Pseudo-ranking schools

March 22, 2011 in General, News

The Sunday Times of 13 March ranked 400 Irish second-level schools on the proportion of their pupils who went on to university. Of course that is a poor measure of a school’s “success”, since it reflects also parental intelligence (which children inherit) and wealth. Still, in the absence of any less measurable but more important criterion (how would you measure the “goodness” of a Leaving Certificate class?), the ranking makes interesting reading. Gonzaga comes first, as it did last year. Clongowes has edged past Alexandra to come 12th. Belvedere has jumped eight places to come 18th. Coláiste Iognáid has also jumped eight places, to 29th, and the Crescent six places to 61st. Out of 400 schools, Jesuit colleges fill four places in the top 30, three places in the top 20.