The Life of a Rural Teacher, Co. Galway, Ireland 1974

How the work of the rural school teacher is changing.
‘Radharc’ looks at the changing role of the school teacher in rural Ireland in a documentary filmed on the Galway Mayo border. The programme compared the lives of father and son Liam and Morgan O’Connell, both teachers in the area.
This extract looks at Morgan’s experience and shows the school bus on its morning round, collecting children from outlying farms. The teacher is known locally as the master and the students as scholars. The essentials of a teacher’s life have remained the same, but like many, Morgan drives to work at Cloghans National School, whereas 50 years ago, he would have lived beside the school. Living in Tuam means that his ties with the local community are not as strong, so there are losses as well as gains.
‘Radharc: The Master’ was broadcast on 20 March 1974.

[@arthurkearney6193]

There were many great men and women who took responsibility seriously . In my case thank God for them.

[@eamonhannon1103]

Somebody needs to be making similar videos today recording the everyday lives of people . These will be of interest to future generations .

[@adrianobonaldo8941]

Abosolutely correct

[@Kloppsserialbottlers]

sure it's all over facebook, tik tok, youtube, etc etc.

[@uncouthboy8028]

Future generations will compare them to what came before and despise their grandparents.

[@ConorOCeallaigh]

Praying for the children suffering from famine. So normal and respectful 🙏🏻

[@patfraser3869]

He was quite the rocker in his Capri.

[@diggerjim6977]

Ford escort

[@patfraser3869]

@@diggerjim6977 it's a Capri, NOT an Escort

[@freebornjohn2687]

My dad always wanted a Capri - the ordinary man's cool car.

[@noelduffey2395]

It wouldn't have been the most economical yoke . 😉 ..

[@Chopsyochops]

I still remember having to do morning prayers before class in ireland and in England.

[@nmatthew7469]

We should return to it, the world wouldn't be in the state it's in now.

[@iamachildofgodministry9360]

@@nmatthew7469 this world needs Jesus christ the lord 🙏 We are living in end of days Jesus is coming back soon

[@danielwarren3138]

@@nmatthew7469 Did our father + hail Mary seven times a day, didn't stop my school from being a zoo

[@thomasm5714]

When wearing seatbelts was unheard of...

[@Tamar-sz8ox]

Lay your Toddler or baby on the floor , in the back 😂 of the car

[@DC66DC]

Sure there was about 7 cars on the road back then haha

[@jpmaguireart]

Would never want to go back to those days in Ireland, the teachers were absolute savages .

[@Super241946]

You were no angels yourselves😈

[@siogbeagbideach]

They were brutal alright

[@Super241946]

Mathew you are so right.....the smoke of Satan has entered every school and establishment in Ireland and perhaps the world. But I suppose JP Maguire is OK with that.......😈

[@72mossy]

@@matthewbarry376 Well getting caned across the legs, fist of knuckles accross the back of the head, sticks across the hands, kicked out of the desk, hopping chalk dusters of us, getting a hiding from a cane for something someone else did, all this during the late 70s and early 80s, would you swap it for the modern teaching. My kids have nothing to fear from school and are well protected these days, my Dad went the brothers in the 40s and they were animal's.

[@michaelthomas-pi2dt]

@@Super241946 Give me a break.We were so innocent in what we got up to.Hardly merited the violence that was dished out by many teachers in Ireland.

[@benji.B-side]

I remember having to say prayers before lessons.

[@callumc833]

Yep the good ol days when children had respect for god country and their elders

[@AnnaLVajda]

Well even in Canada in public schools we used to say the lords prayer after we sang the national anthem every morning up until the 90s sometime. My Mom said they used to sing God save the Queen too in her day. This is why there are huge generational rifts people are taught different things some disagree with the old teachings others with the new methods.

[@bluegtturbo]

@@callumc833 yeah but which God... There's so many of them.... 😁

[@callumc833]

@@bluegtturbo oh great here comes the redditer atheists

[@nmatthew7469]

@@bluegtturbo there's only ever been one, the gods of the pagans are devils.

[@PeterKelly-gg9mx]

This brings me back to the orange and white old school bus

[@johnnycalifornia9790]

It's nice that they began the day with a prayer. I suppose that's long gone.

[@Peter-gi3re]

As for the yellow cattle truck. The one I had to take was so overloaded it had kids standing throughout the whole isle and kids sitting on the front shelf next to the driver. The male driver was a perve too. He used to ask the girls if the carpet matched the blinds. It was amazing how they got away with crap

[@anthonybrennan5908]

Yes, but there was great fun on those buses, school bags piles up in a huge pile, water and egg fights on the last School day before holidays, slagging sing songs, no seat belts, 3 children on 2 seats, mad stuff, yet there was not one single accident in my 13 years on this icon of a School bus.

[@chamboyette853]

What is so bad about asking girls "if the carpet matched the blinds"?

[@Peter-gi3re]

@@anthonybrennan5908 unfortunately, I can’t say the same. A neighbor got pushed onto the ground trying to be first at the bus door....... front wheel of the bus rolled over his head.

[@dellhell8842]

@Peter That shelf beside the driver was a removable hood over the engine. There was a seat for two to the left of it. Our bus was the same. The whole aisle standing when full. Our driver was sound though. Never had any incidents.

[@seamusburke9101]

@@dellhell8842 I was never in one of them school buses, I think they were Bedford were they?

[@rockyzrockyx917]

The Ford Capri car - THE car for the period!

[@6sfo]

I had one of those here in California, a gift from a family member after I wore out the old Galaxy 500. Owned by Ford but made by Germans - a strange mix of good and bad things about that car. Never did I see it as dirty as this teacher's, though. And mine only had all four wheels touching the ground when I had parked it.

[@finnkdy]

@@6sfo sher it saved the Rte pixels.

[@janm2473]

Well..... here in Canada, I learned to drive a stick shift in a 1972 Ford Mustang, buttery yellow hard top... awesome ....

[@patrickglennon6834]

Ford anglia was all the rage

[@fatherdougalmcguire9129]

he purposely had his number plate dirty to avoid speed cameras da clever man

[@Genetulsa1]

Another cool video

[@dellhell8842]

2:20 Is that the loud ticking of a Pinto engine overhead cam I hear in the Ford Capri as he pulls up to park? One of the sounds of my childhood.

[@seamusburke9101]

Thats a MK 1 Capri they only had the cross flow engine.

[@dellhell8842]

@@seamusburke9101 That's why I was asking the question, I knew they fitted the Pinto engine in the later models of the MK1 from 1972 onwards. But you're right. The Capri in the video is pre-facelift MK1, as it has the Escort MK1 tailights, so it would have Kent engine rather than the Pinto engine.

[@joecallan1760]

…he could have gone to the trouble of washing it.

[@dellhell8842]

@@joecallan1760 Most cars were never washed then except for maybe for a wedding.

[@jakmak1199]

@@dellhell8842 agree and there was a lot of wrecks rolling around the roads of Ireland back then, no MOT or suchlike, that and drink driving made road journeys interesting to say the least.

[@bigballywho]

Magic

[@MariaMartinez-kg6ns]

Thank you a lot it beautiful video

[@seanmichael9482]

Thank you 🙂

[@janesmith9024]

Girl at the front at the end made the sign of the cross with her left not right hand.

[@rockyzrockyx917]

She was probably just left-handed. More below: www.catholic.com/qa/why-do-we-use-our-right-hand-instead-of-our-left-hand-to-make-the-sign-of-the-cross

[@burntbacon7995]

Catholics! 😀

[@MOOBOOSE]

Stupid observation

[@addz17]

@@MOOBOOSE It's not stupid! She shall burn in the fires of hell for eternity for performing the ritual incorrectly! For all you know she could have an upside down bible in her pocket too!

[@ZuluPapa1000]

Not every teacher was a bully.

[@drewsimpson5967]

"See that Billy Coleman? That's me that is"- MR O'CONNELL

[@thelastdetail1]

Every morning he combed his hair over and drove to school like a poor man´s Steve McQueen in Bullitt....

[@kathrynmcmorrow7170]

No spoilers on his pate.

[@eamonhannon1103]

A hero , out there in the drama of life in the Wild West

[@seamusburke9101]

I thought he looked more lukw Tom Riordan!

[@patriot6251]

I know the school well as my uncles and aunts went to it I wonder which child walked as he says and if that child still lives in the area or any of the children ?

[@eneadaniel824]

I like the Ford! It's class

[@davidh9529]

We had this exact school bus but in the 90s, sounded like someone rattling a bunch of skeletons in a biscuit tin

[@sentimentaloldme]

This clip must have been recorded before 1974..I remember the year well and I'm almost sure we had coloured T.V. in Ireland at that time..

[@shamrockshore6308]

So he was the 'Master', like his father was before him.....not a whole lot has changed in Ireland in that respect then.

[@barrywalsh7926]

Back then, the mostly academically able got into teaching, as there were few other opportunities, especially for women. Today, there are more options for students.

[@RocketmanRockyMatrix]

Vince McMahon's family is from this area.

[@LizMcNamara47]

And there it was… the safety belt flapping in the breeze! More of a decoration then.

[@nigelmchugh5541]

Were they even a factory fitment on the Mk1 Capri?

[@gungagalunga9040]

A bit like 2019 Ireland...masks nowhere to be seen.. thankfully masks are now like seatbelts - you automatically wear them when you go out

[@dellhell8842]

@@nigelmchugh5541 Yes on the front seats only I believe, with anchor points fitted for rear seat belts from 1970 onwards.

[@paddyocallaghan6512]

@@gungagalunga9040 Your an Absolute Bollox

[@gungagalunga9040]

@@paddyocallaghan6512 we have a right wing conspiracy theorist in the house

[@creekyknee]

Thankfully we have left those days behind us. Most of these "Masters" were horrible people who should not have been let near young people. They abused their authority under the guise of education, the emotional, physical and other abuses that they dished out was horrendous. We still have remnants of that era with us, where relatively low IQ "Múinteoir's" think that the way to educate our children is by frightening the bejaysus out of them with their authoritarian attitudes and tones when engaging with them. While we continue to pay teachers pittance we will continue to have to endure such low standards.

[@emoryking5278]

God bless them, they are the most pure at heart of the idealists.

[@pmacc3557]

Clutch is a bit iffy me thinks .

[@mikegalvin361]

Where did he keep his big stick 🤭

[@eamonhannon1103]

The bata

[@bigears4426]

Driving the capri , no seat belt on

[@russianbot1420]

CR, do you have anything from Dublin inner city schools, ig Marlboro school.

[@fordford9133]

Terrifying times

[@designxyz5007]

and they all emigrated 10 years later

[@barnabyaprobert5159]

"Leaves his home at 9..." WHAT???

[@frjoethesecond]

Primary school started at 20 past 9.

[@johncarey3860]

ha lads, leaving the house at 9...

[@ferdinandimposter691]

And a full fried breakfast in him every morning. Good times.

[@estrellaperpetuaishikawa6131]

💗

[@owenmcgee8496]

Any time I saw one of those yellow school buses as a child (1980s) it seemed to be an abandoned wreck. I'm not sure why. The school in this clip seems ok (I don't like the "master" reference, but that was the norm). When people refer to schools in the past being rough, I associate that with their origins. The first schools open to the general public (there were none before that) in the early 19th century were military schools (e.g. Napoleon's); the national and religious schools followed on from that model. Hence the disciplinarian ethos. Brutalising kids into thinking and feeling like future soldiers in the sense that one could be conditioned from being used to taking orders from a schoolmaster to taking orders from a sergeant. Being roared at, or whacked, was all an extension of that. I wonder sometimes if social pyramids in history as a basis of "order" spread sadism and all the fall outs from that, and whether or not one should consider that type of organisation of society as natural or not. One might think it unnatural, but where did it not exist? As a kid, I didn't like some schoolteachers or their manners but at least they didn't wield samurai swords to chop your head off, or impale you with an African spear, if you failed to bow to them properly in the corridor.

[@pauljordan4452]

Master just means teacher.

[@ConorOCeallaigh]

But now there’s zero discipline and zero consequences.

[@discoveryman59]

We could use a little bit of this today.

[@davidh9529]

Sweet ride the teacher has

[@jennyb7745]

Gd insight into Irish way of life,but little Abt how & what the the Teacher teaches at that time.

[@hillmidget1326]

The way they pronounce tuam

[@Dhspat]

Galway Abu!!!

[@olerasmussen72]

Remember to clean your car teacher

[@johnroddy8756]

The master needs to clean his number plate good example if nothing else

[@luddite2702]

Where is mick dunne the famous commentator lol.

[@b30b60b90go]

And of course, the speedo not working. Low milage!! Good man, honest teacher. One rule for thee, but not for me!!

[@georgecrowe1850]

Wonder if he had cossie in dat Capri 🤔

[@agrace7889]

And old Austin Cambridge or VW with a stooped back end from pulling over loaded trailers had no chance eith the girl maginet Ford Caprie 😋

[@silverbullet8338]

I used to drive a Ford cortina..went like a shower of shit or was it a Capri.

[@pauljordan4452]

That's a great expression - a shower of shit!

[@navash7976]

Ireland was better then. Trying to modernise the place wrecked it.

[@stephenireland6110]

Aye when the church ruled Ireland and got away with murder, selling babies and keeping Ireland in the stone age, those where the days, take me back

[@margottorr130]

Better then..don't Bluff..

[@paddyocallaghan6512]

@@stephenireland6110 What have ye now ???

[@navash7976]

@@margottorr130 Ireland was better place with its traditions and respect for law. And now, it's just degenerate Liberal democracy promoting carelessness.

[@iseegoodandbad6758]

Ireland was similar to the third world in many respects up until the 90s when its economy took off. But at least it had pure nutritious food which the usa and uk to a lesser extent has lost. The environment was free of pollution (unless you count peat fires) as very few people owned cars. But society was very strict and if you stepped out of line you paid the price!!

[@onemanandhisdogsgoawonderi4630]

This is the time these bastards hit us and if they did not like marked you down

[@juniorjohnston1855]

Second

[@johnmc3862]

1rd.

[@onemanandhisdogsgoawonderi4630]

And the catholic brain washing later sent to the priest to have his way with the teacher knowing ..buy its ok he is a priest lol..

[@GodOfVictory501]

Don't drink and comment.

[@eamonhannon1103]

You are forgetting the many many good priests and choose to focus on the few bad priests . You comment is unfair and disrespectful to the many good priests and nuns who dedicated their lives to serving others

[@terryboot7777]

Touch of indoctrination each morning before lessons. God that was tiresome I remember.

[@happylittletrees5668]

Yep, nowadays teachers indoctrinate kids each morning that they can be whatever gender they want that morning and change it by evening. Or they can butcher themselves permanently. Gee, I wonder how tiresome that will be to those butchered kids in 30 years.

[@frjoethesecond]

At least people believed in something besides themselves in those days.

[@Kloppsserialbottlers]

@@frjoethesecond Believing in yourself is a much better lesson to leave school with than a God.

[@Alphae21]

@@Kloppsserialbottlers no, no one is perfect expect for God, everyone will have failings so its important to not rely on yourself for everything

[@Kloppsserialbottlers]

@@Alphae21 I don't remember saying that. In fact I know I didn't. If God is perfect, why are there childrens life support machines being turned off and others are being gang rap*d as I write this?

[@choctaw6838]

Bet he had a big leather strap at the ready.

[@florenceobrien2822]

Don’t talk about it we know it well

[@James_BAlert]

Good thing it's in black and white, as there was spatters of blood on the walls from all the hammerings🔨 he gave over the years! The glaziers were in later to repair a window as he had defenestrated poor Timmy🤯 the previous evening! Been the typical miserly teacher😬 he gave no lifts to anyone in the car, but he attached a loudspeaker to it in the evening playing the 'Streets of San Francisco' 🎷theme while solving crime in North Galway in his Capri!! Cripes, those buses 🚌were rickety and cold, defaced by secondary school students: the kid who walked to school probably lived across the road!!😳 No heart and soul in those prayers, just going through the motions, just a reaffirmation of been a member of a club!! 🤔