in "perplexing" School Committee issues...

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, a hat tip to Al Southwick for an excellent Worcester history column which gave a new meaning to "you spent three meetings discussing what!?"

At its May meeting in 1911, the Worcester School Committee finally resolved a perplexing issue: it decreed that St. Patrick was born in Scotland. The vote was opposed by those who believed he was born elsewhere.

As the Telegram story put it: “The last three monthly meetings of the School Committee have been much devoted to a discussion of the birthplace of St. Patrick, and at the two previous meetings of the committee attempts made to have books telling that St. Patrick was born in Scotland and England adopted as a textbook failed because a two-thirds vote of the full committee could not be mustered. The rules make necessary a two-thirds vote for the adoption of a textbook. When the book was first introduced, it stated that St. Patrick was born in Britain. The authoress changed it to read Scotland and at the April meeting an attempt was made to get it through in its revised form. Opponents of the books wanted the birthplace of the saint changed to France.”

And for the record: "Britain," referring as it does to the island, is certainly right; "Scotland" possibly right; "France" pretty definitely wrong.