Giving Students Something Better to Love

Giving Students Something Better to Love by Daniel Flynn at the Institute for Catholic Liberal Education. [L]ook around and notice all of the schools focused on just math and reading or boasting of acronyms and buzzwords or talking about acceptance rates and scholarship money. Those things are fine and good, but is that why we open our doors each morning? Plato says that the end or purpose of education is the cultivation of virtue to form a good person. We could easily add on the capacity to know and love the truth, to act in freedom, to reason, to discipline, to train healthy desires. To develop our memory and our attention. By developing what is most human, we surrender our will to His. Or as St. Bernadette of Soubirous said, “I must become a saint. My Jesus expects it.” Read

Nip it in the “Catholic but…” by Ronald L. Jelinek, PhD. at The Catholic World Report. Given I have spent almost 25 years of my life on Catholic college campuses, I have considerable experience with such encounters. I’ve learned that in these situations, it is best to sit and remain quiet.... So, I did that. And I waited. And when there was a break in the lecture and the principal paused to wipe his brow and take a sip of water, I took the opportunity to ask him a question. I was curious: what exactly did he mean by “love,” “accept” and “affirm”? I offered that, as a Catholic, I was not unfamiliar with those words. That I knew very well what they meant and wanted to know what he meant when he used them. Read

Catholic Schools: From Good to Great by Michael Ortner at Catholic School Playbook. While many Catholic schools have closed over the last 50 years, dozens—maybe now hundreds—have come to the brink of failure, narrowly escaped closure by radically altering their program, and are now thriving beyond what most schools ever experience with long wait lists, parents who are ecstatic about their schools, and a school that is now highly differentiated from the nearby competing schools. It leaves us wondering: how can those healthier peers—the Catholic schools that have always had solid enrollment and generally satisfied parents—learn from these once-dead but now thriving Catholic schools that have since surpassed them? Read

Oregon Removes Writing, Reading, and Math Mastery from High School Graduation Requirements by Misty Severi at Washington Examiner. The Oregon State Board of Education unanimously voted on Thursday to remove proof of mastery in reading, writing, and math in order to graduate from high school until 2029. The board argued that requiring all students to pass one of several standardized tests or to create an in-depth assignment their teacher judged as meeting state standards was a harmful hurdle for students of color, disabled students, or those learning English as a second language. Read

How Texas is Becoming the Frontlines for Parents-First School Choice by Dr. Keri D. Ingraham at New York Post. Thanks to historic parental rights and educational freedom achievements in the 2022 and 2023 legislative sessions, 10 states have passed universal or near-universal school choice laws. And next year, additional states including Alabama and Georgia are also poised to push for school choice. That means moms and dads of K-12 children across the nation will be free to educate their kids as they see fit. These states have recognized that children belong to parents — not the government and certainly not public schools. It’s time for Texas to become the 11th state to pass universal school choice empowering parents. Read

Throwback Thursday

The Goal of Education Is to Learn to Love What We Ought to Love by Matt D’Antuono at National Catholic Register on December 28, 2020. One of the many quotes on my classroom wall reads: “One of the great problems of our time is that many are schooled, but few are educated.” That was written by St. Thomas More in the 16th century. I wonder what he would have to say about our schools now.

Epictetus said, “Only the educated are free.” For all our schooling, we are not free and exalted in soul. Only the virtuous are free. Only those who can love what they ought to love are free. Only those with well-ordered affection are free. Only those who can be pierced by what is truly beautiful are free, because Beauty is Truth, and “The truth will set you free.” If education is being re-invented, it ought to be founded on solid principles. The essential thing about education is its purpose, and an education that loses its true purpose may turn out to be no education at all. Read