Page 61 - Gonzaga at 60
P. 61
I went to school down the road, the local school. Didn’t everyone? It seemed natural that I would.
As was the case in 1955 I had no say in the choice of my school. I do remember meeing Charlie
O’Connor SJ for the irst ime some months before going to Gonzaga. I thought it was a bit odd,
answering quesions and wriing some stuf in what turned out to be the entrance test, but you
said nothing and got on with it. What I didn’t know was that my parents had not alone chosen
the school very carefully for me but had made eforts to get me in to this newly established and
slightly unusual school. I did know that it cost them quite a bit of money to have me there.
“Had I any right to be there?” is something I have thought about, paricularly as I criicise
the enire system of educaion that Gonzaga both ofers and stands for. It was and is, a private,
selecive, exclusive, fee paying, religious denominaional, single sex school – all of the features
of a school that I condemn both personally and professionally. I do this as General Secretary of
an organisaion that believes that for the good of society, educaion should be free at the point
of access, publicly accountable, non-selecive on any basis be that religious, social class, ability to
pay, intellectual ability or sex. I believe that schools should seek to mirror the totality of society
through their enrolment policies.
I conclude that I had no right to be in a privileged educaional environment because I had no
more right to privilege than anyone else, but I also believe I had a right to the level of educaion
that was being provided to me. This right came from my membership of Irish society; a society
that claimed to be commited to cherishing equally all of the children of the Naion; one that
aspired to equality of access to educaion. I was very lucky to be in Gonzaga and very grateful to
my parents for the choice they made on my behalf and the eforts they made to get me into the
school and keep me there. However, all of the children of the naion had then, and have now,
a right to the best educaion that we as a naion could provide for them. This right in society
is more clearly stated today. The Educaion Act of 1998 sets as one of its objects “to promote
equality of access to and paricipaion in educaion and to promote the means whereby students
may beneit from educaion”. Even though this is enshrined in relaively new legislaion it is not
put into pracice now any more that it was when I was in Gonzaga.
As was the case in 1955 I had no say in the choice of my school. I do remember meeing Charlie
O’Connor SJ for the irst ime some months before going to Gonzaga. I thought it was a bit odd,
answering quesions and wriing some stuf in what turned out to be the entrance test, but you
said nothing and got on with it. What I didn’t know was that my parents had not alone chosen
the school very carefully for me but had made eforts to get me in to this newly established and
slightly unusual school. I did know that it cost them quite a bit of money to have me there.
“Had I any right to be there?” is something I have thought about, paricularly as I criicise
the enire system of educaion that Gonzaga both ofers and stands for. It was and is, a private,
selecive, exclusive, fee paying, religious denominaional, single sex school – all of the features
of a school that I condemn both personally and professionally. I do this as General Secretary of
an organisaion that believes that for the good of society, educaion should be free at the point
of access, publicly accountable, non-selecive on any basis be that religious, social class, ability to
pay, intellectual ability or sex. I believe that schools should seek to mirror the totality of society
through their enrolment policies.
I conclude that I had no right to be in a privileged educaional environment because I had no
more right to privilege than anyone else, but I also believe I had a right to the level of educaion
that was being provided to me. This right came from my membership of Irish society; a society
that claimed to be commited to cherishing equally all of the children of the Naion; one that
aspired to equality of access to educaion. I was very lucky to be in Gonzaga and very grateful to
my parents for the choice they made on my behalf and the eforts they made to get me into the
school and keep me there. However, all of the children of the naion had then, and have now,
a right to the best educaion that we as a naion could provide for them. This right in society
is more clearly stated today. The Educaion Act of 1998 sets as one of its objects “to promote
equality of access to and paricipaion in educaion and to promote the means whereby students
may beneit from educaion”. Even though this is enshrined in relaively new legislaion it is not
put into pracice now any more that it was when I was in Gonzaga.
