Does the largely segregated education system in Northern Ireland perpetuate community divisions?
The work of Darby, Dunn and others (1977) suggests that a definitive answer to the question is not possible although existing research findings support their view that segregated schooling plays a contributory part in so far as significantly different activities are encouraged within the two sets of schools, thus encouraging cultural apartheid. Polarisation is thereby seen to be intensified at school and this may suggest a failure on the part of the educational institutions to remove the ignorance and prejudice of both Catholic and non-Catholic children that has so recently been manifest in aggression and violence. Differences in curriculum content may contribute to the development of a sense of identity and difference. For example, Irish is taught in all Catholic grammar schools, but in no Protestant schools. Recent evidence indicates that Catholic schools place an emphasis on arts/humanities courses and Protestant schools on science courses, though this is changing. On the other hand
