Page 12 - The Gonzaga Record 1985
P. 12
Making the decision
On that August morning in 194 7 the talking had eventually to stop, and a
decision to be made. Who were there? Fr Thomas Byrne, SJ was Provincial, and
the responsibility for the decision would ultimately be his. But he would hardly go
against the majority opinion of his Consultors. At the time, these were:
Fr John Coyne, SJ, Assistant to the Provincial;
Fr William Dargan, SJ, Rector of the College at Galway.
Fr Michael O'Grady, SJ, Rector of Milltown Park;
Fr Francis Shaw SJ, Superior of the iesuit house in Leeson Street.
The first decision was whether in principle to start a new College for day pupils
on the south side of Dublin. Where it would be situated, and how it would be
financed were decisions that would have to await much investigation. The minutes
of the meeting do not record whether it was an unanimous decision. Given the
good reasons that could be advanced against the proposition that seems unlikely.
In the end, of course, the Provincial's decision carried the day. It was agreed that
there should be a new College. Everything else about it was left to further
investigation.
It is not being over fanciful to reflect that the decision that morning would affect
many people's lives. After all, the verdict might quite reasonably have gone the
other way. One's schooling is a large, formative element in one's life: the friends we
make for life; the interests we develop; maybe a profound influence that really
forms our future. No doubt, if Gonzaga had never been founded the boys would
have gone elsewhere. But different arrangements would have entailed different
people, different influences, different destinies, probably.
Type of school envisaged
What sort of school was being founded? Here, a really courageous decision was
taken. Tribute should be paid at this point to the vision and idealism of Fr Thomas
Byrne. For he had a vision of something different; an ideal to strive for. It is very
possible that it was the attraction of that vision that induced him to push so hard
for the new school, when so many sensible reasons were against it. It is difficult to
spell out a vision in detail. It is something felt and sensed rather than a hard outline.
It might be that hard realities would force modifications, and no one can see into
the future. What he wanted for the new Jesuit school can be broadly indicated
along the following lines.
Many people were unhappy with the realities of secondary education in the
country. The Department of Education had a tremendous influence on what went
on in schools. It drew up the syllabus for the public examinations; it set the
examinations; it issued the certificates; it had great control over the schools in its
inspectors; it paid the salaries of those who could get a salary. It is not that this
was a wicked system. In many ways it was a fair system in that it ensured certain
minimum standards. Its defect was that there was little freedom in it. Above all , it
led to much pseudo-education. Hard-working teachers prepared ideal answers to
certain types of recurrent questions; poly-copied them; saw to it that the pupils
learned the material by heart; and then hoped for the best.
It would be grossly unfair, and too easy, to caricature this system. If you are
locked into a controlled system, and your pupils need those certificates, then you
4
On that August morning in 194 7 the talking had eventually to stop, and a
decision to be made. Who were there? Fr Thomas Byrne, SJ was Provincial, and
the responsibility for the decision would ultimately be his. But he would hardly go
against the majority opinion of his Consultors. At the time, these were:
Fr John Coyne, SJ, Assistant to the Provincial;
Fr William Dargan, SJ, Rector of the College at Galway.
Fr Michael O'Grady, SJ, Rector of Milltown Park;
Fr Francis Shaw SJ, Superior of the iesuit house in Leeson Street.
The first decision was whether in principle to start a new College for day pupils
on the south side of Dublin. Where it would be situated, and how it would be
financed were decisions that would have to await much investigation. The minutes
of the meeting do not record whether it was an unanimous decision. Given the
good reasons that could be advanced against the proposition that seems unlikely.
In the end, of course, the Provincial's decision carried the day. It was agreed that
there should be a new College. Everything else about it was left to further
investigation.
It is not being over fanciful to reflect that the decision that morning would affect
many people's lives. After all, the verdict might quite reasonably have gone the
other way. One's schooling is a large, formative element in one's life: the friends we
make for life; the interests we develop; maybe a profound influence that really
forms our future. No doubt, if Gonzaga had never been founded the boys would
have gone elsewhere. But different arrangements would have entailed different
people, different influences, different destinies, probably.
Type of school envisaged
What sort of school was being founded? Here, a really courageous decision was
taken. Tribute should be paid at this point to the vision and idealism of Fr Thomas
Byrne. For he had a vision of something different; an ideal to strive for. It is very
possible that it was the attraction of that vision that induced him to push so hard
for the new school, when so many sensible reasons were against it. It is difficult to
spell out a vision in detail. It is something felt and sensed rather than a hard outline.
It might be that hard realities would force modifications, and no one can see into
the future. What he wanted for the new Jesuit school can be broadly indicated
along the following lines.
Many people were unhappy with the realities of secondary education in the
country. The Department of Education had a tremendous influence on what went
on in schools. It drew up the syllabus for the public examinations; it set the
examinations; it issued the certificates; it had great control over the schools in its
inspectors; it paid the salaries of those who could get a salary. It is not that this
was a wicked system. In many ways it was a fair system in that it ensured certain
minimum standards. Its defect was that there was little freedom in it. Above all , it
led to much pseudo-education. Hard-working teachers prepared ideal answers to
certain types of recurrent questions; poly-copied them; saw to it that the pupils
learned the material by heart; and then hoped for the best.
It would be grossly unfair, and too easy, to caricature this system. If you are
locked into a controlled system, and your pupils need those certificates, then you
4
