SIR - In a recent letter to your newspaper, Mavis Knox, the principal of Parkhall College, made an outrageous claim that the school, if it became integrated, would maintain its excellent high standard.
Sadly she didn’t produce any evidence to back up this disgraceful claim. Probably because there is none, all the evidence points to the contrary.
In the recent information leaflet which parents received along with the ballot paper, it states two v
ery interesting points.
Interesting to me because when I made the points at the second parents meeting held in 2007 I was contradicted both by senior staff and members of the Board of Governors and told I was wrong.
I will make these points again but this time quoting from the information leaflet.
The first point at the top of page two of the leaflet states that a new teacher will be appointed to provide religious education to a broader range of children.
What this actually means is that a Catholic teacher will be appointed to teach Catholic children RE, separately away from the Protestant children.
I thought the whole idea of integrated education was for all children to be taught together; it happens already at Parkhall College.
Integration will change all this. Everyone will know who is Protestant and who is Catholic when it comes to the RE classes.
The second point on page two states that the school curriculum will be reviewed in the areas of RE, already dealt with above. Areas also covered include sport, language, history and music.
What this actually means is that gaelic football and hurling will be added to the curriculum during PE classes.
Within the language department, it will mean the Irish language will be added to the curriculum. The music department will add Irish music and dance. Likewise the teaching of Irish history will be enhanced.
It is my view that the standards of the school and the quality of education will be lowered if the school becomes integrated.
All the points that I have made above seem quite reasonable until you ask the question, where does the money come from to pay for these extra subjects.
Sadly for the pupils at the school, the money will be taken from existing department budgets. Money will be taken from the other subjects to pay for this experience in integration.
With less money in the budget, departments will not be able to provide the same quality of education as resources will become limited. Therefore it stands to reason that the standards in education at Parkhall College will suffer. But the really sad thing is it will be our children who will suffer and the future generation of children going to the school.
On the bright side, if the present parents have had the sense to reject integration by a large majority then the quality and excellent standards at Parkhall can be maintained and even improved upon.
If the parents haven’t reject integration or didn’t vote, then God help the children of Antrim.
Yours, Jim Sands,
Antrim
The full article contains 519 words and appears in Antrim Times newspaper.
