Saint Benedict's College
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St. Benedict's College in Trinidad was the brain-child of a Benedictine Monk Dom Basil Matthews. When Dom Basil was sent to minister in the San-Fernando region in the early 1950s, he felt that he had to do something about the lack of educational opportunity in the district.
Dom Basil Matthews received his secondary education at St Mary's College. After completing his studies at St Mary's, he entered the monastery at Mount St Benedict where he pursued studies for the priesthood. In 1935, he was ordained priest in the Order of St Benedict, one of the first Trinidadians to be elected to that sacred office. Gifted with a well-modulated singing voice, he often took the role of lead canto at solemn liturgical services at the monastery. From the earliest days of the establishment of the monastery, people from all over Trinidad and from all walks of life journeyed to 'the Mount' to seek advice from the monks on a variety of problems, many of them involving family issues.
As the monastery developed it became a virtual centre for counselling, even before that word became a common part of the local vocabulary. Dom Basil was one of the assigned counsellors and his experiences in that role led to his publication of Crisis of the West Indian Family, one of the earliest sociological works on Caribbean family problems. Dom Basil will be particularly remembered for two things. The first is his establishment of St Benedict's College and, through that school, his great contribution to local football. The second accomplishment is his 1955 famous intellectual debate with Dr Eric Williams, which centered on the interpretation of Aristotle's "ideal state" and other relevant issues.
In 1953, Dom Basil saw the need for a school in La Romaine and laid the foundation for what evolved into St Benedict's College in 1956. His main purpose in establishing the school, as he revealed afterwards, was "to cater for children from the countryside who could not make it out to town and did not have a chance at even passing the Common Entrance Examination." He said that soon after starting the school he found that the children had talent but lacked a sense of self-worth because they lacked the opportunity of getting into a 'big school.' He saw it as his job to build up their won self-respect and self-worth, and their motivation to exploit their human talents. St Benedict's was the first composite school in the country, offering, in addition to the usual academic subjects, commerce, accounts, typewriting, and domestic science. Many observers scoffed at the introduction of these subjects in a 'college'. Discovering musical talent among the students, Dom Basil introduced music into the curriculum, using English musical directors to lay the groundwork for that subject.
Major Rupert Dennison, former director of the Police Band, afterwards took up the position vacated by the departing expatriates.
The monk turned school principal also saw the value of sports for building the self-esteem of his students. The result was an impressive record in football, producing such national stars as Warren Archibald, De Leon, Steadman, David, Cupid, Reuben and others. It was the Dom's boast that they were exporting professionals to the soccer leagues in the United States.
In the 70's, 'the Dom' (short for Dominus, a title traditionally given to Benedictine priests) left for the United States to work in educational systems in the New York archdiocese.
He spent a year on a committee that looked after the economic upkeep of schools in New York. Also serving on that committee was the former US Secretary of State, Cyrus Vance.
During his stay in New York Talladega College, Alabama, he requested assistance for faculty relief. He also did some work at Fordham University, one of the educational institutions at which he obtained one of his degrees.
With the emergence of the 'black is beautiful concept,' Howard University requested Dom Basil's services to develop an "intellectual academic base for the integration of black experience into the curriculum of the University". While working on that project, he was assigned to the Graduate School of Social Work where he was Chairman of Human Behaviour in the Social Environment, and later Chairman of the Graduate Studies at the School of Communications involving print and broadcast media.
He also lectured at various Universities across the United States. After an absence of eight years abroad, Dom Basil returned home, worked as an executive with Motilal Moonan, and in 1980 announced the founding of an Institute of Human Relations. The purpose of the institute was to serve as "consultants and training officers in the area of management development in business, industry, education and sport." "One of his main ideas was to show that there was a relationship between the Trinidad work ethic and productivity." He refuted the argument being propagated by some that the Trinidadian worker was lazy, pointing to productivity in large oil corporations and Carnival, and the diligence of Trinidadians in the US and Canada.
In 1981, news was received in Trinidad that Pope John Paul II had consented to an application by Dom Basil made three years previously for a release from his priestly vows. The application had been forwarded through Archbishop Anthony Pantin and Abbot Hildebrand Greene of the Abbey at Mount St Benedict.
Apart from a few visits back home, the former monk spent most of his time in the United States. He died there at a nursing home on April 7, after a long illness. He was 87.
Apart from his principalship at St Benedict's College, he taught for several years at the Abbey School at Mt St Benedict, and was a lecturer for the Extra Mural Department of the University of the West Indies at St Augustine. He also served as a vice-president of the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association for several years. May he rest in peace.
He encouraged the church to purchase land from the Lucky family in La-Romaine and their home was used as the building to house the Primary school which was opened in 1955. Dom Basil's major concern however was the marked shortage of Secondary School places in South. He felt that a lot of talent was being wasted and so he set about to rectify the situation by opening a Secondary School.
Many scoffed at his idea but Dom Basil was undaunted and with the support of Archbishop Ryan, some businessmen and parishioners, he was able to bring his dream to fruition.
St. Benedict's College opened its doors on September 11th, 1956 with 220 students. It was to be one of the first Comprehensive Schools in the country for besides the normal grammar school subjects, a number of tech-voc subjects formed part of the curriculum. In 1957, with support of the then Minister of Education, Dr. Patrick Solomon, St. Benedict's became a Government assisted school. There was a steady expansion from then on. the staff room block was opened in 1960. the auditorium in 1961 and the playing field in 1963 at La-Romaine by the Sea. Dom Basil believed that excellence in sports would develop the self-esteem of students which would lead to an improvement in academic standards.
The playing field was to be the breeding ground of a number of national footballers and Warren Archibald, Leroy De Leon, Jan Steadman, Steve David, Dick Furlonge, Wilfred Cave, Bobby Sookram were to become well-known names in Trinidad and Tobago. St. Benedict's dominated college football between 1964 and 1968. St. Benedict's College in this early period offered a wide range of extracurricular activities. There was a college orchestra, a college choir, a cadet unit and a lot of other activities.
In 1968 Dom Basil resigned and migrated to the USA. Mr. Caines his successor endeavoured to revert St. Benedict's COllege to a traditional Grammar School, tech-voc subjects were removed and co-curricular activities and sports were de-emphasized. In 1983 Mr. Caines retired and he was succeeded by Declan Singh. Once more there was a change of policy, co-curricular activities were once more emphasized, the playing field was restored enabling St. Benedict's to win the South Zone Intercol five times between 1988 and 2000. St. Benedict's won the National Intercol in 1998.
The academic performance of the school also improved and since 1995 the pass rate has been above 75%. A'Levels was introduced in 1988 and the school now offers 11 subjects with C.A.P.E. to be introduced in 2004. Computer facilities were introduced in 1986 and today, our Computer Lab has been upgraded with the assistance of Schlumberger Company Limited. Our computers are now hooked directly onto the Internet using the company's facilities. In 1997 a new building to house the Staff Room, AV Room, 6th Form block and toilets was erected. It was formerly opened by the Prime Minister in June 1998.
In 2001 a new auditorium was constructed. It has a seating capacity of 600 and standing room for 800. Over the last few years a number of senior teachers have retired and so the school is going through a period of transition but it has a solid foundation and so it should continue to grow from strength to strength.
Even though the school is from the christian domination it provides services to all religions of Trinidad and Tobago. The students are from all religions and are free to practice their religious traditions. Students participate in the Secondary Schools Snaskritik Sangam competitions on a regular basis.
