May 9, 2024
This Is What Happened After Several Schools Banned Cellphones by Marina Zhang at The Epoch Times. Banning cellphones in schools improved academics, reduced bullying, and reduced students’ need for counseling, a 73-page Norwegian paper found. Girls benefited the most from the policies. “Banning smartphones significantly decreases the health care take-up for psychological symptoms and diseases among girls,” Sara Sofie Abrahamsson, a postdoctoral researcher and the paper’s sole author, wrote in the abstract. Post-ban bullying among both genders decreases.” Read
The Human Heart Revealed: Why Every Student Should Read Crime and Punishment by Mary Frances Loughran at Cana Academy. Why should every high-schooler read Crime and Punishment? Our answer begins with this claim: “Beautiful stories cause us to know ‘other lives than our own,’ and every time the students give themselves over to a great piece of literature, they share in the moment Seamus Heaney says will ‘catch the heart off guard and blow it open.” Dostoyevsky’s deeply psychological story, Crime and Punishment, masterfully reveals the depths of what it means to be a free human being, tragically fallen but still created in the image and likeness of God. Read
Summer Renewal by Colleen Richards at the Institute for Catholic Liberal Education. It is May, and soon the school year will be over. The calendar for the remaining days or weeks is packed with activities, events, and celebrations. After preparations of all sorts, we shall culminate the school year by resting in the goods we have sought and worked for all year. Then what? Summer begins, and we may feel a need to just do nothing! For a time, just being free to rest when tired and without any tasks or deadlines sounds like a slice of heaven. The golden days of summer are potentially a treasure, and with a little foresight, we can open up that treasure in a leisurely and delightful way that renews our own souls. Renewing one’s soul is good for its own sake. But God puts his own bonus material in the divine economy, and the educator’s renewal brings forth greater fruit in the following school year. Read
Academic Retreat for Teachers by Institute for Catholic Liberal Education. Since 2007, the ICLE Academic Retreat for Teachers has been giving new and veteran teachers, administrators, and board members — anyone involved in Catholic liberal education — the opportunity to rekindle their passion for learning while exploring the foundations of Catholic education with colleagues from around the country. This event elevates reading from a privatized, cerebral process into a communal experience of charitable discussion, debate, and discovery, transforming the way educators introduce to their students the great works of the Western tradition. Register
Raise Resilient Kids with The Rolling Stones and Aquinas by Daniel Esparza at Aleteia. The Rolling Stones might not be the first band that comes to mind when considering Catholic values. And still, their iconic lyric “You can’t always get what you want” resonates deeply with the Catholic tradition and, even more specifically, with some of the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas, a pillar of both medieval and contemporary Catholic theology, emphasizes the virtues of patience, longanimity, and fortitude — all essential in raising grateful and resilient children in a world brimming with instant gratification. Read
Politicians Force Closure of Oldest Catholic School in Las Vegas by Valeria Gurr at National Catholic Register. St. Anne’s Catholic School has announced its closure, leaving families devastated. Just a year ago, I joined many others in calling on elected officials to put aside politics and keep Nevada students first. If they had prioritized students by preserving funding for Opportunity Scholarships, we wouldn't be losing a school that has long been an asset to our community, especially for minority students. Read
The Inspiration for New Orleans' St. Mary's Academy by Will Croxton at CBS News. This week, 60 Minutes reported on St. Mary's Academy, a Catholic school for young Black women in New Orleans, Louisiana. Correspondent Bill Whitaker met two former students, Calcea Johnson and Ne'Kiya Jackson, who made math history when they both independently proved the 2,000-year-old Pythagorean Theorem using trigonometry, an achievement that was once thought to be impossible…While reporting the story of these landmark mathematical breakthroughs, 60 Minutes learned more about the "foundress" of this exceptional school. Read
Pope Laments ‘Liberal’ Universities that Lack Holistic Formation by Justin McLellan at Our Sunday Visitor. Pope Francis said that some universities are “too liberal” and do not place enough emphasis on forming their students into whole people. Speaking May 3 on the need for holistic higher education, the pope noted by contrast “some universities I know in America that are too liberal and only seek to train technicians and specialists.” “They forget that they have to form men and women, people of integrity who try to give the best of themselves in the service to which God calls them,” he said, while “knowing that they are pilgrims, that in reality everything is a journey toward a goal that surpasses this reality.” Read
Justice Samuel Alito to Address Record-Breaking 2024 Class at Franciscan University by Kate Quiñones at Catholic News Agency. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is scheduled to give the commencement address on May 11 to the record-breaking 896 students in the class of 2024 at Franciscan University of Steubenville. On the occasion, Alito will also receive an honorary doctorate in Christian ethics “for his decades of exemplary public service and tireless efforts to protect and uphold justice and the rule of law,” according to Franciscan’s May 6 press release. Read
FOCUS Brings Hundreds of College Kids Closer to Jesus by Theresa Civantos Barber at Aleteia. Growing closer to God might not be the first thought that comes to mind when we picture the college years, but for some young people, that’s exactly what they’re doing. Even better, they’re joyfully bringing their friends with them. FOCUS, a missionary ministry specifically for university students, plays a big role for many. Read
Throwback Thursday
'The Hobbit' and Virtue by Joseph Pearce at Catholic Education Resource Center on December 14, 2012. At its deepest level of meaning, The Hobbit is a pilgrimage of grace in which its protagonist, Bilbo Baggins, becomes grown-up in the most important sense. Throughout the course of his adventure, the hobbit develops the habit of virtue and grows in sanctity, illustrating the priceless truth that we only become wise men (homo sapiens) when we realize that we are pilgrims on a purposeful journey through life (homo viator). Read