Integrated education will not solve all our problems in Northern Ireland

A letter from Harry Patterson:
Integrated education wouldn’t have made any difference to IRA or loyalist violenceIntegrated education wouldn’t have made any difference to IRA or loyalist violence
Integrated education wouldn’t have made any difference to IRA or loyalist violence

In Wednesday’s paper Roderick Downer celebrates the passing of Alliance’s education bill (‘At last, the beginning of an end to segregated schools in Northern Ireland,’ March 16).

He states that if the forebears of DUP and Sinn Fein leaders had gone to the same school there would have been no terror campaign and 3,500 people would not have lost their lives.

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He suggests that integrated education may have led to a happy harmonious country with the bonus of a vibrant economy.

Letter to the editorLetter to the editor
Letter to the editor

The IRA campaign was waged to bring about a united Ireland — integrated education wouldn’t have made any difference to that. Loyalists thought that by adopting the same tactics they would have stopped that happening — integrated education wouldn’t have made any difference to that either.

As for a truly vibrant economy — how? Are children educated in an integrated school likely to be more entrepreneurial and business savvy than those who aren’t?

It seems that integrated education is being touted as the cure for all our problems here in Northern Ireland. I just don’t believe it is.

Harry Patterson, Castlecaulfield

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