Accepting that it was natural for parents to try to enrol their child in what they regard as the most suitable school, Bishop Walsh said he had observed occasionally that there was a moving out to a country school from a town where immigrants were living.Archbishop Martin was concerned about Dublin's secondary schools, but Bishop Walsh is worried that parents are opting out of certain primary schools because some schools have a large percentage of (a) immigrants or (b) children of a lower social class. (Can't tell which he meant from what's in the Independent).
"I would certainly try to discourage that as much as possible," he said. "Particular exclusivity in relation to class is not part of the Catholic ethos of our school system."
If it's the latter well, that's been going on forever here from what I can tell. If it's the former, what does he expect? Every parent has heard stories of (or even from ) teachers that they find it a struggle to teach children with whom they can't communicate and how this takes up an inordinate amount of class time.
