With the proposed abolition of the old system in executing entrance exams in schools in Northern Ireland, a new system is also expected to take over according to a top school official. The new system would give new meaning the way the exams are run in all schools in this part of the country. A group identified as Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has also recently lobbied on what kind of assessment exam would replace the old 11-plus examination more particularly in Northern Ireland.

According to reports from BBC news, the new plan is a welcome development since when the proposed system is implemented it would be able to introduce a new dimension in which the schools can freely implement their own selection exam test. This means freedom is absolutely given to these schools to plan for their own kind of examination. Sammy Wilson, the party’s spokesperson for education matters said when an agreement is reached grammar schools are given their own decision on some kind of selecting the incoming students based on the new exam selection. Wilson said the schools that would prefer to make their own selection process are free to do so or use their bespoke entrance examination format.

Catriona Ruano, the education minister, had earlier claimed the 11-plus examinations will be abolished this year but had not yet announced what to do next after the old system is already abolished. She said the education department had viewed the old system as outdated and could no longer be available for better and functional education system in Northern Ireland. The education minister did not also announce the future plans of the department on the proposed introduction of a new system in the conduct of entrance examinations to incoming students.

There are also reports that the new system is still to be debated among education scholars as well as top-ranking educators so that when there will be new system it would give even more benefits to students. School officials are already weary about the plans since this is already April 2008, while the minister of education had already announced the changes last year yet. It is predicted that the education department has not yet conducted surveys in top schools of the country as to the development of the proposed abolition of 11-plus examination format.

MY name is Jack Ryan and I live in Lower Manhattan with my mom and dad. My dad is a police officer of the Port Authority Police Department but he and mom were all immigrants from Ireland when they first came here. Our last name is really Ryan but my dad decided to christen me Jack after his idol Jack Ryan who was immortalized by Tom Clancy and Harrison Ford in many films such as Patriot Games and later on by Ben Affleck in The Sum of All Fears.

I am now in my junior year at Stuyvesant High School here in lower Manhattan. My family has been in the law enforcement sector with my grandpa a retired police officer back in Dublin but I have never been interested in being a police officer. I am instead interested in film appreciation that is why I am planning to take up a degree in filmmaking at nearby NYU Film School. Modesty aside, getting to NYU Film School is I think will be pretty easy for me since I come from Stuyvesant.

But before that, my parents have decided that we all in the family go to my parents’ hometown in Dublin for the one-week spring break. That will be my first trip to Ireland but instead of touring castles with my parents and younger sister; I have decided to tour around key movie studios in Dublin to get a feel of how the Irish film industry looks like.

I am still 15 and my Irish actress crush right now is13-year-old Saoirse Ronan, that lovely and adorable girl I’ve seen in the movie Atonement. She really did an amazing job in the movie and in fact, she has received a 2008 Oscar nomination for best supporting actress. And I’m proud that she’s Irish.

Of course, one other Irish actor that I like is Cillian Murphy. I have seen Cillian in two movies, 28 Days Later and Red Eye and I can see that he’s good especially his chemistry being both a lover and a villain to actress Rachel McAdams. Modesty aside again, I know I look like Cillian Murphy although he is popular and I’m not. I intend to change that course of my life. I want to be popular like Cillian but behind the camera and not in front of it.

Acting courses are eing carried out throughout Europe too - all it takes is to look for one of the cheap vuelos to Spain and you could be acting out the famous scenes from Don Quijote!

IRELAND is a great country with nothing but great ranches with magnificent views of grazing cows in vacation homes as far as the eye can see. Everything’s so surreal; this country definitely makes for a very wonderful honeymoon after one’s wedding. As long as technological amenities are at home such as satellite Internet and television (which makes renting a vacation villa relatively expensive because they’re far away from any DSL central office and a satellite connection, high speed at that, is expensive) and DVD player with an impressive LCD monitor and subwoofer surround sound, you can settle back in bed for the rest of the day for the whole darn week with no one but you and your spouse and wait until you conceive a baby. Whew, that was long! I mean, my sentence is long. But I just can’t help describing my experience in Ireland with my lovely wife. When we went back to our home province in Salamanca, it’s like we arrived back from paradise and went back to our monotonous life. Not that Salamanca is boring but Ireland is simply one vacation spot on earth that is definitely not to be missed.

For starters, Ireland is home to Bono, The Edge and the rest of the U2 gang. Latest news has it that the U2 will be releasing an anthology of their greatest hits on video in IMAX format. Once again, they will be making history because this will be the very first time a musical video feature will be made for IMAX. Of course, U2 can surely not be missed. Who can forget the great Joshua Tree and the hit Sunday Bloody Sunday. It is a hit with a patriotic overture. Speaking of patriotic, Ireland definitely has its share of rich history. Who can forget Michael Collins, the Irish revolutionary who fought valiantly against the British oppressors? Of course, Michael Collins was immortalized in a film of the same name as portrayed by Liam Neeson, himself an accomplished Irishman in Hollywood.

Are you familiar with the last name Ryan? If you are, chances are the person holding that name comes from Ireland. There are thousands possibly millions of Irish Americans right now in the United States. The most famous Ryan of them all is Jack Ryan, star of the various novels of the same series of Tom Clancy, himself an Irish American. Jack Ryan rose to fictional fame from being a CIA intelligence analyst to president of the United States. In between, he was deputy director for operations, national security adviser and vice president. His role has been filled in by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck in various movies. Right now, the fictional Jack Ryan is retired and is targeting the position of UN secretary general. His son, Jack Ryan – another fictional character, is now a Unites States soldier. Jack Ryan, Sr. is being immortalized in such movies as Clear and Present Danger (now used in Defense Department lectures for West Point cadets).