Page 78 - The Gonzaga Record 1988
P. 78
refuse at his discretion, to give way and permit a formal statement to be
made, or a question asked, from the floor. We agreed with quiet
condescension and a feeling of inner triumph.
Fr Lee arrived at around the same time as Fr Veale. He became one
of the pillars of Gonzaga, in the field of Science, serving as a teacher for
almost as long as Fr Keane until his departure this year. Soon after Fe
Lee's arrival the time came to choose between Science and Greek. I chose
Greek and he only taught me very briefly. Strangely, Fr Keane did not
become my Greek master until Sixth Year, when he scored the first of his
long series of Classical scholarship successes with Tim Webb and Francis
Byrne. Before that, Fr Paddy Meagher had brought Classical Greek
History, with its lessons and parallels for every age, vividly to life. I have
never regretted the choice.
The diaries I kept in my last few years at school give the impression
of an orderly, undisturbed existence. A great amount of my time was
devoted to rugby, soccer and cricket. The College grounds, facilities and
games equipment were available to the pupils all year round, including
the school holidays. My father, who lived in Rathgar as a schoolboy and
had not only to make the journey to and from Belvedere, but had also
to attend rugby practice throughout the season at Jones' Road, often
before class in the mornings, used to remind me how fortunate I was. In
this and other respects, life at Gonzaga was undoubtedly somewhat
cosseted. I sometimes wonder whether it might not have been better to
have had to struggle a little more and to have put up with more of life's
discomforts while still at school.
In a small school the pupils naturally get to know each other better
than they otherwise would. Furthermore, Fr Lee in the second part of his
History (Gonzaga Record, 1986) refers to the fact that even as late as
1972, when the number of pupils at Gonzaga had greatly increased since
my time, over sixty per cent of them lived within a mile of the School.
Besides living close to each other, most of them came from comfortable
middle-class homes. By contrast, Belvedere has always been regarded as
having a much wider cross-section of Dublin society among its pupils. I
recall the anger with which I would react when at school to any
suggestion of social elitism on the part of Gonzaga. Undoubtedly, this
feeling, which existed in some quarters outside the School, greatly
exaggerated any reality on which it was based. It may partly have been
due to the bitterness with which some parents were said to have reacted
when their sons, for reasons that were entirely fair, were not accepted as
pupils. And it is an Irish trait to seek to drag down that which rises above
the average. But looking back, it is not easy to dismiss the feeling as
entirely without foundation. The Jesuits, it should be said, never sought
to encourage a sense of social cachet among the pupils; insofar as the
matter was touched on, I believe that the contrary was the case. Perhaps,
given the size and location of the School, the situation could not have
been avoided.
76
made, or a question asked, from the floor. We agreed with quiet
condescension and a feeling of inner triumph.
Fr Lee arrived at around the same time as Fr Veale. He became one
of the pillars of Gonzaga, in the field of Science, serving as a teacher for
almost as long as Fr Keane until his departure this year. Soon after Fe
Lee's arrival the time came to choose between Science and Greek. I chose
Greek and he only taught me very briefly. Strangely, Fr Keane did not
become my Greek master until Sixth Year, when he scored the first of his
long series of Classical scholarship successes with Tim Webb and Francis
Byrne. Before that, Fr Paddy Meagher had brought Classical Greek
History, with its lessons and parallels for every age, vividly to life. I have
never regretted the choice.
The diaries I kept in my last few years at school give the impression
of an orderly, undisturbed existence. A great amount of my time was
devoted to rugby, soccer and cricket. The College grounds, facilities and
games equipment were available to the pupils all year round, including
the school holidays. My father, who lived in Rathgar as a schoolboy and
had not only to make the journey to and from Belvedere, but had also
to attend rugby practice throughout the season at Jones' Road, often
before class in the mornings, used to remind me how fortunate I was. In
this and other respects, life at Gonzaga was undoubtedly somewhat
cosseted. I sometimes wonder whether it might not have been better to
have had to struggle a little more and to have put up with more of life's
discomforts while still at school.
In a small school the pupils naturally get to know each other better
than they otherwise would. Furthermore, Fr Lee in the second part of his
History (Gonzaga Record, 1986) refers to the fact that even as late as
1972, when the number of pupils at Gonzaga had greatly increased since
my time, over sixty per cent of them lived within a mile of the School.
Besides living close to each other, most of them came from comfortable
middle-class homes. By contrast, Belvedere has always been regarded as
having a much wider cross-section of Dublin society among its pupils. I
recall the anger with which I would react when at school to any
suggestion of social elitism on the part of Gonzaga. Undoubtedly, this
feeling, which existed in some quarters outside the School, greatly
exaggerated any reality on which it was based. It may partly have been
due to the bitterness with which some parents were said to have reacted
when their sons, for reasons that were entirely fair, were not accepted as
pupils. And it is an Irish trait to seek to drag down that which rises above
the average. But looking back, it is not easy to dismiss the feeling as
entirely without foundation. The Jesuits, it should be said, never sought
to encourage a sense of social cachet among the pupils; insofar as the
matter was touched on, I believe that the contrary was the case. Perhaps,
given the size and location of the School, the situation could not have
been avoided.
76
