Sir, - I hope that I do not do Bruce Bradley SJ a disservice by summarising what he says (March 27th) as follows keep the education service under the control of the major religious, especially that of the Catholic Church and everything will be fine. He is utterly mistaken.
In relation to the subject matter addressed, he sees two conflicting philosophic positions religious and secularist. Again, he is utterly mistaken. The conflicting philosophic positions relating to education are those that espouse indoctrination of children and those that do not. Both the secularist and the religious approach are in conflict and he is right to be worried. Secularism is one of his competitors and business is booming. The conflict arises at the political rather than at the intellectual level.
I too believe that religion is a private matter and should not be allowed to interfere in the public domain. Unfortunately, for many centuries this has been allowed to the detriment of church and state and the current Ministers responsible for Education and Law Reform continue to provide the appropriate climate for continued growth.
Please let us have an intellectual approach to the problem of providing a quality education service here and not one based on power and control. In spite of his protestations, Fr. Bradley wishes the status quo to continue with the support of the state. This much is clear. For him a particular ethos is fundamental to education to the secularist a different fundamental principle is invoked. And it may surprise Fr. Bradley to discover that the justification he uses for his particular ethos is no more intellectually coherent or ethically sound than that espoused by his rival.
It is time for all of us to recognise that indoctrination of children is unethical and inimical to authentic education whether this be secularist of otherwise. Yes, the crucial question remains what kind of education do we want to give our children? Our education system is admired by many, I would suggest, solely on the grounds that it provides us with a workforce that is equipped with the rudiments of language, science, mathematic and technology.
It Is my view that the educational environment is enhanced and enriched by bringing together students and teachers from differing cultural backgrounds and belief systems. The Ministers for Education and Law Reform do not share this view for political reasons, with the result that we are once again going to end up with an educational system which does not allow dissenting views in education circles without penalty to the student or to the teacher. As official state educational policy this is a disaster. - Yours, etc.,
Barntick,
Ennis,
Co Clare.