Page 78 - The Gonzaga Record 1987
P. 78
school, and would provide the Headmaster of the day with valuable
information.
One of the highlights of my final year at Gonzaga was the Sixth Year
retreat. Strangely, for a school directed by Religious, this was only our
second retreat in ten years. This is a great pity because it is a very valuable
experience, in which one learns a great deal about one's friends, but even
more importantly, about oneself. A greater emphasis on retreats, in my
opinion, would not go amiss.
Mark Twain said: "I never let my schooling interfere with my
education:' There is a great deal more to education - the formation of
one's character - than sitting in a class-room learning off a list of
irregular verbs. I believe that Gonzaga excels in the broader interpretation
of education, offering several different opportunities of enlightenment to
its pupils. However, it is very important, in my opinion, that the College
keep in touch with the changing times, and broaden its curriculum to
offer to its students an elementary training in those skills for which there
is a great demand.
Paul Keelan (S.6A)
THOUGHTS ON THE FIFTH YEAR PROJECT
Over the last number of years there has been some debate over the role
and even the morality of a school run by a religious order, serving the
highly-paid and probably the best educated sections of Irish society. That
small storm has abated, but the fluent and enthusiastic defences of the
whole thinking behind Gonzaga which our recent ex-headmaster Fr Noel
Barber SJ made, definitely deserve to be remembered.
However, despite the headmaster's well-considered arguments, which
he spoke of both inside and outside the College, I was never fully
convinced. For one who was then, and still is, caught up in the daily
hum-drum and practical difficulties of being at the receiving-end of
schooling, Fr Barber's quite idealistic statements, which seemed
uncharacteristic from such a down-to-earth person, just didn't seem to
appear to me wholly accurate. It was clear that Fr Barber earnestly felt
the veracity of hi s beliefs, and was obviously not orchestrating some
dastardly campaign of misinformation, but for me personally they
seemed unreflective of the reality.
For example: a segment of his argument went like this: " ... there is
an estrangement, I could be inclined to say a hostility, between those who
have the ability, the initiative and opportunity to gain material wealth
and those who have not this ability or opportunity. There follows on the
one hand, an incapacity to understand the process, or even the need to
76
information.
One of the highlights of my final year at Gonzaga was the Sixth Year
retreat. Strangely, for a school directed by Religious, this was only our
second retreat in ten years. This is a great pity because it is a very valuable
experience, in which one learns a great deal about one's friends, but even
more importantly, about oneself. A greater emphasis on retreats, in my
opinion, would not go amiss.
Mark Twain said: "I never let my schooling interfere with my
education:' There is a great deal more to education - the formation of
one's character - than sitting in a class-room learning off a list of
irregular verbs. I believe that Gonzaga excels in the broader interpretation
of education, offering several different opportunities of enlightenment to
its pupils. However, it is very important, in my opinion, that the College
keep in touch with the changing times, and broaden its curriculum to
offer to its students an elementary training in those skills for which there
is a great demand.
Paul Keelan (S.6A)
THOUGHTS ON THE FIFTH YEAR PROJECT
Over the last number of years there has been some debate over the role
and even the morality of a school run by a religious order, serving the
highly-paid and probably the best educated sections of Irish society. That
small storm has abated, but the fluent and enthusiastic defences of the
whole thinking behind Gonzaga which our recent ex-headmaster Fr Noel
Barber SJ made, definitely deserve to be remembered.
However, despite the headmaster's well-considered arguments, which
he spoke of both inside and outside the College, I was never fully
convinced. For one who was then, and still is, caught up in the daily
hum-drum and practical difficulties of being at the receiving-end of
schooling, Fr Barber's quite idealistic statements, which seemed
uncharacteristic from such a down-to-earth person, just didn't seem to
appear to me wholly accurate. It was clear that Fr Barber earnestly felt
the veracity of hi s beliefs, and was obviously not orchestrating some
dastardly campaign of misinformation, but for me personally they
seemed unreflective of the reality.
For example: a segment of his argument went like this: " ... there is
an estrangement, I could be inclined to say a hostility, between those who
have the ability, the initiative and opportunity to gain material wealth
and those who have not this ability or opportunity. There follows on the
one hand, an incapacity to understand the process, or even the need to
76
