15 minute read
Marianne Heron
As I See It
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Marianne Heron
School days and that question of sex ...
Should girls and boys always be educated together? With so many controversies going on the proposed bill by the Labour Party that all Government funded schools in the 26 counties should be co-ed in future has created barely a ripple.
Around 17% of primary schools are single sex and a third of secondary schools currently. If passed, the bill would make the change to same sex within 10 years for primary school and 15 for secondary schools. And unless single sex private schools make the change they would no longer qualify for Government funding. ere are 51 feepaying secondary schools and 38 fee- paying primary schools (up 30% in the last 10 years.) e argument in favour of change is that the population of schools should re ect society in general. Labour’s spokesman on Education and Enterprise Aodhan O’Riordain has claimed that single sex education is a contributory factor to toxic masculinity and to the increase in domestic violence in Ireland and that issues of sexual inequality a ecting women are better tackled in co-ed schools.
Previous research suggests that boys generally do better in co-ed schools, where the presence of girls plays down misogynism and softens macho culture. In an all-boys situation, pupils can su er from a cult of hyper-masculinity. (Perhaps this is what has Boris Johnston and other Old Etonians in his Cabinet the way they are!)
Also, the valorising of gamesplaying ‘jocks’ doesn’t do much for boys who are more academic, creative or sensitive. Girls generally achieve better and are more con dent in single sex schools perhaps because they avoid competing with boys in a co-ed situation.
I am inclined, though, to agree with research by the ESRI, which found that di erences in how well pupils did academically had more to do with individual schools than with whether or not they were co-ed. e only noticeable nding in the research was that girls behaved better in co-eds.
Back in the day, I went to a girls-only school in Belfast, and at the time I was glad I did. It was di cult enough trying to t in with various cliques, (sporty, popular, pretty or brainy) without complicating the picture with boys. e downside though was the lack of opportunity to meet the opposite sex, the only options being to join a tennis club, (not for me) or go to hops where after two dances a lad would ask you to go outside the dance hall where he would become like octopus with hands everywhere. Now though, I think di erently. Is it not harder to have sexist attitudes in a mixed situation? Also, these days, schools face more complex issues which need to be addressed around inclusivity and acceptance of diversity: nationality, colour and gender identity around LGBTQ. Also, social media has added another in uential layer to the way that pupils relate to each other too.
One objection to the bill would be that it would remove choice for parents who may feel that a particular child would be more suited to a single sex school with a certain ethos. ere is also the question of how the change would work out in practice, particularly in single sex private schools with longstanding reputations: would boys go to Alexandra girls’ college for instance or would girls join Blackrock College?
My granddaughters had di ering experiences. One, who went to a co-ed school, thought it was unwise to be separated, when, together, pupils could develop their own ideas about the opposite sex and what they might want from a partner in future. And that in girls’ schools, pupils tended to become ‘boy mad’, where the other sex became mysterious because you never saw them.
An experiment in where classes were separate for core subjects during third year made classes less stressful during the awkward puberty stage and afterwards the boys who had matured were more respectful towards the girls.
My granddaughter’s boyfriend found the ‘military’ fashion in which his boys’ school was run ,and the overly testosterone- lled classrooms, somewhat o -putting.
In her girls’ school, granddaughter No. 2 achieved well academically but experienced problems with friendships and ‘bitchiness’, especially over boys.
Just a few opinions but it sounds as though co-ed scored best, not necessarily for marks but for relationships.
As Albert Einstein said about education: ”II is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.”
Underactive thyroid natural support
CLAIR WHITTY
At the shop I see a lot of people who ask for advice about underactive thyroid. is is an extremely common condition which causes the body’s metabolic rate to slow down. is results in symptoms that can include fatigue, weight gain, dry skin, hair loss, memory and concentration problems, muscle and joint pain. Poor nutrition, stress, toxins, hormonal changes during the menopause, a lack of iodine in the diet can all contribute to the cause. e rst step is to get a blood test and this will give you an indication of how things are. ey could also indicate Hashimoto’s disease, which is an in ammation of the thyroid gland. is is caused by an attack by the body’s own immune system. is process is known as an autoimmune condition and will have a di erent protocol than an underactive thyroid problem. If your bloods come back showing a problem, you would need a di erent blood test to rule this out.
Nutritionally you can support your diet with nutrients it needs from food. Seaweeds such as nori, dulse, and kelp are great dietary sources of iodine and zinc. Vitamin A is important for thyroid hormone production and is found in eggs, dairy products, beef liver, and pumpkin seeds. B and Zinc work together to support thyroid function and can be found in nuts, seeds, and wholegrains. As well as vitamin C which is found in fruit and vegetables. Omega 3 essential fatty acids are important too.
Supplement wise, Biocare 207 now called ryoid Complex is one that I have seen good results with over the years. It’s a combination of powerful nutrients for thyroid support. It contains LTyrosine, Zinc, Selenium, vitamin C, N-Acetyl L-Cysteine, B vitamins, Vitamin A, and Potassium Iodide. All working together to support every step of thyroid hormone production.
I would always recommend an omega 3 supplement and there are lots of excellent brands for you to choose from including Biocare’s own Mega EPA.
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A lack of planning on the part of government has led to a complete failure to provide special education places
BY: DEPUTY KATHLEEN
FUNCHION
SINN FEIN TD FOR KILKENNY CARLOW
Speaking in relation to the proposal by the Minister for Special Education Josepha Madigan to create ve special educational needs (SEN) centres in Dublin as an ‘interim’ solution to a shortage of places, Sinn Féin TD for Carlow Kilkenny Kathleen Funchion has said:
“It should never have got to a position that we are in late May and children with additional needs do not have a school place.
“ e government has the power to use S37A to ensure schools open special classes in areas where they are needed. is conversation between the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) and the Department of Education should have been happening last autumn.
“It is incredible that the Minister for Education, the Minister for Special Education and the NCSE have access to all the data they need, as well as the powers and budget, yet did not use these.
“Parents are now desperate because of the lack of government planning.
“I am very concerned about the proposal to open special educational needs centres in Dublin only, as very often what the Department deems a ‘short-term’ measure is far a ‘short-term’ measure is far from that. We only have from that. We only have to look at prefabs in to look at prefabs in schools around the schools around the State as testimony to State as testimony to their previous form their previous form in this regard. in this regard.
“Where a child “Where a child needs a special needs a special class place, parents class place, parents do not want them do not want them to be totally separated and separated and segregated from other children. ey want them to be part of the life of a school community; ideally a local school.
“It is devastating for these parents that the government’s lack of planning has stripped them of this option.
“We are meant to be moving forward on the basis of inclusion and integration, not segregation.
“Families across the State would much prefer if the government focused on using the powers available to them to open special classes, and open special classes, and ensure schools that do ensure schools that do open classes are prop-open classes are prop erly supported, funded erly supported, funded and sta ed. and sta ed. “ at way the gov-“ at way the gov ernment would be ernment would be living up to its com-living up to its com mitments to children mitments to children with special edu-with special edu cational needs cational needs - to have a - to have a place in a place in a special class special class in a school, in a school, not a special not a special education education ‘centre’, seg-‘centre’, seg regated and regated and isolated from isolated from the school the school community.” community.”
SPECIAL REPORT
Texas: why police waited 78 minutes before tackling killer
e US Department of Justice is to investigate why 19 law enforcement o cers waited 78 minutes in the corridor of Robb Elementary School before storming the classroom in which an 18-year-old lone gunman had by then slaughtered 19 children and two female teachers.
After slipping into there Texas school through an unlocked side entrance, the 18-year-old stormed into adjoining classrooms and informed terri ed fourth graders that it was “time to die.”
“Good night,” he said, before shooting and killing the rst teacher.
Students were next, according to witness accounts. Children scrambled for hiding places. Hot shrapnel burned through the dressy out ts some had worn for an awards ceremony earlier on the morning of Tuesday, May 24. One girl smeared herself with a classmate’s blood and played dead. e attack went on for so long, witnesses said, that the gunman had time to taunt his victims before killing them, even putting on songs that one student described to CNN as “I-want-people-to-die music”. As the minutes ticked by, increasingly desperate students called 911.
At 12:03 pm a girl called 911 for a little over a minute and whispered that she was in Room 112, according to Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven C. McCraw. She called back at 12:10 pm reporting multiple people dead, he said, and again a few minutes later, to say there were still a number of students alive.
“Please send the police now,” the girl begged the dispatcher at 12:43 pm, 40 minutes after her rst call.
More time would lapse before authorities nally entered and killed the teen gunman just before 1 pm By then, the gunman had turned a sleepy afternoon at the end of the school year into a 90-minute massacre — an attack prolonged and worsened by the failure of security measures and a catastrophically slow response from authorities in this southern Texas town.
In all, 19 children and two teachers were killed, with another 17 people wounded, a devastating toll for a small, tightly woven, largely Hispanic community where it was common for relatives to be in the same class at school. In the days that have followed, local heartbreak bubbled into rage as Texas o cials waxed on about police bravery, glossing over law enforcement missteps that took days to acknowledge.
Only now, a more reliable chronology is emerging through o cial statements, 911 logs, social media posts, and interviews with survivors and witnesses. e revelations tell a story of institutional failure at the expense of unprotected children. In Uvalde, Texas there is little expectation that correcting the record will lead to any real policy change, especially with hyper-partisan mid-term elections looming.
“I mean, there’s protests on gun laws and stu , background checks, but it doesn’t go anywhere,” said Angel Flores, 17, speaking at a San Antonio hospital where she was visiting two relatives who were taken there after being shot in Uvalde.
“Sandy Hook happened, what, 10 years ago?” said Angel’s father, 37- year-old David Flores, referring to the 2012 mass shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. “It’s the same thing, down the road again. Nothing changes.”
On that fatal Tuesday morning, Dora and Bob Estrada settled in to watch their favourite daytime soap, ‘ e Bold And e Beautiful’.
While waiting for her show to start, Dora heard two popping sounds from the direction of Robb Elementary across the street. She told her husband she thought it was gun re.
“He said, ‘No, that can’t be,’” Dora recalled. “I said, ‘No, that is shots.’”
Dora worried about her grandson, Jayden, a second grader at Robb. A short time later, her daughter, Jayden’s mother, called to warn her parents to lock their door; she’d heard of an activeshooter threat. e Estradas decided to go outside and check on the school and noticed “a bunch of cops on the corner.”
“ ey were just standing there,” Dora said.
Given the time frame, those rst pops Dora heard likely came from early shots the gunman red as soon as he arrived at the school at 11:28 am. targeting people on the street who heard him crash his truck into a ditch and were coming to his aid. Minutes earlier he had shot his 66-year-old grandmother in the face at their nearby home, took her vehicle and drove the short distance to Robb Elementary. e grandmother survived and called 911; authorities have not released the exact timing or content of her 911 call.
New details have dispelled earlier accounts of a confrontation between the gunman and an armed school police o cer outside the school, a story the authorities changed four times. First, o cials said the gunman exchanged re with the o cer outside the school before going in.
Later, McCraw said that there was an encounter, but no gunshots were exchanged between the two. On the ursday, two days later, of cials said there had been no confrontation at all and that the gunman had simply walked in. On the Friday, McCraw said that the school police o cer was not on campus but rushed there after the 911 call about a man with a gun at the crash.
“He drove right by the suspect,” who was crouched behind a vehicle in the parking lot, and mistook a teacher for an intruder, McCraw said. e killer entered the school at 11:33 am through a back door that should have been locked but had been propped open, authorities said. e shooter walked to the rear of the building, turned down a hall and began ring into classrooms 111 and 112, authorities said, unloading more than 100 rounds of ammunition in those rst moments.
At the sound of gunshots, children and sta in other parts of the building began streaming out of the school, some heading for safety in a nearby funeral home. Others didn’t have time to run.
In Room 109, teacher Elsa Avila rushed to lock the door and turn o the lights. She told her students to hide under their desks, recalled a nine-year-old survivor, Daniel, whose mother asked that his last name not be used.
Daniel saw the gunman approach the window of his classroom door and shoot through the glass, striking Avila and another student a few feet away from him. Daniel said he and others were “playing dead” inside the classroom because they feared he could see them.
Bullets zinged around the classroom, with one fragment striking a fellow student’s nose. Daniel recalled a “crunching” sound as it struck bone. Stymied by the locked door, Ramos moved back down the hallway, returning to Rooms 111 and 112, the adjoining classrooms.
McCraw said that three of cers with the Uvalde Police Department were the rst of cers into the school and that two received grazing wounds at that time from the teenage gunman.
McCraw said the killer had locked the doors to Rooms 111 and 112 but brie y reemerged into the hall — at a time McCraw did not specify, but this is likely when those in Room 109 were shot at — before locking himself in the adjoining classrooms again.
Gun re was heard at 11:37 am, 11:38 am, 11:40 am and 11:44 am, McCraw said.
Four more local o cers — from the police department and county sheri ’s o ce — arrived, according to McCraw, at a time he did not say.
None of the o cers attempted to enter Rooms 111 and 112 and engage the gunman, o cials said.
