Education – dividing or uniting children?

By Emma E. Rule, DIS Cross Cultural Communication student, spring 2015

Before departing for our trip to Belfast, my class watched a documentary about The Troubles, a period of violent conflict in Northern Ireland between 1968 and 1998. During this conflict between Catholics and Protestants, more than 3,600 people lost their lives and thousands were injured.

While in Belfast, I visited an integrated primary school, one of the few that allows Catholic and Protestant children to learn and grow together. I realized how the current education system in Northern Ireland perpetuates division and segregation, and how schools like Hazelwood work to bring people together to celebrate their diversity. Something that made me think about how my own country, The US, shares more characteristics with Northern Ireland and its problems, than I realized.

During the Troubles, the unionist party, associated with Protestants, had goals to remain part of the United Kingdom, while the minority, mostly Catholics, felt discriminated against and therefore fought strongly to become a part of the Republic of Ireland. These conflicting views were an impetus for violence and segregation, and while the violence has mostly deceased, the segregation lives on.

Because my class learned so much about Northern Ireland’s history prior to our trip, we arrived in Belfast with new lenses – lenses keenly aware of the devastating history Belfast had seen, and we were all eager to pick up on clues and symbols showing signs of years past. While reminders of those troubled times are scattered all throughout Belfast, frequently as wartime memorials and murals depicting past events or war heroes, the experience that stood out most to me was my visit to Hazelwood Primary School.

Integration has its obstacles
Hazelwood is one of the oldest integrated schools in Northern Ireland and the first in Belfast, celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. Mrs. Murtagh, the school’s principal, greeted us warmly and brought us into the staff’s lounge to talk. While her voice was calm and quiet, her words were clear and powerful. She talked us through the entire history of Hazelwood and the challenges it faces every day, being positioned in an area that was heavily affected by The Troubles.

Mrs. Murtagh explained how many students have trouble being accepted by their extended family who disagree with their decision to attend an integrated school. She also explained to us that like many other political systems, the education system in Northern Ireland helps to divide groups of people rather than unite them.

Only six percent of schools there are integrated, a number so low that it was hard for me to believe at first. The Department of Education makes it very hard for schools such as Hazelwood to be created, perpetuating the segregation so prevalent in Belfast. Initially, I was frustrated and confused as to why such positive school environments weren’t being encouraged.

Mrs. Murtagh explained that teachers and principals on both the Catholic and Protestant sides are in fear of losing their jobs if integrated schools become more common. A lot of them are simply trying to hold on to the security of employment at their respective schools, a feeling with which I can sympathize.

She offered us water and coffee, and told us about Hazelwood’s rough beginning, starting in a run-down building with no funding at all. Their numbers grew quickly from the start and now they are completely full, having to turn many kids away every year because they simply do not have more room. While Northern Ireland has come a long way since its most troubled time period, the education system is helping to continue the separation of the citizens based on their religion.

School halls covered in compassion
After our discussion, she led us on a tour of the school, opening our eyes to an explosions of color that covered the walls in posters, plaques, instructions, and everything in between.  

One of the bigger murals along the wall stated, “If we all sang the same note, we would never have harmony…” a clear message telling children that diversity should not only be celebrated and appreciated, but that it will be most rewarding when we bring diverse people together to create the most beautiful songs (or ideas, conversations, relationships, etc.).

Messages like this, praising diversity throughout the entire school, were right in line with what Mrs. Murtagh was telling us in the teacher’s lounge earlier that day. She explained that Hazelwood worked to unite children instead of tear them apart, something of great importance in a city where “peace walls” are still separating catholic and protestant neighborhoods, as a reminder of past violence, and where the history of rights and wrongs on both sides are still daily being contested.

As I walked through the halls, I couldn’t keep my eyes off of the walls. It seemed as though posters and drawings covered every inch (in the most beautiful and overwhelming way).

The sign that stood out to me the most, however, was one made by children showing the two flags, the Tricolor generally representing the Catholics, and the Union flag, which usually represents Protestants. The two flags were given faces and smiles, and most importantly, hands to hold in the name of friendship.

Above the flags was the message “Big No No To Bullying.”

The last word was adorably misspelled, reminding me of the purity of a child’s mind and how they need to be molded and guided by older generations in order to learn and grow. While this means teaching them simple concepts, like how to spell bullying, it also gives us the responsibility of teaching small minds about the past and about complex issues like segregation, diversity, and acceptance.

While we could easily teach such young and moldable minds to hate children different from them, we have a wonderful opportunity to show them how wonderful diversity is and how important it is to accept people from all backgrounds and religions. This is what Hazelwood works to do.

While Belfast is reminded daily of the violent conflicts it went through long ago, many of its people are working to move past those problems. However, this ideology is not reflected in the school system, which, like the neighborhoods, is still very much divided.

“In this country, there’s a huge resistance to be together. [People] can’t argue that integration isn’t a good thing, but they just don’t want to justify it,” Mrs. Murtagh explained to us, reminding us that many of those who don’t want to justify it are simply trying to protect their jobs. Even with this in mind, Hazelwood and other integrated schools are working to move Belfast and all of Northern Ireland on to the next step of not only accepting others but embracing them and appreciating their differences.