Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-07-05
Ely WILLIAM F.. CURTIS.

control and veto upon all propositions.
He make the rules and regulations. he
fixes the tests of the examinations of the
teachers. but the teachers are proposed
by the priests or the Protestant clergy, as
the case may be-
Education and religion have always
gone hand in hand both in ancient and
modern Ireland. The history of one is
the history OF the other. Instruction has
always been given either by or under the
supervision of priests and monks. and
there have been regular teaching orders
like the Christian Brothers who combine
religion with secular instruction. with the
catechism their chief text book. AS
early as the middle of the sixth century
the monastery schools of Ireland were
famous all over the world. and even at
that date there were 5000 students at
Clonarde College and an equal number at
Bangor. at MOnasterboice and several
other centers of learning. The sons or
kings. chiefs, mobiles and other favored
classes lived in the monaSteries with their
instructors, but usually each ordinary
student had little Int of sod built by
himself. and often those from the same
locality or the same clan built houses for
their common use.
Greatest Scholars in Early Times.
All of the more important schools had
students from foreign lands. An English
bishop. writing in the year 705. says that
they came in fleet loads from Great
Britain and the continent Many of them
the early kings of France and other coun-
tries We're educated in Ireland, which was
for three or four centuries the most
learned country in the world. Great num-
DerS of 1riShmen were employed as pro-
fessors and teachers in the schools and
. colleges of England and the continent.
Charlemagne, Charles the Bald and other
monarchs of the middle ages called learned
men from Ireland as guests and as tutors
in their courts, and the influence of Irish
scholars was greater than those from any
other country. For four Of five hundred
years after the time of ST. Patrick the
Inonasteries of Ireland were the center
and source of science, and art and
learning of every kind and the litera-
ture of the Gaelic reached it's high
est glory. The Danish invasion destroyed
these conditions and threw everything
into disorder. The monasteres were
sacked. the monks scattered the students
fled to their homes. and the development
of learning and art suddenly was arrested.
There was another revival during the
reign of Brian BOru, but this was inter-
rupted by the nglo-Norman invasion.
and Irish learning never again reached its
previous fame.
During the reformation all the monas-
teres throughout all Ireland except in a
few remote districts were suppressed.
More than four hundred were entirely de-
stroyed and their inmates were turned out
upon the world by the agents of Henry
VIII. CromwellS governors were even
more severe and cruel. and the parlia-
Tnents of 1922 and 1856 passed penal laws
forbidding the Catholic children of the
country TO be educated either in schools
or in private houses. Education practi-
caly came to a standstill. although many
Irish ProtestantS all through the country
did great deal in quiet way to provide
instruction for the children of Catholic
friends and neighbors.
Relief Act of 1882
The relief act OF 1872 allowed Roman
,O1;r
the present national system was inau-
gurated in 1881. which afforded means OF
education for children of all denomina-
lions under the supervision of their own
priests. although members of different de-
nominations are required to receive re-
ligiOus instruction separately and inter-
ference with the religious principles OF
any child is forbidden From that time to
the present the number of schools has
been gradually extended, their efficiency
has been improved and the government
appropriations for education have been
increased from year to year
There are many weak points in the pres
ent system. however. which is admitted
by everybody. Within the last few years
the dissatisfaction of the public has been
expressed in the reports of at least three
parliamentary commits ions which have in
vestigated the several branches of in
struction and have made radical recon-
ntnda lions for changes and improve
ments. One of them dealt with manual
and practical instruction in the primary
schools, another on intermediate sec
ondary education. and the third on the
systems OF higher education throughout
Ireland. Mr.. John Dillon, perhaps the
ablest and most practical Irish politician
OF his time. regards the absence OF prac
teal training in the common duties of
life as the greatest defect in the educa-
tional system OF Ireland A similar opin-
ion has been expressed in interviews I
have had with the Earl of Aberdeen Sir
~ sir nLQst
and other thinking men representing the
different phases of political sentiment in
the country They all believe that the
people need practical Instruction in the
line Of work in which they are expected
70 make their living, and this cannot be
furnished them until body of competent
teachers can be trained for that purpose.
Hitherto the attention of the clergy Of all
denominations who have had the supervi-
sion of the schools has been diverted from
the practical and has been absorbed by
religious and literary instruction.
Now Governed by Parliament.
The schools of Ireland are now governed
by an act of parliament passed In 1902.
and Or. w. NJ. j Starkie, national commits
sioner of education. explained the system
to me the other day.
We have eight grades OF primary
schools he said, from kindergartens
which receive pupils three years of age
up TO the eighth grade. which corresponds
very nearly 10 tndt or the pubic schools
in America. with pupils fourteen or fifteen
years of age. We have a compulsory ed
ucation law, but ii is limited according to
the local conditions of the different dis
tricts-a sort of local option which is ap-
piled where the people of the counties or
the districts desire 1t. The schools are
practically free. BY the reorganization
of 1892 certain schools were permitted to
charges fees, but not more than 1 per
cent OF them do SO. and they are all
Protestant No Catholic school collects
tuition.
The schools of Ireland are controlled
by national board of twenty members
appointed nominally by the lord Heuten-
ant. half Protestant and one-half
Catholic. and executive council in
Charge OF administration. also appointed
by the lord lieutenant, one of whom. that
Is myself. is always on duty at the head
nuarters OF The board in Dublin: