Sir, - The Minister for Education, Ms Bhreatnach, is proposing (April 12th) a unique development in the Irish educational system - a removal from Irish schools of history as a necessary subject, because, she says, there are over 20 subjects for study on the curriculum. Home Economics for one, I suppose, and many more, equally useful.
I am wondering whether Ms Bhreatnach is the first Minister for Education anywhere to make such a proposal. Have children in any other country in the world been encouraged to grow up in ignorance of their own country's history? Are we to be a people without a history henceforth - deracinated with a stroke of a pen by a pioneer minister? Shall we figure in the Guinness Book of Records?
As a result of the possible elimination of Irish history from the schools (such a difficult subject - dates, dates, so depressing and what use is it anyway?) the adjuncts of history may also safely be relegated to positions of no importance: high crosses and round towers; street monuments of 98 croppies in Wexford (what wad 98); artefacts in the museums; Famine records and the like; Irish music and songs; heroes of Old from Cu Chulainn on up; and, lets face it, that useless lime consuming piece of baggage in the Ireland now envisaged, the Irish language. All can be sidelined as irritating reminders of a past of no importance in modern Ireland.
What if it does have the effect of making coming generations strangers in their own country? There are after all more than 20 subjects on the curriculum to be considered.
It may seem like a difficult task for the Minister to make a success of her history eradication scheme but, given the support of her colleagues in government (some of whom already seem to find Irish history an awkward subject to deal with) not one that cannot be dealt with successfully. For instance, Irish history as a subject might be further down graded by substantially reducing the marks allotted to the subject in examinations which would teach a lesson to recalcitrant students who insist on studying history in lieu of the more than 20 more useful subjects. Why not learn to boil an egg instead? - Yours, etc.,
Priory Avenue,
Blackrock,
Co Dublin.