Page 10 - The Gonzaga Record 1986
P. 10
with building and staffing problems. But there was no easy way of man-
aging the transformation. Inevitably the school was driven to the solution
of pre-fah buildings. As we have seen already these are unsatisfactory,
and usually unsightly; in winter you often have to choose between
warmth and no ventilation, or ventilation and no warmth.
In spite of difficulties Fr Delaney went ahead. Pre-fabs sprouted all
around the area at the back of the school chapel. Even the stage in the
theatre was cordoned off as a class-room. It began to feel that suddenly
small boys were swarming all over the place.
What were the pressures on Fr Delaney which motivated his decision
to double the size of the school? As already mentioned, for years there
was the severe pressure of a long waiting list of applicants for entrance.
One of the hardest parts of the job of the Prefect of Studies was
informing parents that their son was not among the small number of new
students. (The yearly intake was only one class, or about thirty pupils).
And of course, no matter how hard he tried, few disappointed parents
were persuaded of the objectivity of the Prefect of Studies. This pressure
for expansion was always there, but there was another and graver reason
for calling into question the viability of a single stream school. To under-
stand this we must look at the developments in third level education in
the 1960s and 1970s. ยท
The Changing Third Level Scene
In the 1960s there was a rising tide of affluence in Ireland. Those who
grew up in pre-1960s remember the poverty and constraints of those
years. What today would be regarded as a quite ordinary quality of life
would in those lean years have been the privileged of only a small propor-
tion of the population. If one wants a proof of this, one need only
examine the changes in third level education. In previous times it had
never been difficult to qualify for entrance into the universities. A pass
Leaving Certificate or a 40 per cent Matriculation result would get you
in, provided, of course, your parents could pay the fees, and if you were
from the country, support you in Dublin, Cork, or Galway. There were
indeed some scholarships; county council, and various others. But these
were awarded only to a few hundred clever and hard-working students at
most. The universities were under no pressure since so few could afford
to go.
But suddenly, in only a decade there was a rise of thousands of appli-
cants. No doubt some of this was due to the introduction of 'free' second-
ary education. But that in itself would not have made much difference
if there had not been a general rise of affluence in the country. What
brought about this new affluence? Well first, the tide was rising all over
Europe. The billions of dollars poured into war-devasted Europe by the
Marshal Aid programme of the United States were having a profound
effect. In Ireland itself, Ken Whitaker's Policy for Economic Expansion
8
aging the transformation. Inevitably the school was driven to the solution
of pre-fah buildings. As we have seen already these are unsatisfactory,
and usually unsightly; in winter you often have to choose between
warmth and no ventilation, or ventilation and no warmth.
In spite of difficulties Fr Delaney went ahead. Pre-fabs sprouted all
around the area at the back of the school chapel. Even the stage in the
theatre was cordoned off as a class-room. It began to feel that suddenly
small boys were swarming all over the place.
What were the pressures on Fr Delaney which motivated his decision
to double the size of the school? As already mentioned, for years there
was the severe pressure of a long waiting list of applicants for entrance.
One of the hardest parts of the job of the Prefect of Studies was
informing parents that their son was not among the small number of new
students. (The yearly intake was only one class, or about thirty pupils).
And of course, no matter how hard he tried, few disappointed parents
were persuaded of the objectivity of the Prefect of Studies. This pressure
for expansion was always there, but there was another and graver reason
for calling into question the viability of a single stream school. To under-
stand this we must look at the developments in third level education in
the 1960s and 1970s. ยท
The Changing Third Level Scene
In the 1960s there was a rising tide of affluence in Ireland. Those who
grew up in pre-1960s remember the poverty and constraints of those
years. What today would be regarded as a quite ordinary quality of life
would in those lean years have been the privileged of only a small propor-
tion of the population. If one wants a proof of this, one need only
examine the changes in third level education. In previous times it had
never been difficult to qualify for entrance into the universities. A pass
Leaving Certificate or a 40 per cent Matriculation result would get you
in, provided, of course, your parents could pay the fees, and if you were
from the country, support you in Dublin, Cork, or Galway. There were
indeed some scholarships; county council, and various others. But these
were awarded only to a few hundred clever and hard-working students at
most. The universities were under no pressure since so few could afford
to go.
But suddenly, in only a decade there was a rise of thousands of appli-
cants. No doubt some of this was due to the introduction of 'free' second-
ary education. But that in itself would not have made much difference
if there had not been a general rise of affluence in the country. What
brought about this new affluence? Well first, the tide was rising all over
Europe. The billions of dollars poured into war-devasted Europe by the
Marshal Aid programme of the United States were having a profound
effect. In Ireland itself, Ken Whitaker's Policy for Economic Expansion
8
