Sir, - So the silence of our elected representatives on the contribution of the Presentation and Christian Brothers to Irish education is deafening (letters, October 29th)? Will their bellow soothe the lifelong hurt and pain that young boys have suffered at the hands of these Christian men? Enough of this pious nonsense. The educational regime that these men operated in the 1950s was by any standards a brutal one.
Consider the implements that they used to inflict their corporal punishment: the cane, the leather, the wooden side of the duster, the branch of a tree, the leg of a chair. Along with these weapons went absolute and unquestioned authority; the mixture was lethal. A young boy could be subjected to what could only be described as a frenzied attack by one of these Christian men for the slight offence of inattention.
In my schooldays, a classroom was sometimes shared by two separate classes and divided by a curtain that did not adequately act as a screen. It was difficult not to let your attention wander towards the opposite class, which was visible. The consequences were devastating for the young pupil a public lashing with a cane of at least 14 successive strokes, which was repeated again and again when the perspiring perpetrator had regained his breath. I can still smell the odour oozing from his black soutane. The physical scars were obvious enough, but what of the emotional and psychological scars?
Let no one believe that corporal punishment is confined to the body. The wounds inflicted penetrate far deeper, and are usually more lasting. In the climate of the 1950s, sadly, there was no listening post for this type of physical abuse, and therefore no recognition either of the emotional pain and hurt suffered. Unchecked, the pupil's very dignity and worth as a human being could only have been steadily undermined. Think again, therefore, before the ill considered cliche is uttered that any boy should deserve corporal punishment.
In answer to your correspondent mentioned above, I have never seen any of the lay teachers where I attended school administer this type of abuse. Neither, to be fair, did every Christian Brother. But they were aware of the brutal regime, and kept silent for whatever reason. By all means state the contribution of the Presentation and Christian Brothers to Irish education, but state the whole picture. Hagiography, however well intentioned, does not usually serve the truth. - Yours, etc.,
Suir Road, Kilmainham, Dublin 8.