a series of crackdowns on the freedom of students here at NUI Galway. In the last two years, the capping of repeat examinations at 40% has been gradually phased in and received by the student body in general with all the warmth of a limp handshake. Capping, in theory, presents no problems whatsoever. In the view of many, it is only right that the … [Read more...] about Head to head: Against capping – an argument on behalf of human error
Head to head: an argument in favour of capping repeat exams at 40%
So since last year, if you have to repeat an exam in NUI Galway in the summer, the best result you can get is a bare pass, 40%. And this is only fair. The repeat exams are a safety net to stop people having to repeat a year, or fail a course. But they were never meant to be a get out of jail free card for people who didn't feel like putting the work in during the … [Read more...] about Head to head: an argument in favour of capping repeat exams at 40%
Eoin Drones: Scholastic Seclusion
When Vera Brittain, the acclaimed author of Testament of Youth coined the term ‘scholastic seclusion’, she had intended it to refer to the isolation she felt being left behind at Oxford while most of her contemporaries had gone off to serve in the Great War. However, scholastic seclusion seems to have a new meaning in the modern age. Cast your minds back to the heady days of … [Read more...] about Eoin Drones: Scholastic Seclusion
Is free third-level education possible in Ireland?
While typing the headline for this article, I stopped for a moment. Why am I questioning something which everybody I’ve talked to agrees with? We, as students, desire a third level education which provides us with career opportunities and without the burden of high fees each year. Past students faced the hike in student fees after the most recent economic crash, but now that … [Read more...] about Is free third-level education possible in Ireland?