Sir, Gearoid O'Bradaigh writes (May 1st) of "institutionalised deceit" in some of the gaelscoileanna. He also comments on the natural tendency for a child to want to use its home tongue for everyday communication.
It is internationally recognised that the basic groundwork of a child's education should be through its home tongue where that is possible so, if a child's home tongue is Irish, Irish should be the language of its basic education. This, of course, is not always possible, since a state may impose a single language, as in Israel, for example, when dealing with a polyglot population after the foundation of their state. This was a political decision, not an educational one.
Parents should think hard about the choice of language of primary education for their children, when they have the option, as in this country. I would strongly advise against the primary schooling of a child through the medium of a tongue that is not the home tongue, unless the child is well above average intelligence and there is a particular reason for so doing. It is again internationally recognised that in any large unselected group of children, something over half of them will have an intelligent quotient (IQ) of less than 100, so less than average this is because the distribution curve of intelligence has a bulge on the lower side, probably due to the effect of various adverse influences of the developing foetus and newborn infant. To subject a child with an IQ under 100 to primary education in a tongue other than that of the home is educationally and psychologically unsound if this is done knowingly, when other options are available, I would regard it as morally unsound, since it is certain to disadvantage the child. If children do have to learn their primary subjects through a strange tongue, most will need special tuition, and if at all intellectually disadvantaged, remedial teaching as well.
Many speak of the advantages of bilingual primary education I would agree in general terms, provided the child in question is very bright, probably with an IQ of 20 or more, and preferably coming from a literate and bilingual family. Even so, I feel sure that most educationalists who have studied this question, would agree that a child's very basic learning should be in the tongue that was first on its lips.
I have to admit that my teaching experience has been only at third level, but I speak with sympathy for the many many mothers and their children of average or slightly less than average intelligence that I had to try to help in over 40 years of paediatric practise. Their problems could be summed up in a few words "Doctor, he can barely manage his sums and his history and geography in English, but he can't manage at all through Irish."
Yours, etc., MD, FRCP, FRCPI, Professor Emeritus of Paediatrics, Late of University College, Galway, Kingston Road, Galway.