'A wash and shave in cold water always signalled the start of another day'

'A wash and shave in cold water always signalled the start of another day'

Frank remembers going to Socondary School in Mullingar.

Frank Gaynor

Trinity College Dublin

1955

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Frank Gaynor

Adolescence and Early Adulthood

Life Story

Mullingar, Westmeath

1950's

I was one of the lucky few to progress from Johnstown primary school to secondary school. It was only after free secondary education was introduced in the mid - 1960s that secondary schooling became an option for a majority of primary school leavers in Ireland. Up to that point formal education ended at the age of 14 years for most people. I was the first pupil to go from Johnstown school to St Finian's college in Mullingar. Based on my performance in the entrance test, I was admitted as a boarder in September 1955 and placed in the A class. I was identified as a bright student on the basis of my performance in mathematics. It was widely believed that if you were good at maths then you were likely to be good at any other subject. Unfortunately it turned out that I was an exception to this theory. I was good at maths because I liked the subject. I liked the subject because master Lawlor had selected me and Lilly Murtagh for private tuition on Saturday mornings. He cycled from Delvin to Johnstown every Saturday morning for a year to spend a couple of hours teaching us basic algebra. He never asked for or received any remuneration for his generosity. His good work seemed to stay with me for my five years in St Finian's. I was one of only three students in my year to successfully complete the honours maths course at leaving certificate level. I struggled with the other subjects.There was much about St Finian's that I did not like. The natural flow of life in a rural community, that I had enjoyed and felt comfortable with, was replaced by a way of life that was strange, restrictive, narrowly focused and at times unpleasant. There was no contact with the farming world of animals and crops. We were also isolated from the world of females, apart from a couple of youngish ladies who rushed in and out of the kitchen during meal times, and a nun who helped us with flu and other minor ailments. There were no young children around and no old people. On the staff of 12 there were nine priests and three male lay teachers.Among the student body seniority was given more respect than it deserved. This gave second year students the right to make life as unpleasant as they wished for first year students. Interaction with students outside your own year group was not seen as the norm. There was a dean or prefect watching our every move from the early morning bell that told us to get up until the 'lights out' signal told us to be silent for the rest of the night. One night, when we were supposed to be asleep, a few of us were sharing jokes which led to a lot of laughing. Fr. Matt was the dean on duty that night and he heard the laughing. As his over - weight frame waddled into the dormitory, dressed in black soutane and clerical collar, he looked like a huge pelican. I was identified as one of the storytellers and ordered first to stand up, and then he suggested that I sit on the bed so that I would not have so far to fall. Next his huge open hand smashed against my jaw, and for a moment or two I got a glimpse of the entire Milky Way. A wash and shave in cold water always signalled the start of another day. The daily routine became all too predictable and was dominated by classes and study. The longest break was an hour after lunch when there was an opportunity to engage in some sport or walk a couple of times around the grounds. Study was tightly regulated with a particular subject listed for each half - hour of study. Hence, for example, it was an offence to study History when the timetable indicated Latin. If someone farted in a classroom or the study hall that could easily become the main item of conversation for the rest of the dayAfter master Lawlor's friendly, relaxed and encouraging manner in Johnstown, the classroom experience in St Finian's was unfriendly and generally disappointing. There was very little teaching; it was dominated by note - taking and all one way traffic. We were not encouraged to ask questions, there was very little discussion and practically no opportunity for us to express our views on any topic. There were no organised debates during my five years in St Finian's. Any sign of initiative on the part of a student was quickly stamped out. History was all about writing notes that were dictated too fast for comfort. English with one teacher amounted to memorising the next 15 lines of Shakespeare, even when these lines included the end of one act and the beginning of the next. Greek, Latin and Irish were all taught as dead languages with the emphasis on grammar and translation. Religion was the worst taught subject of the lot. No attempt was made to distinguish what was trivial from what was important. At that time people fasted from mid - night before receiving the Eucharist. I recall one entire religion lesson that was spent considering the various ways in which we might or might not break the fast when washing our teeth. There was no external examination in religion, so nobody cared about it. For all other subjects our ability to give back verbatim what we had received during lessons was well tested, with written internal tests at Halloween, Christmas, Shrove, Easter and end of school year. One of the biggest early shocks that I recall occurred during our second or third Greek lesson. Our teacher was a small priest whose facial expression was more of a snarl than a smile. This day, when we were still beginning to come to terms with our unfamiliar surroundings, he proceeded to check us, one by one, to see how well we had memorised the Greek alphabet - alpha, beta, gama, delta and so on. The slightest sign of hesitation was rewarded with an open - hand smack across the cheek or pulling hair above the ear or, for those at the back of the room, banging the head off the heating pipes. Smacking, pulling and banging went on around the room for 30 minutes. No damage was done, there were no lasting wounds and nobody died, but I was upset and frightened. I had never before experienced unnecessary violence like that either at home or in Johnstown. During my first three years in St Finian's the teacher/student relationship was too often unfriendly, and too often I had feelings of fear and apprehension as I entered a classroom. A couple of times I did consider leaving, and on each occasion I thought of my parents. They were both very proud to have a son in St Finian's. I was also aware of the sacrifices they were making to ensure that I could continue there. Also it was gradually dawning on me that a successful passage through St Finian's would be my passport to a life away from Clondaliever. In rural farming Ireland it was understood that the eldest son inherited the farm, the second son got very little and the daughters got nothing. Being the second son there was no future for me in Clondaliever. A good Leaving Certificate from St Finian's could open the door to other worthwhile possibilities. A few bad experiences can colour the memory, but St Finian's was not all pain and hardship for me. I had lots of happy days there outside the classroom. I had very good friends in my class and we laughed our way through many funny incidents. Each year during the week before Christmas St Finian's staged a Gilbert and Sullivan opera. It was one of the highlights on Mullingar's cultural calendar. With the opera in mind, every first year student was subjected to a singing test. When my turn came I opted for 'I love to go a wandering along the mountain track'. Before I got anywhere near the mountain track I heard the words 'Please return to your classroom'. One morning our English teacher started his lesson with the announcement: 'I have news for you; Mell's are doing The Mikado. Can you believe that; Mell's are doing The Mikado?'. St Mell's was a sister college a few miles away in Longford, and apparently our English teacher did not think that St Mell's was capable of reaching the same cultural dizzy heights as St Finian's. Gaelic football was the main sport in the college; hurling was not encouraged. I enjoyed the class football leagues. The closest I got to a place on the college football team was one trial match. During that match I raced after a ball that was going wide and managed to steer it into the back of the net. Defenders are not supposed to do that, and I was not invited back for another trial. I have great memories of a couple of weeks in the summer of 1958 when we were writing the Inter Cert. When we were not in the examination hall we were lounging around in glorious sunshine with the smell of freshly mown grass all around us. Fr. Dick led us on a couple of very enjoyable walks as far as Lough Owel. Tips for horses were exchanged and a couple of day students brought our modest bets to Harry Barry's Betting Office in Mullingar. Shortly after 11pm one night when we heard 'Well fuck Saffron Tartan' coming from the room across the corridor we knew that the last of John's pocket money was safely in the hands of Harry Barry.I recently met a man who had been in St Finian's in the 1980s and we exchanged views. While I mentioned the unfriendly teacher/student relationship in the classroom, he talked with feeling and sadness about the serious bullying by some students during his time. My moan was minor compared with the pain inflicting incidents that he vividly recalled. He noted that most of the bullies went on to live out sad lives.St Finian's of course was not unique in the manner in which it delivered an education to teenage boys. There were many similar institutions throughout Ireland with similar teaching and study practices. The amazing fact is that a majority of the young men who graduated from these boarding schools were considered to be well educated. Many went on to become high achievers in their chosen careers.

Irish Research Council for Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences (IRCHSS)

Dr Kathleen McTiernan (Trinity College Dublin)

Dr Deirdre O'Donnell (Trinity College Dublin)