EDUCATION

Many of the older people were illiterate, though not lacking in education in other senses. Generally parents encouraged children to attend primary school up to fourteen years, but no longer. The child at this age was needed urgently to work on the farm.

Apart from the pressing need for the children's labour on the farm, there was also the insurmountable hurdle of finance in the way of securing seconary education. Attendance at college meant a commitment in respect of board, lodging, fees and books which was far beyond the capacity of 98% of the people. The result was that these young people of North Inis Eoghain entered life ill-prepared. Despite such great qualities as intelligence, honesty and reliability, the young man or woman from this area had to accept abroad the most menial and lowest-paid jobs.

It is noteworthy that the children of these emigrants were through the efforts and initiatve of their parents, able to secure better education and thus passed into the middle-class society of the community in which they lived.

The parents of North Inis Eoghain, and also the community at large, were a powerful force in the character formation of the young. Hard work, self-discipline, a high standard of honest and a strong religious sense gave them a good and firm foundation on which to build their lives. This gave to the country to which our young people emigrated valuable citizens.

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