Sep 12, 2024
The 250-Year American Experiment in Non-Sectarian Education Has Failed by Christopher B. Warner at Catholic World Report. Education, by its very nature, is sectarian and therefore religious, because education forms the intellect and will, which are faculties of the soul. The human person is created by God with a desire to develop these faculties in accordance with truth. But because The Fall clouded our intellects and weakened our wills, we need divine revelation. Religion encompasses the practices and beliefs that respond to and integrate revealed truths. We can acquire knowledge through our senses and reason, but we need guides—teachers to instruct, train, and morally direct us. Read
Nebraska Bishop Calls for ‘Developing Authentically Catholic Schools’ in New Pastoral Letter by Kate Quiñones at Catholic News Agency. Bishop James Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska, highlighted the tenets of Catholic education and the modern challenges facing educators in a pastoral letter on Tuesday. In his letter, “The Joy and Wonder of Catholic Education: Developing Authentically Catholic Schools,” Conley noted that “a truly Catholic education is concerned with the formation of the whole person: intellectually, morally, socially, and spiritually.” Read
The Battle to Ban Screens From School Now Includes Chromebooks and Tablets by by Julie Jargon at The Wall Street Journal. Parents worried about how much time students spend on iPads and laptops during school are trying to opt their kids out of classroom tech. They’re finding it isn’t easy. Cellphone bans are taking effect in big districts across the country, including Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The next logical question, at least for some, is: What about the other screens? These concerned parents argue that the Covid-era shift that put Chromebooks and tablets in more students’ hands is fueling distraction more than learning. Read
Catholic Schools Ahead of the Curve When It Comes to Curbing Cellphones by Matthew McDonald at National Catholic Register. Always connected? The latest technology? Easy access to the web? Cellphones everywhere? St. Alphonsus Parish School in Seattle has none of that. And it doesn’t want it. “When I tell prospective parents we’re tech-minimal, people light up about that,” said Nick Padrnos, who just started his fourth year as the principal. “It’s refreshing to them. I think everyone knows it intuitively makes sense.” Read
Teaching History: Remembering the Cure for What Ails Us by Andrew J. Zwerneman at Cana Academy. There is wide agreement that our culture is in crisis. In the face of secularism, some would assimilate. In the face of living in an age that is “after virtue,” post-conceptual, or post-traditional, some would concede the loss and revert to a relational culture mainly or only. The spirit at work seems to be one of general defeat: Our demise is inevitable, and all we can do is adapt to the ruins around us by mustering some measure of peaceful coexistence or simply retreat. Such a spirit, however, does not reflect what Solzhenitsyn calls “the highest gifts of the human spirit.” From history, we know better. Read
Rehumanizing the Humanities by James Hankins at First Things. Readers of this journal will know how, since the crises of 2020–21, classical education in grades K-12 has been growing by leaps and bounds as an alternative to the sclerosis affecting Big Education, especially union-dominated public schools. There are now more than a million American children and young adults being educated using the same traditional methods and texts that have been discarded by district public schools and elite private schools. Read
Silvina Sironi Shares Her Passion for Art, Education, and Community by Nell O’Leary at Word on Fire. Beauty calls to us and invites us to ponder. There is something powerful about an image that can transmit the radiance of truth in such a way that it helps us to apprehend and believe, even when our minds struggle to fully comprehend. As humans, we are unique in our ability to speak, but also we are unique in our capacity to produce beautiful items. Art and the word are a symbolic way to communicate meaning, and they complement each other. That is why both belong to any truly human endeavor, especially evangelization, where we try to proclaim the Good News of a God who is all good, all beautiful, and all true. Read
Including Students with Disabilities by Abriana Chilelli at The Institute for Catholic Liberal Education. In my 17 years working in schools, a few children have profoundly altered the way I understand education. One such child is my nephew, Max. Max is 12 years old and in 7th grade. He has Down syndrome and a complicated bunch of other diagnoses. I have had the joy of loving him deeply since he was only a handful of days old, in a hospital’s NICU. As Max gets older, it becomes clear to me, and to his parents, that because of his diagnoses, Max will not go to college. He also probably will not ever live by himself. He may hold a job, but it would be substantially accommodated to what he is able to do, which can change daily. So what does that mean for Max’s education, especially for the Catholic school he attends? Thinking about Max’s education in the Church has led me to this truth: education ordered toward utilitarian outcomes falls desperately short for the formation of the human person. Read
It’s True: the Liberal Arts Are In Demand, Even in Tech Companies, Says Raven by Benedictine College. One student sums up the impact of his liberal arts education on his corporate work this way: “Benedictine has enabled me to draw from a wider breadth of knowledge that I would not have otherwise had.” If you have been paying attention to business news for the past 10 years, then you know that liberal arts are in high demand. Pietro Contolini has seen it firsthand. He is a current MBA student and 2024 finance graduate from Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, and he says that the college has helped him two ways: with hands-on learning in his discipline, and with its liberal arts core. Read
The Catholic University of America’s ‘Visionary’ New Board Chairman Takes the Wheel by Zelda Caldwell at National Catholic Register. To an outsider, Rob Neal, the recently elected chairman of the board of trustees at The Catholic University of America (CUA), might not seem like an obvious choice for a key leadership position at the university founded by the Catholic bishops of the United States. But talk to the people who have worked alongside Neal on CUA’s board of trustees and you’ll hear him described in terms like “visionary” and “big thinker” with a “passion” and “enthusiasm” for the university. These qualities, they say, are just what CUA, amid a changing and challenging environment for higher education, needs most in a leader. Read
Multimillion Dollar Gift to Fund Franciscan University Outreach to Nation’s Capital by Franciscan University. Franciscan University of Steubenville recently received a multimillion-dollar gift from Ward and Kathy Fitzgerald aimed at preparing, connecting, and engaging students in the political and cultural work of Washington, D.C. The Ward and Kathy Fitzgerald Franciscan University Homeland Mission (FUHM) will play an integral and transformative role in equipping young men and women to serve as joyful disciples in the public square, advancing the great global missionary cause of positively impacting the principles and policies guiding the United States government. Read
Throwback Thursday
There Is No AI Shortcut to Real Education by Daniel Guernsey at The Catholic Thing on November 8, 2023. Educational optimists predict that artificial intelligence (AI) will soon provide amazing efficiencies and progress in teaching and learning. There is no doubt that AI will benefit educators in their research, development of teaching materials, analysis of data, and administrative duties. And some older students, charged with creating certain artifacts, may find it of use. But because it also portends dishonesty and disruption to a degree potentially catastrophic to student learning and to the sanctity of the student/teacher bond, AI’s presence in K-12 schools must be carefully restrained. Chesterton’s advice that children ought not be subjected to educational projects and ideas younger than they are is prescient here. For it is quite possible that elements of AI in education will work against natural human development and provide not a shortcut to human formation, but a short circuit. Read