There he remains, kicking his heels until he is sent up to the
Intermediate School at 15 or 16--much too late an age at which to begin
the study of languages. The Primary teachers are, of course, only too
pleased to retain the clever boys as long as possible in the National
Schools, but it is unfair to the children, and is robbing the community
of services which might be rendered to it by these pupils in the future
if fair opportunities were afforded them of training themselves while
there was yet time. Without higher grade schools, without scholarships,
without at least some system of a "higher top" in connection with the
Primary Schools, there can never be proper co-ordination of
administration, and education in Ireland will never be able to progress
beyond a certain point. The Christian Brothers have set the Treasury a
good example in this matter. In their schools there is close
co-ordination of primary and intermediate education. Promising boys in
the fifth standard are removed when they are 11 or 12 years of age into
the higher schools and thus given an opportunity, at the most receptive
period of their lives, of acquiring knowledge which they will be able to
turn to good account in after life.
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