Sadly, when theories of everything are applied to society's big
problems, they aren't such a good thing. The Irish Times' theory of
everything sees religion as the unifying rot behind Ireland's ills. This
is a terrible theory. Religion has been the cause of many problems, but
when religion is all you can see it becomes a black hole into which all
complex problems disappear, and from which no solutions can emerge.
The
resulting blind spot was exposed spectacularly last week in a major
profile regarding the segregation of Irish primary school children. A
survey showed that four-fifths of immigrant children are being educated
in just over a fifth of our schools. This means there are many schools
with no or very few immigrant children, while others have huge numbers.
Apart from the sadness of having children so starkly segregated, this
presents significant challenges for those schools trying to shoulder the
burden of educating children who might need extra support. What's
behind this segregation?
Geography is a rather obvious cause,
since immigrant populations settle in particular urban areas and indeed
the Irish Times analysis referred to this. But there's more to it than
that, because an Educate Together principal Tom Moriarty was quoted as
saying that: "There are schools in Dublin existing side by side where
one is almost completely international in nature and the other is
exclusively Irish."
So what's going on there? The analysis quickly
zeroed in on religion. Schools use religion as a method by which
immigrants could be discouraged from attending. When they run out of
places, only Catholics need apply. What's the solution? Catholic schools
need to "divest" themselves of their patronage of so many schools.
Thus, free from the stifling control of priests, schools could open
their gates to the Nirvana of multi-culturalism. We were reminded that
this divestment process has crawled along without much progress for
years.
The astonishing thing was that nowhere, no matter how many
times I read Pamela Duncan's article, could I find the word "Gaelscoil".
How could any credible analysis of segregation in primary schools be
conducted without even mentioning the most substantial barrier to entry
for immigrants - the Irish language? Parents have many legitimate
reasons for sending their children to Gaelscoileannna, but motive is
irrelevant if it's the net effect that concerns us. The reality is that
in many towns and urban centres, the immigrant kids are at the local
national school under the benign patronage of the much maligned Catholic
church, while up at the Gaelscoil, free from the critical eye of the
Irish Times or anyone else, you'll struggle to find a black child.
So
in one Dublin national school they have a huge cross-section of
children from Europe, Africa and Asia. Just 35pc of the pupils are
Irish. A short distance away at a Gaelscoil 99pc of the pupils are
Irish. But the commentariat can't takes its eyes off those infernal
priests and their discriminating schools, while under the radar, the
self-selecting families in the Gaelscoileanna sail along blissfully free
of moral challenge.
I'm not saying those families are doing
anything wrong - they're entitled to their choice - but why don't they
merit a mention? Yet of the 14 schools in the survey with more than 66pc
of pupils from a non-Irish origin, the majority - eight - were
old-fashioned national schools under Catholic patronage. The rest were
Educate Together, many newly built in new suburbs like Adamstown.
Since
the analysis is flawed, so is the suggested solution. If religion is
the problem then wresting schools away from the Church is the answer. In
fact, the real problem is the obsession of Irish parents with the
choice to which they believe themselves so entitled. They'd have heart
failure if they were presented with a system like Finland's.
In
the 1990s Finland experienced a deep recession. With a similar
population size and distribution to Ireland, they made massive education
cuts, closing 1,000 out of 4,000 primary schools. They funnelled all
pupils into one school in each town. It saved them a pile of money, but
by channelling resources into those single schools, they ended up with
high standards which are the envy of Europe. (They did other stuff too
but, alas, space prevents me from elaborating).
Could you imagine
if you took those Gaeilscoils, two-teacher rural schools, private and
religious schools away from Irish parents? The revolt would make the
water charges protest look like a teddy bears' picnic.
I think a
single-school policy is the correct one; morally, socially and
economically. But it's parents not priests who are the major obstacle.
If you're going to fight a war over segregation in schools, identifying
the real problem is a good start.
