Forget what Obama and McCain have to say about education. Centralized governmental control of kindergarten through twelfth grade education has caused nothing but chaos for millions of children, and those children's children. It is time for the Catholic Church, as well as other churches that have the means, to reinvigorate Catholic grade school and high school education, particularly in the inner cities. And if the Church won't do so on its own initiative, congregations across this country have to start demanding change.
I went to both public and Catholic grade school in Chicago in the 1960’s. Those schools took all comers. They educated regardless of race or economic class. And did a better job, especially with the poor, than public schools ever have or will.
The Church recognized that truly educating children, regardless of their faith, ethnicity or class, vastly increased the possibility that they could lead decent lives. The success of those schools was based on uniform discipline, and a deep belief in the Judeo-Christian ethic. Instilling respect for themselves, their families, and yes, even their country, made students of every color and class better potential citizens, better potential people.
Catholic schools taught ethics, reverence for our Founders, respect for democracy and pride in our country. Math, science, history and the arts were taught using objective facts. 2 plus 2 equaled 4 or you didn't pass. Washington and Jefferson were fallible men who owned slaves, but they were great men of vision who gave us the gift of the most powerful, generous and free country in the history of the Earth. Man is learning exponentially about the world around him, but is not capable of ever understanding all its complexity. All were taught from the perspective of the objective fact that Judeo-Christian morality has provided the guiding light in building this society.
As lay secular humanists took increasing control of the Church's school, the emphasis in supporting the community and creating good citizens took a back seat to competing for prestige. Making the list of 100 Top Catholic High Schools took precedence over making good young men and women. Entrance requirements, including particularly reliance on standardized test scores, became increasingly restrictive. That was where budget concerns did not result in closing the schools all together.
All this began to occur at a time when the secular left was exercising increasing control over curriculum in the public schools, and driving any mention of God from the classrooms. Public schools now teach the secular religion of catastrophic man-made global warming and promote sexual promiscuity. Besides handing out condoms and abortion referrals, most public schools now even refuse to protect girls from outright assault by boys. Taking a cue from Islam, if a girl does not have multiple eyewitnesses to the most crude and offensive behavior, even assault, it is dismissed as "he said/she said."
At least the left understands the importance of instilling core beliefs in the very young. Look at any Weekly Reader, let alone the textbooks for the very earliest grades, and you will see the secular humanists' ideology presented as fact on almost every issue. Socialism is government caring for the disadvantaged. All cultures of the world are equal, except for the evil Judeo-Christian West. Women are to be treated as equals, except in countries that hate America, where honor killings and sexual slavery are legal.
Similarly, radical Islamic fascists have used schools, known as madrassas, to the same effect. Hatred for all non-Muslims, particularly Jews and Americans, is taught from birth. No deviation from the most radical teachings is allowed. Murder of innocents leads to paradise. Extremist Islamic teachings may be more vicious than the leftist's curriculum in our country, but the principle of propagandizing children early is identical. The Church has slowly but surely abandoned educating the young in this country as a major priority, to its own detriment.
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Read Catholic Education Manifesto - Part II tomorrow.
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