Blair Collection > Gaelic journal > Volume 1, number 1

THE GAELIC JOURNAL.
229
often very intelligent themselves), who con-
scqtieutly grozv up dull and stiipid, if they
have been suffered to lose the Irish language,
or to drop out of the constant practice of it."
{b). The present Resident Commissioner
for National Education, Ireland, Sir Patrick
Keenan, C.B., K.C.M.G., wrote as follows,
several years ago. (See Twenty-second
Annual Report of the Irish National Edu-
cation Commissioners, p. 75.)
" The shrewdest people in the world are
those who are bilingual ; borderers have
always been remarkable in this respect. But
the most stupid cJiildreii I have ever met luith
are those who -were learning English whilst
endeavouring to forget Irish. It is hard to
conceive any more difficult school exercise
than to begin o\iv first alphabet, andT?;-^^'
syllabification, and first attempt at reading,
in a language of which we know nothing,
and all this without the means of reference
to, or comparison with, a word of our mother-
tongue. Yet this is the ordeal Irish-speaking
children have to pass through, and the
natural result is that the English which they
acquire is very imperfect. The real policy
of the educationist would, in my opinion,
be to teach Irish grammatically and soundh^
to the Irish-speaking people, and then to
teach them English through the medium
of their native language.
" My experience last year of the schools
of the county of Donegal (see Legoniel in
the Appendix), a county in which 27'8 per
cent, of the people speak Irish, led me to
reflect very much on this important question.
I have already stated in substance the con-
clusions at which I arrived, but for con-
venience sake I beg to repeat them. I am
convinced —
" I St. That the Irish-speaking people ought
to be taught the Irish language grammati-
cally ; and that school-books in Irish should
be prepared for the purpose.
" 2nd. That English should be taught to
all Irish-speaking children through the
medium of the Irish.
" 3rd. That if this system be pursued, the
people %uill be very soon better educated tliaii
they are Jiow, or possibly can be for many
generations, upon the present system ; and
"4th. That the English language \\\\\, in
a short time, be more generally and purely
spoken than it can be by the present system
for many generations."
Very lately this same high authority.
Sir Patrick Keenan, C.B.. K.C.M.G., in
his " Report upon the Educational System
of Malta, presented to both Houses of Par-
liament, etc., August, 1880," writes forcibly
on the proper method of teaching English
to Maltese children, who do not speak or
understand it, and his chief statements
would apply perfectly to the case now in
question, if the word Irish were substituted
for IMaltese. The following extract from
his Report is specially to the point.
" Nor would the expedient of leaving the
people in ignorance, i.e., of leaving them as
at present is, to a vast extent, the case,
incapable of reading a book in Alaltese,
whilst unable to acquire sufficient ability to
read one in English or Italian, accomplish
the desire of those who sigh for the obliter-
ation of the Maltese. Such a course woiild
simply mean that the people are to get no
chance, much less choice, of acquiring a
knowledge either of their mvn or of any
other language. In the interest of those
who long for the extinction of the Maltese,
even were I to be found in sympathy with
them, / could advise the adoption of no
other course than that of first teaching- the
Maltese, and tlien, through its medium, the
language which, in the long run, may be
destined to supplant it." — p. 91.
Yet the National Education Board
IN Ireland insists still on Children,
EVEN in the exclusively Irish-speak-
ing dlstricts, learning everything in
English. How long will this con-
tinue?
MEMORANDUÄT No. 3,
ON THE SCIENTIFIC TRAINING
OF CELTIC SCHOLARS.
It has been hitherto a reproach to us, as
a nation, that though in our country there
are to be found such numbers of Irish-
speaking persons, nevertheless the scientific