Chrissie Johnston

16 June 2010

 Educating the Irish (Part 1)

The assertion that the Scots-Irish immigrants were more concerned with family honor, common-sense tradition, and working hard in Objective One looks to be true from my point of view. I’m part Irish and our family values are similar to those of the Scots-Irish.  When I look at the members of my family (parents, my brother, aunts, uncles, and cousins) less than ten of us have taken college classes. In fact only five of us actually hold a bachelors’ degree. This led me to wonder why that is. Over 98% of my family members are gainfully employed and have been since the age of 16. My dad has even had a job since he was 11. Why do so few of use have a complete college education if the majority of us are willing to work hard for what we want? Why have and/or do the Irish put so little emphasis on education?

            The history of Ireland is fraught with hostile invasions and a famine of biblical proportions. This has a lot to do with the education system of the country. Education in Ireland started out being provided through church back schools. St. Patrick, one of Ireland’s most famous icons, is said to have tried to convert the Irish to Catholicism, and during the 6^th century he established many monasteries. Later during the 1500s a protestant invasion occurred, and they brought with them schools backed by the Crown of England.  Both religions fought for domination in the country and this created problems for the education and political systems. The poor children suffered because of this. These children would have made up a majority of the population, and since they couldn’t afford an education, they worked to help their struggling families. These children and their parents were the ones that immigrated to America. Irish immigrants were over half of the new arrivals in the 1840s.

            If the Irish had a hard time getting an education before they left their country, why didn’t things improve in the “Land of the Free”?  The Irish were mostly farmers, but when they got here they had no skills, so things didn’t improve as easily they might have. They lived in deplorable conditions. Many of them were also Catholic and faced discrimination because of their faith. The Irish had to continue a fight that started across an ocean, and I believe this is what led to their lack of education. They had to work long hours and many had to move around a great deal to maintain a job. Many Irish immigrants worked on the construction of roads, bridges, railroads, etc. In order to build these things it is possible they had to uproot their family in order to go to the next available job. Children even went to work in places such as coal mines in order to help their family survive. These circumstances must have made it hard to focus on education.

            If the Irish had to work long hours in horrible conditions and had to live in the same, were prosecuted because of their faith, and had to move around many times, when would they have had the opportunity to go to school? A majority of every house hold had to work just to provide necessities. My dad and all of his siblings had jobs before they age of 13 to help the family, and they grew up in the 1960s. He said that if the law hadn’t of required him to be in school, he isn’t sure he would of finished high school. As it is, he is 51 and just now able to finish his bachelor degree. Things had to of been much worse of the immigrant families in the 1800s.  

Works Cited

Kenny, Kevin. Irish Immigrants in the United States. America.gov – Engaging the World. 13 February 2008. Web. 14 June 2010.

The America Immigration Law Foundation. The Making of Melting Pot: Irish Immigration to America from 1700 to the early 1800s. Web. www.ilw.com/articles/2001, 0817-AILF.shtm. 14 June 2010 www.education.stateuniversity.com/pages/693/Ireland-History-Background.html. Web 14 June 2010

www.education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2077/Immigrant-Education.html Web 14 June 2010