The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-11-20
"

When Mr. Lynd attacks the important
question Of schools and children he be-
gins 10y objecting. quite rightly. to the
child being made OF less account than the
criminal by the authorities. only IA
revolutionist. he says. at the present
moment would propose that the author
ties should make the schoolhouse n chan
say, as the church. or as comfortable
A. the police barracks He objects e.
having thu hard worked. underTaid
teacher classcd with the three other T.ar-
sons Of the tyrranical village hierarchy
the pri"s' or larson, the gombeen maI
and IA. policeman. Tn. manager 10 4
national school il almost invariably "a
priest. parspn or minister. and though
he may not care very much about educ
ton himself he j. inclined to br sIsp..
cIouIs when any one else threatens t.
car" about It. But the odd thing /, 'hl'
ia spit" at ~ the s,.ctarIan turrnOIl and
tyranny IN Irish education. the natIurll
schools ~ among tn" most non sectarLiu
una ginahl". even the priest managed
school having no statue of the Madonna
"a. in England and giving no word ct
religious instruction outside tn. ho'lr
~: apart from II. His strongest lndlc-
ncnt against the national schools il tina;
thav wer., established not To meet tn.
nerds of ireland but To fulfil certain pa
lI'icnl objects. Instead Of fitting the
children to lead useful and charming
lives IN Ireland they were formerly Used
as n means II making the children forget
that there was any such country IS Ire
land. For instance. w hen Scotch Pres
byteTian minister ON the controlling board
proposed tn include. Sir Walter Scott :
lines -Brenthc~ there the man with soul
50 dead. and 80 forth. in the reader.
Archbishop Mhately caught sight Of the
words. and realizing how indecent was
tn" sentiment they might convey 10 the
ima gination Of the Irish children insisted
ON their omission.
IN. chief lesson to n. learned by the
children WAS ignorance-not 10 say con-
t@npt-of everything Irish and reverence,
for everything English. Even IN districts
whcr" Irish was tho only language spoken
tn" children were taught that English.
not Irish. WAS their naIIv. Language.
Teachers who knew no Irish were put Ia
charge oi schools where tho pupils knew
no English. MIR. iynd'S own exyerlenc.
at school was that he was kept in ignorance
"f every single human fact concerning
tho country around him other than the
fact that II existed in "A geographical
sense. The tendency of education until
Very recently has been 90 convince she
Irish child that his is n country to -
ashamed 81. But matters are improving
Irish and English instruction was IN fore,
IN IA schools IN this year 1899. and the
school books are becoming more irish
than they used 10 he, which IS very
great thing. In zoos n school for boys
was esta blished in Dublin where the ord
nary branches are taught first in the on.
language. then in tho other. every person
with tho establishment lex
cept tho cook) is an Irish speaker. Irish
games are played and many Of the pupils
wear the Irish kilt. Altogether. however.
It is tho authors opinion that education
will never be satisfactory until the Irish
people shall have taken it largely into
.Ieir own hands