The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1896-10-10
..||)|]U ! [ OF THE III Irish J.
Ancient Irish Druids 4 Recognized
III Asa As Learned Body Of
.... !. u Men, !.
Ireland Was the School Of the
West When Europe Was
In Darkness.

In Darkness.
Erin Has Reason to Be Proud of
Her Educational
! 81. Standing.
Love Of education has always been one
of the prominent characteristics of the
Irish people in their island home, writes
Roger Vail in "Kennedy's Own" maga-
zine. Centuries before the Christian era
one Of the pagan monarchs established
schools for the cultivation of literature
and philosophy, and the ancient Irish
l. Drllids were recognized as a learned body
of men among the Greeks and Romans.
When st. Patrick arrived in Ireland in
| A. D. 432 he found a highly intellectual
race whom he easily converted from pa
ganism to Christianity, without the ef-
| fusion of drop of human blood. One
of his first acts was to dot the island with
schools which became famous throughout
Europe. Students flocked from all coun-
! tries to drink at the fount Of Irish learn
| ing, and the hospitable Irish people
taught them gratuitously and furnished
dents was Alfred, the great English king.
When Europe lay beneath the foot Of the
! Vandal, Ireland was "the school of the
West, the quiet habitation of sanctity and
literature" according to DR.. Johnson.
| Thus it remained for about three cen
! turies, until the invasion of the Danes,
| when the schools were razed to the
ground, the teachers prosecuted, and the
bards exterminated with savage ferocity.
After the expulsion of the Danes in the
| llth century the Irish made every effort
! to revive their institutions of learning
| and had partially succeeded when the
Normans came, and again education was
retarded BY war and violence. The reigns
of Elizabeth and Anne capped the climax
| of retrogression when education was
made felony and penal laws ruled the
/
abroad in Ireland. for he was declared a
criminal and price set upon his head.
Despite the law, however, the teacher
pursued his vocation by stealth, and
| taught his willing pupils in the glens
and valleys, and in the recesses of the
| mountains 1t was in those barbarous
days of British oppression that the foun-
dation Of that Irish Ignorance of which
so much has been said, was laid in the
Emerald ISLE. For q hundred years the.
Irish people were deprived Of education
by British law and the Irish boys who
sought education on the continent were
disfranchised and disinherited. But Ire
land in later days has emerged triumph
antly from enforced ignorance and at the
present time is better educated than her
tyrannical sister. AT the very first re-.
Taxation of the penal code, after the dec
laration Of American independence, free
schools sprang up again in Ireland, and
the noble educators OF youth, the Chris
tian Brothers and the Nuns, opened Their
popular schools in all parts of the coun-
try.
In 1881 the so-called national system Of
education was inaug1rated by Lord Stan
ley, not for the purpose of enlightening
the minds of the youths of Ireland, but to
denationalize and protestantize them and
make them loyal British subjects. The
commissioners of education were special
ly: selected to carry out that policy, the
chairman being the famous DR.. Whately,
the Protestant archbishop of Dublin-an
En- glishman who prepared the books to
lie used and eliminated from them every
reference to the history ofIreland and ev-
[erylhing calculated to illustrate the vir
tue Of patriotism in any land. Scott1s
poem, beginning with
"Breathes there man with soul SO dead
Who never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my native land"
was expunged by Whately, and "God
Save the Queen" was substituted for it.
s[ know whereof speak for 1 spent some
ten years as a pupil in the schools.
The policy Of the government was a fiat
failure so far as imbuing the minds of
Irish boys with English ideas was con-
cerned. Many Of the teachers were pa
tr1ots and inculcated love Of country, and
the. bishops and clergy kept the old faith
{ glowing warmly in the hearts Of the pu-
pills. FL. 4, z.ss
Education at the present day IS in an
stage in Ireland According to
the latest report Of Mr.. Harris, our pres
sent commissioner Of education at Wash
ington, the percentage, Of enrolment in
the Irish schools iss2o, while that in the
5sehools#of the United States is %. 1t is
|. miraculous that Ireland stands next to
the United States in the matter of School
sa:tt endanes when 1t IS considered how
Handicapped the IRISH people are. When
Ireland five yearssago | visited several
sof the public. schools lof which therezare
Of 8,00o1 and found them much
improved since d atttended them thirty
years before. The teachers, both male
and female, are well trained for their
and they retire when grown old