Apr 7, 2022
Education in an Age of Commercialism, Bureaucracy, and Propaganda by James Kalb at Catholic World Report. The basic goal of education, it seems to me, is to incline people to act well in the world and make them more able to do so. To the extent possible—some things are difficult to inculcate reliably in an organized way—it should also help them in their pursuit of ultimate goods…. Overall, education should concentrate on hel ping young people connect to the human world and orient themselves within it, and through it to the basic purposes of life. For that reason, topics such as history, literature, philosophy, and religion should be basic to the education most people receive, and especially to the advanced education intended for future leaders. Read False Advertising in Vatican Document on Catholic Identity in Schools by Phil Lawler at Catholic Culture. Any Catholic parent with children in parochial schools knows the problem. If Catholic schools fail to offer a distinctively Catholic education—if they become indistinguishable from the public schools, where both the curriculum and the atmosphere grow steadily more toxic for the faith—what recourse do parents have? The Instruction makes a nod toward that question, saying that “it is necessary for every educational apostolate of Christian inspiration to obtain concrete recognition on the part of the competent ecclesiastical authority. In this way, the faithful are guaranteed that the school of their choice provides a Catholic education.” Yes, but that is precisely the problem. When “competent ecclesiastical authority” in fact does not ensure the Catholicity of Catholic schools, what can the faithful do? This is the problem of Catholic identity in education: a problem that Church leadership has not forthrightly faced. Read Will Vatican Schools Instruction End Indianapolis LGBT Dispute?by JD Flynn at The Pillar. In addition to affirming the rights of bishops to exercise governance over personnel matters, the text also affirms that parents have the right and obl igation to be “involved in decision-making processes concerning the school community and their children.” Of course, Catholic doctrine has always held that parents are primary educators and schools are helpers in that mission. But canonically affirming a right of parents to participate in school decision-making processes could, in some places, signify a sea change. And it could very well open the prospect for an increased number of appeals from parents unhappy with the administration of their Catholic schools, or with the process of decision-making. Read Bishop asks Catholic Middle School to Take Down Gay Pride, Black Lives Matter Flags by Joe Bukuras at Catholic News Agency. A Jesuit-run middle school in Massachusetts could lose its Catholic designation if it ignores the local bishop’s call to stop flying Black Lives Matter and gay pride rainbow flags outside its building. The Nativity School of Worcester, in Worcester, Massachusetts, has been displaying the flags for more than a year, the Boston Globe has reported, but Bishop Robert McManus of Worcester only recently learned about them, a diocesan spokesman told CNA Monday. Read Loudoun Schools Told Teachers to Keep Gender Transitions Secret from Parents by Jeremiah Poff at Washington Examiner. Loudoun County School District officials instructed staff to avoid informing a transgender student's parents about their child's gender identity unless the student gives the school expressed permission, according to materials from the training. The slides from the August training were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by Ian Prior, the executive director of the political action committee called Fight for Schools, which has organized efforts to recall several members of the Loudoun County School Board. The training was part of the implementation of district policy 8040, which was passed in August 2021, and established districtwide policies regarding the treatment of transgender students, including allowing students to use the bathroom corresponding to their gender identity, rather than their biological sex. Read Why Some in the LGBT Movement Are Focusing on Kids by Nathanael Blake at Ethics and Public Policy Center. Children are suggestible and malleable, including their sexual orientation and gender identity. And yet many LGBT activists and their allies want every kindergarten to teach that boys can become girls and girls can become boys. They want every middle school to have an LGBT club with teachers actively recruiting for it. They are determined to celebrate and praise kids who come out as part of the rainbow elect while labeling those who do not as cis-hetero oppressors. They are, in short, acting like recruiters, with activist teachers even working to hide students’ LGBT identities from parents. These aggressive tactics, under which classrooms, culture, and social media promote rainbow identities, have coincided with a sharp increase in the number of young people who identity as LGBT, far in excess of what can be explained by more people coming out as stigma declines. According to Gallup, one in five adults from Gen Z identifies as LGBT. This dramatic rise in LGBT identification demonstrates that these identities are being created, not discerned. Read
Throwback Thursday The Middle School Years by Andy Reed at The Heights Forum onOctober 20, 2020. The middle school years are a crucial time in a boy’s life. So much growth happens throughout these three years. The only other time in a boy’s life when he grows this much physically and cognitively, is 0-3. So there’s this window…. I liken it to a moving sidewalk in an airport. Everything happens faster. Everything about the middle school years is tone-setting for the high school years. And so often, the middle school years tend to be years where boys are a little bit adrift. Boys can really lose these years developmentally if they’re not in the right situation, if they’re not getting challenged in good ways, by healthy challenges that help them become stronger. Listen