Ireland (3 Viewers)

[magicbastarder]

Depends on the boarding school too. Lots of kids from broken homes, or with negligent parents offloaded their kids in boarding schools too.

will spare you the full story, but about five years ago there was a letter delivered here addressed to someone who hadn't lived here since at least the late 80s, from that boarding school in roscrea.
turns out an uncle had sent him to boarding school to get him away from his own father - and similar happened in our school, a chap turned up on the first day of second year, as a boarder; he claimed the family had 7 rottweilers and that'd he'd gotten it tussling with them. we knew that sounded like horseshit, but it was only a couple of years later it was confirmed.

 

[nuke terrorist]

Depends on the boarding school too. Lots of kids from broken homes, or with negligent parents offloaded their kids in boarding schools too.

Interesting convo about the fee-paying schools. I went to the local secondary school in Templeogue. When I was in first year, the school was in its 5th year of existence, so the first leaving-certers were doing their exams. That was in 1986. Over the next couple of years the area started to evolve from somewhere that country folk in Dublin bought their first house, to somewhere closer to the upper end of middle-class.

There weren't enough kids in our area to fill the school (there was another secondary school in Templeogue too), so kids came from Tallaght, Terenure, even Blessington, to make up the numbers. Anyway, purely by virtue of the type of area it was, and the relatively comfortable backgrounds of the kids, it became a high-performing school with around 70% of each leaving cert year going onto third level. That compared with our closest school in Tallaght (about 2 miles away) which would have around 30%.

Maybe fee-paying schools yield better results overall, but the type of area a school is in has a lot to do with it too

Having a stable happy, safe childhood and of course doing yer best are the main factors.
The teachers and especially the school are minor factors in my experience.

My pal at my tech school parents were both graduates - very unusual in my circles.
All of that big family are graduates now. One is a doctor and another is an academic. They achieved this through their own hard work and having a fairly liberal, good loving family at home.

Another pal of mine is on disability like me. His folks are regular workaholic farmers but his siblings are two doctors, a vet and a barrister.

No expensive secondary school required.

 

[Unicron]

Having a stable happy, safe childhood and of course doing yer best are the main factors.
The teachers and especially the school are minor factors in my experience.

My pal at my tech school parents were both graduates - very unusual in my circles.
All of that big family are graduates now. One is a doctor and another is an academic. They achieved this through their own hard work and having a fairly liberal, good loving family at home.

Another pal of mine is on disability like me. His folks are regular workaholic farmers but his siblings are two doctors, a vet and a barrister.

No expensive secondary school required.

"Culture" of the school or of the family are important factors I think. People tend towards what is normal or expected or encouraged, being a rich or posh kid doesn't make a kid smarter, but they will likely be in an environment where they consider higher education an option.

In my school we had about 20 kids in my class who went to Trinity, there were always kids who went to Trinity from my school, if you were book-smart and worked hard it was expected that this was a possibility for you. In my class once I got there was was a lad from Tallaght who was the only person from his school to go there, ever.

 

[Deadmanposting]

Unless you want to be a rugby player I fail to see any point in fee paying schools. Every kid has to do the same exams.

There's way more to school than exams

I still think about and remember the stories and poems and tons of stuff we were taught in school

It's almost impossible to overstate the importance of a good education
I'd send my fictional kids to one of these posho schools with my fictional money

 

[egg_]

it's almost impossible to overstate the importance of a good education

I agree a little bit, but I don't think paying fees for school necessarily increases the chance your child will get that. AFAICS the most important factor by far in education is individual teachers

 

[JohnnyRaz]

There's way more to school than exams

I still think about and remember the stories and poems and tons of stuff we were taught in school

It's almost impossible to overstate the importance of a good education
I'd send my fictional kids to one of these posho schools with my fictional money

the most important lessons I learned in school had nothing to do with the curriculum tbh, for better or worse.

 

[Cormcolash]

Are you a midlander?

 

[magicbastarder]

no fucking way did i get a better academic education going to a private school than i would have gotten going to the local community school (which to be fair, had a good reputation on that front, coolmine)
some of the teachers i had were shit. down the road, in mountsackville, about five years ago my cousin's daughter was telling us (before covid) that in their maths teacher - in their leaving cert year - was a PE teacher who'd been drafted in to cover the role, and was not really capable of teaching it.

 

[ernesto]

no fucking way did i get a better academic education going to a private school than i would have gotten going to the local community school (which to be fair, had a good reputation on that front, coolmine)
some of the teachers i had were shit. down the road, in mountsackville, about five years ago my cousin's daughter was telling us (before covid) that in their maths teacher - in their leaving cert year - was a PE teacher who'd been drafted in to cover the role, and was not really capable of teaching it.

Haha... sackville

 

[nuke terrorist]

There's way more to school than exams

I still think about and remember the stories and poems and tons of stuff we were taught in school

It's almost impossible to overstate the importance of a good education
I'd send my fictional kids to one of these posho schools with my fictional money.

under the Irish education system, at secondary school everyone studies the same curriculum.

maybe I missed the point but between by folks and my generation things went from Inter Cert education being the end for most (60s) to university being accessible to a large minority (early 90s).

As I said before, in my area the biggest impediment for a bogger kid going away to university now is the COST OF ACCOMODATION.
more kids went to college in Dublin in past generations than now and Limerick less than 40 miles away by bus is as far away as most kids can manage now.

I saw a bus leave Nenagh for Limerick (30 miles away?) one morning this autumn with 50 odd students who were on all commuter tickets to the university (I couldn't get on!)
unless you've got serious money behind you, boggers probably have to forget going to Dublin or any of the main universities now.

at school all I wanted was the respect adults expected to be reciprocated to kids. they offered me no future I was interested in. I learned far more reading encyclopedia at home than I did in secondary school.
being played a tape compilation of experimental electronic music in a music class in first year was the only interesting cultural experience I can think of at school.

EDIT:
PS - I don't much place emphasis on individual teachers. Kids have to do their own work not the teachers
who are there largely to make sure the kids are doing their work in my experience.

 

[Deadmanposting]

EDIT:
PS - I don't much place emphasis on individual teachers.

I think this is what rings for me
We had awesome teachers. Our English teacher had a doctorate.
Our maths teacher was a novelist.
They knew their shit top to bottom and gave a crap.
It was the 80s, there were fuck all other jobs and teaching was a steady gig.
We had some absolutely loony nutbags too; sad and violent alcoholics.
And dudes that wanted to rape us, but by and large, a very solid crew.

 

[pete]

I think this is what rings for me
We had awesome teachers. Our English teacher had a doctorate.
Our maths teacher was a novelist.
They knew their shit top to bottom and gave a crap.
It was the 80s, there were fuck all other jobs and teaching was a steady gig.
We had some absolutely loony nutbags too; sad and violent alcoholics.
And dudes that wanted to rape us, but by and large, a very solid crew.

View attachment 17934

that looks like a garrison tv show to me

 

[nuke terrorist]

I think this is what rings for me
We had awesome teachers. Our English teacher had a doctorate.
Our maths teacher was a novelist.

Did they do the exams for you?!

Pretty much said all I have to say on this -
My life was shit until I was 19 and it didn't have to be.
I am a privileged person now - I didn't have shit as kid compared to what I have now.

 

[Deadmanposting]

that looks like a garrison tv show to me

Yeah, that shit was everywhere. Even then.

English TV was cool. Irish TV was hokey. Broadly speaking.
So we were drawn to it. Same with almost everything English.

Trying to draw a connection between this and why we can't speak our own language. Probably imagining it.

 

[nuke terrorist]

I love this stuff!

Over 6,000 to become Irish citizens at ceremonies

More than 6,000 people will celebrate becoming new Irish citizens at ceremonies in Dublin over the next two days.

www.rte.ie

I take being Irish for granted but these awesome folks from all over the world love this place and say such lovely stuff about us that they want to become more Irish than the Irish.
New Irish folks are awesome!

 

[Deadmanposting]

Did they do the exams for you?!

I'll take the 5th on that


But I can still recite No Second Troy by heart and the what-piece-of-work-is-a-man because this guy taught them to me

https://www.waterstones.com/author/gerard-brockie/699590

SHout out to Dr. Gerard Brockie

 

[Cormcolash]

I love this stuff!

Over 6,000 to become Irish citizens at ceremonies

More than 6,000 people will celebrate becoming new Irish citizens at ceremonies in Dublin over the next two days.

www.rte.ie

I take being Irish for granted but these awesome folks from all over the world love this place and say such lovely stuff about us that they want to become more Irish than the Irish.
New Irish folks are awesome!

Yeah, but where are they REALLY from

 

[pete]

Yeah, that shit was everywhere. Even then.

English TV was cool. Irish TV was hokey. Broadly speaking.
So we were drawn to it. Same with almost everything English.

Trying to draw a connection between this and why we can't speak our own language. Probably imagining it.

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[nuke terrorist]

Yeah, but where are they REALLY from

from near the Healy Raes and Mattie McGrath but they are much easier to understand

 

[nuke terrorist]

I'll take the 5th on that


But I can still recite No Second Troy by heart and the what-piece-of-work-is-a-man because this guy taught them to me

https://www.waterstones.com/author/gerard-brockie/699590

SHout out to Dr. Gerard Brockie

No Second Troy? Was that about Sean MacBride's mam who rebuffed Yeats and then later he asked Maud's daughter to marry him?
Could be wrong can't remember at this stage.