Just as Sinn Féin is excluding the Protestant clergy because it wants rid of the Catholic Church from the schools of all 32 counties, so the recent events in Northern Ireland have resurrected the call to exclude the churches from the schools there, which is really the call to exclude them from the schools of the entire United Kingdom.
And the reason for that is because the Catholic ones have been so good at, according to the old Christian Brothers’ maxim, “taking the sons [and daughters] of dockers and turning them into doctors”.
The professions, and thus the places where professional people live, now contain any number of people originally from Scotland, the North, the Midlands and the less salubrious parts of the South, with working-class grandparents or even parents, and with Irish great-grandparents.
Where will it all end?
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Indeed.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it has to be said that the third way approach to eduaction in "Northern Ireland" is totally and absolutely defeated. And it was money "wot dunnit"
Take the small town of Saintfield, Co Down, with a large midde class emigré community for whom nearby Belfast was just well......"too Belfast".
The native populations of Saintfield had two reasonable enough primary schools (a State (de facto Protestant and a Catholic school) school but to the incoming middle class elite, this was not good enough.
They demanded an "integrated" school.
This is an idea much beloved by Saint Mo Mowlam and every new Labour graduate in Politics (and a favoured policy of the Conflict Resolution people at Queens University).
In the old pre-devolution days getting an integrated school would not have been a problem.
To their immense chagrin the devolved Dept of Education told them a big resounding "NO!"
Despite your peculiar notion that only SF is against grammar schools it is actually also supported by SDLP.
The DUP (not notably pro Catholic in any policy) is for grammar schools.
Likewise SF has a vested interest in keeping "Catholic" schools.
In anybodys language "2 plus 2 equals 4". Not necessarily the case in the History class.
But you will find a surprising number of those SF and SDLP figures in Stormont were educated by Irish Christian Brothers and Sisters of Mercy.
I declare an interest here.
I am pro Catholic school.
I am pro Grammar School.
Indeed I was on the governing committee of a Catholic Primary School (albeit a very small one)
"Despite your peculiar notion that only SF is against grammar schools"
ReplyDeleteI never said that.
"The DUP (not notably pro Catholic in any policy) is for grammar schools"
Again, I never disputed this.
"But you will find a surprising number of those SF and SDLP figures in Stormont were educated by Irish Christian Brothers and Sisters of Mercy"
It wouldn't suprise me in the least.
Agree with all the rest, of course.
The bigger picture is that Devolution in "Northern Ireland" did not get rid of sectarianism. It institutionalised sectarianism.
ReplyDeleteMajority and Minority will for several generations be involved in running the government.
The definition of Majority and Minority for census purposes is primary shool attendance. Religion for (for example) Fair Employment legislation is the perception genearted by Primary School attendance.
Thus it is very much in Sinn Féin and SDLPs interest to keep Catholic schools partly because it maintains a "divide" and partly because of the "nationalist ambience" for which we can thank the Sisters of Mercy and Christian Brothers.
Sinn Féin no longer needs the Church for this. And products of its secular Irish-language schools will run little risk, to say the least, of voting SDLP.
ReplyDeleteIt would not seem a very cost effective way for SF to garner votes.
ReplyDeleteIn its 5 2005 seats.
West Belfast 68% share of vote (SDLP 16%)
FST 38 % (15%)
West Tyrone 39% (9%)
Mid Ulster 48% (17%)
Newry Armagh 41% (25%)
seems they are doing ok with Gaelic Language schools being minimal and the aluni of Catholic schools also in minimal danger of changing votes to SDLP.
Cost effective? They aren't paying for it, and these children are pretty much BOUND to vote SF when they grow up, having had no Catholicism in with the Republicanism. You don't get any more cost effective than that.
ReplyDelete