Feedback on John Scottus Secondary school

berser

l need to learn more on John Scottus Secondary school for l might be sending my kid there.

l cannot find much but when l looked at the connections it takes to a cult in England but l am not really sure of that connection.

l checked college progression and does not look too great.

Seems like the only option for now but l doubt it.

So it would be great to hear insider info, experience or any piece of Info about this school. How is the education system or school athmosphere, teachers, family -student profile? Thanks a lot!

jul2839

Hi!

Very late to this post I know - however leaving this comment as it might help other people in future to see what my experience was like!

I attended this school quite a while ago - so things are likely different now. During my time it was indeed run by the School of Philosophy (or the School of Economic Sciences - the cult you speak of). As far as I'm aware John Scottus is one of the few remaining schools of a group of them - most of the others were shut down for alarming reasons.

School atmosphere felt tense, the classes were too small leading to a lot of heavy feeling interpersonal issues.

The classes were split by gender. The only teachings that trickled down to the students were the daily meditations and prayers, (chants in Sanskrit and standard prayers like our father, even though they advertised as nondenominational).

There were a couple of times where we as young students were offered the chance to "buy" a mantra. There would be a ceremony that students could opt to take part in where they would bring an envelope of money, a fresh flower, and some other offerings to a spiritual type man. He would then in return whisper the same mantra in every students ear. For the rest of our time at school those students were separated in the morning to go to their own room and practice that type of meditation. Just a very odd approach to mindfulness and meditation in general.

We would have regular Sanskrit and "Philosophy" classes. The Sanskrit classes were relatively normal, however the "philosophy" we were taught was where things got a little dicey. There was rarely such thing as open conversation, students would be shut down and near scolded the second they offered a differing opinion from the teacher, who bare in mind, would always (like a few other teachers at JSS) be someone heavily interlinked with the school of philosophy/economic sciences.

There were opportunities for certain school students to engage with the School of Philosophy's other endeavors - such as some girls getting selected to dance for an event, or others getting selected to perform chants at the school of philosophies events.

(Quick note on the school of philosophy - I have heard some less than savoury comments from acquaintances who had taken part in some of their adult courses)

The way that teachers seemed to be appointed was often to do with how involved they were with the School of Philosophy - not their skills as teachers.

I have many fond memories of my time there, however I got extremely lucky with my teachers, there were a remarkably high number of sadists teaching while I was a student (whom I thankfully managed to avoid).

I personally won't send my own children there, as the building was near falling apart with holes in bathroom cubicles and mould absolutely everywhere. The facilities simply did nowhere near match the expected (and pressured) "voluntary donations" in replacement of fees.

So in short, wouldn't recommend, it's definitely quite shady. It's not Scientology or a doomsday cult and there's no corporal punishment anymore - but it's definitely very very strange. After many years I still regularly think about how bizarre the whole experience was.

ted1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122692245#Comment_122692245

mad stuff. But regards the building I assume

You went to the Donnybrook building and not the one on Old Conna road