The religious test to be a teacher in Ireland's schools

More information about the Catholic Teaching Certificate here

I previously wrote a blog post 'Irish teachers must be Catholic missionaries', and I also wrote a post, 'Ireland's sectarian schools' here.

I want to explore this matter further...

Apartheid education in Northern Ireland

The patriots on each side matriculate hate. In Northern Ireland we inherit from our parents bigotry and hate, and to our children we bequeath bigotry. But the cause of division and mistrust goes beyond the familial and includes the educational apparatus with their curriculums of difference and confirmation bias.

Religious and political allegiance in Northern Ireland is singular. The two words are interchangeable. History isn't taught, it's inherited. We are bequeathed myths, biased and bigotries from a toxic matrix of parents, teachers and clergy. Edmund Burke wrote in 1792:

"[There were] thousands in Ireland who have never conversed with a Roman Catholic in their whole lives, unless they happened to talk to their gardener’s workmen… I remember a great, and in many respects a good, man, who advertised for a blacksmith, but at the same time added he must have a Protestant blacksmith."  

Irish teachers must be Catholic missionaries

Eamonn de Valera genuflecting at the feet of Bishop John Charles McQuaid

Michael Nugent wrote following the publication of the report, 'Irish school teachers must be Catholic missionaries,' that religious discrimination against the irreligious and non-Catholic is accepted as part of the Irish way of life, adding that "Irish school teachers must be Catholic missionaries." He wrote:

"Religious discrimination, like all discrimination, undermines the dignity of the human person. In this case religious discrimination in our education system has undermined the human rights of parents and their children. It also denies atheists and religious minorities from their right to access the teaching profession in a democratic Republic without religious discrimination.

Conor Cruise O'Brien - The church and school helps to encourage, exalt and extend tribal-sectarian self-righteousness

Cartoon of Conor Cruise O'Brien

[UPDATE - John Hume wrote in The Irish Times, May 18 1964, "Bigotry and a fixation about religious divisions are the first thing that strike any visitor to the North."]

Our parents are patrons of prejudice, bequeathers of bigotry. Churches and chapels inculcate hate. 

He was that Irish essayist and polemicist so "sorely deficient in Anglophobia". Conor Cruise O'Brien (who was satirised in the 'Gentle Black and Tans'), drew across the grain on so many issues. He was the arch-"revisionist", a charge he countered here. A controversialist and a man of irrepressible energies, we sorely lack his type today.

The "weirdness" and "freak show" of apartheid education in Northern Ireland

Cartoon by Ian Knox (@IanKnoxcartoon)

Ninety-three per cent of children in Northern Ireland attend segregated elementary schools. Causing what the New Yorker's Patrick Redden Keefe called, "sheer weirdness." Jude Whyte said:

"Politics has replaced the gun and the bomb yet in many ways I feel that we live in a more segregated society than ever. We live apart, educate our children apart... while sport (the source of such unity in the world) remains sectarian, poisoned and divisive."

When it's cool to be dumb, Ctd

Shane Smith (@ShaneSmith30), CEO and co-founder of VICE, said:

"One of the shocking things when I go back to Canada is they cut off the tall trees — it’s sort of like everyone’s the same. Everyone’s going to be the same, we’re all okay. Just the, sort of, cultural ‘we’re all okay.’" 

Shane Smith said something similar here:

"I grew up being a socialist and I have problems with it because I grew up in Canada [and] I’ve spent a lot of time in Scandinavia, where I believe countries legislate out creativity. They cut off the tall trees. Everyone’s a C-minus. I came to America from Canada because Canada is stultifyingly boring and incredibly hypocritical. Thanks, Canada."

Russell Kane (@russell_kane) said on the third episode of series 3 of BBC 3's Free Speech:

"I couldn't wait to get out [of school] and restart my education and do it on my own. Where I could be proud of getting high grades instead of being bullied."

[Nurseries] feed the skills gap, Ctd

It seems the trend is embedded and endemic. A pernicious culture of short-sightedness. Ofsted's chief inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw said:

"More than two-thirds of our poorest children - and in some of our poorest communities that goes up to eight children out of 10 - go to school unprepared. That means they can't hold a pen, they have poor language and communication skills, they don't recognise simple numbers, they can't use the toilet independently and so on."

Sir Michael added:

"The corollary of not preparing children well for school is that they don't do well in reception and, if they don't do well in reception, they don't get on at key stage one, they find it difficult to read at seven, they fail at the end of primary school and that failure continues into secondary school."

When it's cool to be dumb, Ctd Gary Mitchell

Gary Mitchell, the Rathcoole-born playwright, said in an interview with Culture Northern Ireland:

"We have this thing where we think middle class people and upper class people are better than us. They [the middle class] can write things, we [the working class] can’t. We can work in factories. And if someone proves that it is possible to go to Rathcoole Secondary – the school you got expelled into - and become a famous writer then they have to pull him down. Because they said, “you’re from Rathcoole, you can’t” and stopped their kids from becoming a writer or wanting to be famous."

Gary Mitchell then spoke of the pervasive inferiority complex of the Protestant working class. A culture that says you have to keep up appearances without thinking too much of yourself. Under this culture he was just a wee lad from Rathcoole. He wasn't allowed to be a writer.

The cult of university, Ctd Michael Gove and Matthew Hancock speeches

Going into an #Apprenticeship or to University should become the new norm for young people when they leave school: both must be top options
— Matt Hancock (@matthancockmp) March 5, 2014

Two speeches to look at. Firstly, Michael Gove's speech at McLaren Technology Centre, Woking, Surrey about the future of vocational education. Secondly, Matthew Hancock's (@matthancockmp) speech at the BBC's 'You're Hired' conference, launching the National Apprenticeship Week 2014.

Michael Gove speech

Speaking at McLaren, where educational and technical innovation meet, his goal was to talk about the relationship between education and the world of work. He said:

"If young people are to be prepared for that radically changing world of work, we need a plan to change our education system - and to secure their future. In particular, we need to end the artificial and damaging division between the academic and the practical."

What Michael Gove called "the apartheid at the heart of our education system." More:

"And we need to ensure that practical, technical and vocational education is integrated with academic learning to make both more compelling for all students in our schools, and more valuable in the new labour market."

The Cult of University, Ctd Eisenhower and the Free University

During his Farewell Address to the Nation on January 17, 196, Eisenhower said how university had been captured by government and other interests:

"The free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers. 

The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present – and is gravely to be regarded. 

Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite. 

It is the task of statesmanship to mold, to balance, and to integrate these and other forces, new and old, within the principles of our democratic system – ever aiming toward the supreme goals of our free society. 

...We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the [two]."

Address in full here.

Liberal arts education feeds the Skills Gap

Robert W. Goldfarb wrote in the New York Times here:

"The general message from [business] leaders is this: More young people would be hired if they had the right qualifications, but too few have the skills and discipline needed to succeed in today’s demanding workplace. 

Over the last few years, I’ve interviewed more than 200 young people from diverse backgrounds of income, education, race and geography. About half told me that they had liberal arts degrees, and I was struck by how many of them regretted majoring in a discipline now seen as impractical. 

Many liberal-arts graduates say they are eager to find an employer willing to train them in skills that don’t require a degree in engineering or computer science. They cite six-sigma analysis, supply-chain procedures, customer service, inventory control, quality assurance and Internet marketing. They want a chance to master one of those skills.

Jenni Russell - Young people spent 13 years listening to a Labour government telling them that university is the key to a better life. The exhortations have shaped reality.

In 2011 Jenni Russell (@jennirsl) wrote in The Guardian here:

"[Young people have] spent 13 of the past 14 years listening to a Labour government telling them that university is the key to a better life. The exhortations have shaped reality. With almost half the age group going on to higher education, anyone who doesn't do so risks being labelled as below average, however unjust that might be. A degree might not be worth what it used to be now that so many people have them. For anyone who is ambitious, though, not having one has become a handicap that needs to be explained away."

She finished by saying:

"We have spent the past 10 days agonising about how to give the most desperate young people hope in their futures and a stake in society. This week we are turning around to those who have worked diligently and telling them: sorry, we know it's tough out there, and the good jobs don't exist in any quantity, but we're not prepared to develop you any further – you're on your own. It's a foolish, short-sighted, rotten way to be running either the country or the education system."

On a side but related note, the skills minister Matthew Hancock recently said in an article, 'Parents must drop 'sniffy' attitude to apprenticeships, leading headmistress says':

"Concentrating only on academic training to the exclusion of technical training was a big mistake."

Jenni Russell in full here. In a blog post here I wrote that a Sunday Times poll found that in many universities are more interested in research than their students. My previous post on Jenni Russell here and here. Previous posts in The Cult of University series here, here university here, here, here, on the University Neurosis here, on The Legally Blonde complex here and also a piece here. Also on the Huffington Post here. My blog post on YouGov who found that employers have found graduates non-work-ready, here. My blog posthere where a Sunday Times poll found that students are critical of university teaching standard and that universities are more interested in research than teaching students.

When it's cool to be dumb, Ctd

The above segment from The Simpsons episode Dial 'N' for Nerder, Nelson is attacked for showing intellectual daring and ability. This is the culture I experienced in school, albeit in a milder less violent form, But yes, it absolutely was not cool to show intellectual daring and ability.

My earlier posts in the 'When it's cool to be dumb' series can be accessed here,here (UDA prisoner), here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here. On the Huffington Post UK here.

The Cult of University, Ctd Science versus arts students

The point made in the last post in The Cult of University series here, was that attending 8 hours of lectures per week in an arts/humanities/social 'science' course is a waste of £27,000, except for the academically gifted. Carola Binney (@carolabinney) said in The Spectator here:

"I [an arts student] have three-and-a-half contact hours a week. Two of these are just ‘advisable’, and are sacrificed to essay crises with some regularity... Us Arts students have to decide to work. We have to get ourselves up, preferably in the morning. We have to choose to do today what we could do at 2am tomorrow. We have to turn down a pub trip in favour of an evening alone with our books. Hungover and exhausted, who wouldn’t rather sit watching acid drip into alkaline for a couple of hours, rather than trawling through Asser’s Life of King Alfred."

I want to ask again: What average 18,19, 20 or 21 year old is going to construct an effective learning curriculum around a 3-8 hour week of lectures and tutorials? From my own personal experience, not many. This is where the self-directed drinks curriculum takes precedence, as per By my mind, this is a waste an inefficient allocation of human potential.

Dale J. Stephens said here:

"I enrolled into college... However any idealism was quickly squashed. For the most part, people weren't there to learn - they were there to party, and hangovers permitting, learn something along the way. I started asking questions." 

Previous posts in The Cult of University series here, here university here, here, here, on the University Neurosis here, on The Legally Blonde complex here and also a piece here. Also on the Huffington Post here.

My blog post on YouGov who found that employers have found graduates non-work-ready, here. My blog post here where a Sunday Times poll found that students are critical of university teaching standard and that universities are more interested in research than teaching students.

Conformity and convention is over-rated

Sarah Green wrote in the HBR here

"Americans love to give lip service to creativity, celebrating imaginative artists and innovators and calling for "out of the box" ideas. Yet when we encounter creativity in real time -- before we know whether an unusual or outlandish idea will pay off -- we’re all too quick to reject it, argues Jessica Olien. She runs through a litany of evidence that becomes more and more depressing, but she comes to a surprisingly optimistic conclusion, thanks to research out of Cornell that shows being rejected leads creative people to conclude that conformity is overrated and thus liberates them from the need to fit in. True, this often doesn't lead to happiness -- but it does lead to more creativity. "To live creatively is a choice," Olien concludes. "You must make a commitment to your own mind and the possibility that you will not be accepted. You have to let go of satisfying people, often even yourself." I find those words oddly comforting. But maybe I'm just being creative."

My blog post on the Dilbert creator and my Dilbert moment here. Timothy Ferriss, prolific author, speaks in similar terms. As Tim Ferriss said in the Four Hour Work Week:

"The common sense rules of the real world are a fragile collection of socially reinforced illusions."

As I often say, Silicon Valley is less a place and more a mindset. That's why we need to think like Maria Popova and Matthew Syed here and Sir Ken Robinson here, and totally re-evaluate the educational experience and education's relationship with industry.

In a new world with a new and exciting economy, we need to think and act anew. If you always do what you always did, you'll always get what you always got.

When it's cool to be dumb, Ctd

Sian Griffiths quotes Alison Wolf, professor of public sector management at King's College London in The Sunday Times of December 1 2013 here: 

"If you are growing up in Seoul or Shanghai, you go home from school to a family that cares desperately about education, no matter what its social standing is. British parents are simply not as aware of how important education is."

My previous posts in the "Cool to be dumb" series here, here, here, here,here, here and here. On the Huffington Post UK here.

When it's cool to be dumb, Ctd

@brianjohnspencr @YsabellGiles In the working-class world I grew up in, to succeed was seen by many as 'rising above your station'.
— Ian Livingstone (@IGLivingstone) November 28, 2013

The deputy Lord Mayor of Belfast, Christopher Stalford tweeted in response:

@IGLivingstone @brianjohnspencr @YsabellGiles Ian, absolutely spot on.
— Christopher Stalford (@CDMStalfordDUP) November 28, 2013

Ian Livingstone also shared on his blog his experience and perception of schooling in the context of growing up in a Belfast family:

"I daydreamed my way through school. I paid no attention to class-work and my truancy had now become very regular. In my family there were no expectations from education at all. My parents saw it in a sense, like a glorified baby-sitting service - somewhere I could go during daytime while they were at work. The previous hopes they had for me when I had gained entry into grammar school were by now gone after I had been expelled. I was destined to enter into an apprenticeship as an electrician, plumber or a welder in the Harland &Wolff shipyard, like the majority of males in my family. A good education didn’t really matter."

My previous posts in the "Cool to be dumb" series here, here, here, here, here and here. On the Huffington Post UK here.

When it's cool to be dumb, Ctd

India Knight wrote in the Sunday Times of November 17 2013:

"Privately educated children are taught that being clever is cool; some state-educated ones get given the feeling that it is sometimes wiser to hide one's light under a bushel."

My previous posts in the "cool to be dumb" series here, here, here, here and here.

Michelle Rhee - Redefining what it takes to be successful, Ctd

In an interview with The New York Times here, Ms Rhee laid out her philosophy:

"As educators, we have to approach our job believing that anything is possible. It is incredibly important that we constantly communicate to kids that they can accomplish anything when they put their minds to it."

Previous post in the series here.

Giles Coren - Does education stifle your creative spark?

Giles Coren thinks so. Writing in The Times he said:

"It is more and more widely recognised that education cripples you, strips you of your originality and wit and spark."

He continued: "According to Jaron Lanier’s book Who Owns the Future?, the big tech companies are even now paying the brightest and best at Harvard and Yale to leave university and work for them while they are still fresh, uncorrupted and full of ideas. It is a given at the cutting edge that dropping out of college — like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg — is the mark of worth, not graduating.

He made an interesting observation on British universities, the democratisation of third level education, its effects and fees. He said:

"And if the internet were not enough to kill universities, then the determination of successive British governments to send every feckless dolt in the land into tertiary education, regardless of aptitude, has finished the job by necessitating the introduction of fees that will increasingly drive any genuinely bright candidate away from dusty halls full of dunderheads and straight into the workplace."