Misalignment of table columns when using multirow

Question

I have a LaTeX document in which I am using custom environment and commands to make everything a bit easier. However, when I use the multirow command in one of my custom environments, the alignment of the left and right table columns is muddled (see below).

A minimum working example follows. Note that, in the case shown above, a multirow isn't required. However, there are other situations where the text in the left column is longer than a single table cell from the left column, and hence the multirow is required to prevent the contents of the right column from being spaced further apart.

\documentclass[10pt]{article}

\usepackage{filecontents}
\begin{filecontents*}{cvtools.sty}
\NeedsTeXFormat{LaTeX2e}
\ProvidesPackage{cvtools}[2012/07/16 v1.0.0]

\RequirePackage{etoolbox}           % for \ifstrempty, \ifdef
\RequirePackage{ifthen}             % for \ifthenelse
\RequirePackage{longtable}          % for tables that span more than one page
\RequirePackage{multirow}           % for table columns that span more than one row
\RequirePackage{tabularx}           % for simple column stretching
\RequirePackage{xcolor}             % for colours

%================================================%
% Declare options
%================================================%
\newif\if@showgrades

\DeclareOption{showgrades}{\@showgradestrue}
\DeclareOption*{\PackageWarning{cvtools}{Unknown option `\CurrentOption'}}

\ProcessOptions

%================================================%
% For table styling
%================================================%
\definecolor{lightgray}{gray}{0.8}%
\newcolumntype{L}[1]{>{\raggedleft}p{#1}}%
\newcolumntype{R}[1]{p{#1}}%
\newcommand\VRule{\color{lightgray}\vrule width 0.5pt}%
%------------------------------------------------%

%================================================%
% \begin{education}
% \educationItem{beginYear}{endYear}{name}{institution}{\educationGrade{subject}{grade} ...}
% \end{education}
%================================================%
\newenvironment{education}%
{%
\def\lwidth{0.16\textwidth}%
\def\rwidth{0.78\textwidth}%
%
\newcommand\educationGrade[2]{##1 & ##2\\}%
%
\newcommand\educationItem[5]{%
% Check if we should display tools
\if@showgrades%
    \ifstrempty{##5}%
        {% showGrades is true, but this \educationItem has no grades to display.
            \gdef\@numRows{1}%
            \gdef\@shouldshowgrades{0}%
        }%
        {% showGrades is true and this \educationItem has grades to display.
            \gdef\@numRows{2}%
            \gdef\@shouldshowgrades{1}%
        }%
\else%
    % showGrades is false.
    \gdef\@numRows{1}%
    \gdef\@shouldshowgrades{0}%
\fi%
%
% Education period
\multirow{\@numRows}{\lwidth}{##1 -- ##2}%
%
% Name and institution
& \textbf{##3 (##4)}%
%
% Grades
\ifthenelse{\equal{\@shouldshowgrades}{1}}%
    {%
        \\*%
        & \begin{tabularx}{\rwidth}{Xr}%
        ##5%
        \end{tabularx}%
    }%
    {}%
\\[0.5em]%
}%
%
\begin{longtable}{L{\lwidth}!{\VRule}R{\rwidth}}%
}%
{\end{longtable}}%
\end{filecontents*}


\usepackage[showgrades]{cvtools}%
\usepackage[margin=3cm]{geometry}   % extend page margins

\begin{document}
\section*{Education}
\begin{education}
    \educationItem{2008}{2012}
    {Education 1}
    {University 1}
    {}

    \educationItem{2002}{2007}
    {Education 2}
    {University 2}
    {
    \educationGrade{Subject 1}{90/100}
    \educationGrade{Subject 2}{88/100}
    \educationGrade{Subject 3}{97/100}
    \educationGrade{Subject 4}{94/100}
    \educationGrade{Subject 5}{95/100}
    }

    \educationItem{January 2002}{December 2007}
    {Education 3}
    {University 3}
    {
    \educationGrade{Subject 1}{90/100}
    \educationGrade{Subject 2}{88/100}
    \educationGrade{Subject 3}{97/100}
    \educationGrade{Subject 4}{94/100}
    \educationGrade{Subject 5}{95/100}
    }
\end{education}
\end{document}

The third \educationItem demonstrates a longer entry which (I believe) justifies the use of multirow... without multirow I get something like this (note the undesired whitespace between "Education 3" and "Subject 1":

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Just replace

\multirow{\@numRows}{\lwidth}{##1 -- ##2}%

with

\smash{\parbox[t]{\lwidth}{\raggedright ##1 -- ##2}}%

so that this entry won't contribute to the row height. It may be a problem when the right part is shorter than the left part, but I don't think it can really happen. In that case add dummy \educationGrade{}{} items.

---

Note. It's quite hard to understand why you're putting the definitions of \educationItemand \educationGrade in the body of the definition of education.