The book deals with the clash between the free, enterprising pay schools and the controlled and systematized national schools. Many commissions of inquiry were instigated, beginning in 1791, and continuing until the foundations of the national school system of 1831. From Thomas Orde in the 1780s to Thomas Wyse in 1830, the cumulative evidence of the commissions of inquiry led to the substitution of the long-running pay schools. The new systematic approach introduced teacher training, purpose-built schools, inspection, uniform school texts, and an array of rules and regulations. It took the people considerable time to grapple with the new regime. In order to understand the difficulties the people had in accepting the new schools, it is worth drawing attention to Brian Friel's play Translations in which he teases out the alien concept of an imposed school in a remote part of Donegal.
