Cathal Barry‘There’s too often a lazy, knee-jerk prejudice in the media against fee-paying schools’, writes Cathal Barry
You can’t please everybody. Sometimes, enough is just never enough. Journalist Rosita Boland proved that just before Christmas when she decided to bash a bunch of youngsters collecting funds and raising awareness for the homeless.
For the past 31 years, students of Jesuit-run Belvedere College (the school which I attended) have braved the elements and slept out on the streets of Dublin. For three days and two nights in the lead-up to Christmas Eve, the pupils pound the pavements with their collection buckets reminding people to spare a thought for those less fortunate.
At night the students lay their heads under the colonnades at the GPO on O’Connell Street while a group of past pupils was based outside the Bank of Ireland on College Green.
This year, the students raised €178,000 for Focus Ireland, the Peter McVerry Trust and Home Again. But even that appeared not to be enough for Ms Boland. Writing in The Irish Times, she questioned whether it was “appropriate” for students of a fee-paying school to raise awareness for such a cause by sleeping out on rubber mattresses, with sleeping bags and layered clothing.
The news features writer claimed the endeavour was “distasteful”. Apparently, the sight of some selfless young teenagers volunteering their time for a worthy cause at Christmas somehow made her feel “uncomfortable”.
The boys, she said, did not resemble “what actual homeless people look like”, nor did they adequately portray “how homeless people live”.
To put the record straight, I don’t think any of the students who take part in Belvedere’s sleep out each year are homeless, nor do they pretend to be. The initiative is simply an effort to raise much-needed funds for some very worthy causes and happens to generate some awareness along the way. On a more basic level it’s a show of solidarity with those who are less fortunate.
It is often an overlooked feature of Belvedere’s annual sleepout that the students are required to fast for a period during the initiative.
Aside from their attempts to remain warm and avoid getting sick, Ms Boland additionally took issue with the students eating sweets during the event.
After a long period of fasting, particularly during a festive season which has become defined by gluttony and over-indulgence, is it really fair to deny the boys a little sugar rush on their break from bucket shaking?
It provides a window of opportunity the students use to sit, chat and get to know some of those who are actually homeless and sleep rough on Dublin’s city streets, those who Ms Boland accused the Belvedere boys of “displacing”.
Some of my fondest Christmas memories have been shared with my family over a cup of tea and a tin of Roses. Surely then it is a positive thing that these youths are helping those less fortunate to form some happy memories at a time of the year that can be particularly difficult for those who feel neglected?
Exploiting social media
Rosita Boland's ultimate criticism was that Belvedere's annual endeavour is now 'outdated'. What the writer failed to grasp was that this worthy initiative, while remaining true to its origins and cause, has ceaselessly evolved with the times.
Ms Boland's criticism of the students for their use of mobile phones during the sleep out ignored the vital role that social media now plays in event awareness. The boys involved this time around placed a special emphasis on attracting support online, cleverly exploiting sites such Twitter and Facebook using the hashtag #sleepout14.
Pupils also encouraged donations via their website, sleepoutdublin.ie. As a result, they smashed last year's total by a whopping €40,000.
How's that for progress!
Fee-paying prejudice
Above all else, it was The Irish Times’ irrelevant reference to the fact that Belvedere happens to be a fee-paying school that ground my gears the most.
Would her opinion have been different if the students involved were from a non-fee-paying school?
There’s too often a lazy, knee-jerk prejudice in the media against fee-paying schools.
Either way, awareness was raised, funds were collected and friendships were fostered. That speaks for itself.
I, for one, look forward to seeing the Belvedere boys back on the streets again next Christmas.