Wednesday, March 16, 2005
An Untenable Attack on Public Education
(Sorry in advance for any odd characters that might appear below; I have copied this from a word processing document. I will fix the errors when I have time!)
Although the United States of America is the greatest nation on earth, it is not perfect. Most would probably point to the institution of slavery in some states to be the most negative event in its history. Unfortunately, religious intolerance has also been prevalent at various times in the history of America. Perhaps the biggest and most prolonged attack has been on Catholics (especially on Catholic immigrants). The one thing that these attacks usually have had in common is a reliance on broad statements that are "supported" by distortions of the truth or out-right lies. It is unfortunate that a Catholic organization would stoop to these tactics in attacking the institution of public education in America.
It would be easy to dismiss the pamphlet entitled Parents, Do You Want Your Children to be like Pontius Pilate? for its conventional and organizational errors. However, the content of the pamphlet cries out for rebuttal.
The pamphlet begins with a reasonable attempt at grabbing the reader's attention with a discussion of Truth and Pontius Pilate. Unfortunately, the pamphlet immediately starts slinging mud thereafter by attacking all public schools claiming that public schools, "for all practical purposes, deny its (absolute truth) existence." For support, the author of the pamphlet cites Alex Molnar (with no indication of who he is or what his credentials to speak as an authority are): "To be sure, the American public education system embodies a humanistic tradition in which truth is not regarded as an absolute..." For the record, he is a professor at Arizona State University (a public institution) who specializes in alternatives to traditional public education.
The pamphlet continues: "Many view this denial of reality of objective truth by American public education as being a major contributor to the social ills impacting this country and also a factor in the poor performances being registered by many public school students in academic achievement tests. In fact, recent testing data reveals that Catholic school students continue to outperform their public school counterparts, often by a significant margin."
Let's review the two points of this paragraph separately: 1) The argument presented is that all public schools (and using a guilt by association tactic) and all public school teachers reject objective truth. This is absolutely asinine. Although there are many cases where teachers, schools, and even school districts institute programs that can be deemed morally insensitive if not offensive (for example the institution of condom distribution without parental notification), the law is on the parent's side to prevent participation in such programs by their children. The parent's need to be involved. Unfortunately, many parents leave the raising of their children to the schools.
2) This line of thinking leads one to the conclusion that all teachers are immoral automatons. At the school at which I teach, the bulk of teachers are regular church attendees. A high percentage of the staff are Republicans as well. All demonstrate a strong foundation in Judeo-Christian principles of right and wrong that are displayed in their teaching when and where applicable. In fact, my school has a particularly strong Bible club that is lead by a teacher and is supported by several members of the faculty. This club goes beyond just meeting and reading the Bible; it actually is involved in helping the less fortunate in the community, and is an example of the thousands of such groups nationwide.
As for testing results, many factors can impact the scores of students. The number one factor in increasing student achievement in all areas (including standardized test scores) according to many studies is parental involvement. Education World is a good source for many ideas on how to increase parental involvement. For specific research information, one source that supports this conclusion is the San Diego Office of Education. So, the source that has the most impact on student achievement and on how children come to discern absolute Truth is the children's parents. Even the pamphlet supports part of this conclusion when it cites the Catechism of the Catholic Church section 2252: "(parents) have the first responsibility for the education of their children in faith, prayer, and all virtues." The pamphlet goes on to site the CCC section 2229 "as far as possible, parents have the duty of choosing schools that will best help them in their task as Christian educators." What the pamphlet does not note is that the "Christian educators" are the parents and not the teachers in the school system chosen.
Certainly schools play an important role in student achievement, but to falsely accuse all public schools as being amoral if not immoral, and then to use that false accusation to support the higher test scores of Catholic school students is intellectually and morally offensive.
But the pamphleteer does not end his poorly formed argument there. "Too many surveys in recent years indicate that many Catholics, young and old alike, are sharing in the confusion about good and evil... Clearly, American public education's denial of absolute truth and a corresponding misunderstanding as to what constitutes human freedom that results from this denial is contributing to this problem."
Clearly the author has no idea how to make and support a logical argument. The confusion being felt by many Catholics (for sake of argument, I will assume that the confusion is real although no specific surveys are offered in support of the conclusion) can equally be blamed on those Catholic leaders who hijacked Vatican II to instill their own sense of Protestantism and moral and cultural relativism into the liturgy and Catholic education. I can attest to the latter since I personally suffered through this type of lunacy near the end of my Catholic school education (8th grade) and into my 9th grade C.C.D. program almost 25 years ago. My parents recognized how the concept of Absolute Truth was being glossed over, and took me out of the Church sanctioned program. (For a more current example, review the website of St. Joan of Arc parish; this parish is a perfect example of moral relativism in action within the Catholic Church that is a real cause of confusion on what is right and wrong.)
So, why are some Catholic schools outperforming many public schools (I will even grant this point even though no specific evidence has been provided to support the conclusion)? A better question is, "why does any school outperform another school?" The answer, as cited above, is parental involvement. In the case of Catholic schools, parental involvement is almost always mandatory. This involvement includes active participation in P.T.O., school events (especially fundraisers), and the academic, cultural and spiritual lives of the children. If the parents are not actively involved and/or if the children are behavioral problems, the children are not allowed to attend the parish school unless some extreme circumstances are present. Of course, these children are sent to public schools as a result. The Catholic schools get to choose who they keep.
The pamphlet also conveniently ignores the great number of parents who may not be able to afford to send their children to a parochial school. What are they supposed to do? Are they bad parents? The pamphlet implies that they are, but reasonable people realizes that this is a silly conclusion.
To address the issue of teaching at a public school with a large number of Catholic students, I asked the local (and large) Knights of Columbus council to sponsor a Columbian Squires group at the public school at which I teach. Even though I am not a member of that council (although I am member elsewhere), I volunteered to spearhead the effort. I was informed that the council had no desire to be involved since they were only concerned with the Catholic high school located in another city. With a student population that is heavily Hispanic and Catholic, the potential for good from such a Squires group is excellent. If successful, it could even spread to several other schools in the district and neighboring cities that are served by the council in question. This myopic thinking is appalling; but, unfortunately, it appears to be indicative of the us-versus-them mentality of those who champion Catholic schools while publicly denigrating public schools and their attendees - even the latter's Catholic attendees.
The position of the pamphleteer in short: the American public education system is a moral wasteland; it is responsible for the fact that many Catholics are confused about good and evil and has caused a crisis of faith; thus, good Catholic parents will not send their children to public schools.
In short, the position of the pamphleteer is untenable with one exception. On the very last line on the last page, printed in bold, is the following: The church and parents teach children the truth.
Yes they do; and, if parents want their schools to reflect that, they need to be involved in the activities and organization of any school to which they send their children. I am a public school teacher who is proud of his profession. I am also a Catholic parent who will likely send his children to Catholic schools. What I will not do is send my precious children to any school that does not respect the Truth. Unfortunately, simply saying a school or parish is "Catholic" does not mean that it really is. Responsible parents must investigate parishes and schools. Simply relying on a name or unfounded hearsay found in little pamphlets is not responsible.
Although the United States of America is the greatest nation on earth, it is not perfect. Most would probably point to the institution of slavery in some states to be the most negative event in its history. Unfortunately, religious intolerance has also been prevalent at various times in the history of America. Perhaps the biggest and most prolonged attack has been on Catholics (especially on Catholic immigrants). The one thing that these attacks usually have had in common is a reliance on broad statements that are "supported" by distortions of the truth or out-right lies. It is unfortunate that a Catholic organization would stoop to these tactics in attacking the institution of public education in America.
It would be easy to dismiss the pamphlet entitled Parents, Do You Want Your Children to be like Pontius Pilate? for its conventional and organizational errors. However, the content of the pamphlet cries out for rebuttal.
The pamphlet begins with a reasonable attempt at grabbing the reader's attention with a discussion of Truth and Pontius Pilate. Unfortunately, the pamphlet immediately starts slinging mud thereafter by attacking all public schools claiming that public schools, "for all practical purposes, deny its (absolute truth) existence." For support, the author of the pamphlet cites Alex Molnar (with no indication of who he is or what his credentials to speak as an authority are): "To be sure, the American public education system embodies a humanistic tradition in which truth is not regarded as an absolute..." For the record, he is a professor at Arizona State University (a public institution) who specializes in alternatives to traditional public education.
The pamphlet continues: "Many view this denial of reality of objective truth by American public education as being a major contributor to the social ills impacting this country and also a factor in the poor performances being registered by many public school students in academic achievement tests. In fact, recent testing data reveals that Catholic school students continue to outperform their public school counterparts, often by a significant margin."
Let's review the two points of this paragraph separately: 1) The argument presented is that all public schools (and using a guilt by association tactic) and all public school teachers reject objective truth. This is absolutely asinine. Although there are many cases where teachers, schools, and even school districts institute programs that can be deemed morally insensitive if not offensive (for example the institution of condom distribution without parental notification), the law is on the parent's side to prevent participation in such programs by their children. The parent's need to be involved. Unfortunately, many parents leave the raising of their children to the schools.
2) This line of thinking leads one to the conclusion that all teachers are immoral automatons. At the school at which I teach, the bulk of teachers are regular church attendees. A high percentage of the staff are Republicans as well. All demonstrate a strong foundation in Judeo-Christian principles of right and wrong that are displayed in their teaching when and where applicable. In fact, my school has a particularly strong Bible club that is lead by a teacher and is supported by several members of the faculty. This club goes beyond just meeting and reading the Bible; it actually is involved in helping the less fortunate in the community, and is an example of the thousands of such groups nationwide.
As for testing results, many factors can impact the scores of students. The number one factor in increasing student achievement in all areas (including standardized test scores) according to many studies is parental involvement. Education World is a good source for many ideas on how to increase parental involvement. For specific research information, one source that supports this conclusion is the San Diego Office of Education. So, the source that has the most impact on student achievement and on how children come to discern absolute Truth is the children's parents. Even the pamphlet supports part of this conclusion when it cites the Catechism of the Catholic Church section 2252: "(parents) have the first responsibility for the education of their children in faith, prayer, and all virtues." The pamphlet goes on to site the CCC section 2229 "as far as possible, parents have the duty of choosing schools that will best help them in their task as Christian educators." What the pamphlet does not note is that the "Christian educators" are the parents and not the teachers in the school system chosen.
Certainly schools play an important role in student achievement, but to falsely accuse all public schools as being amoral if not immoral, and then to use that false accusation to support the higher test scores of Catholic school students is intellectually and morally offensive.
But the pamphleteer does not end his poorly formed argument there. "Too many surveys in recent years indicate that many Catholics, young and old alike, are sharing in the confusion about good and evil... Clearly, American public education's denial of absolute truth and a corresponding misunderstanding as to what constitutes human freedom that results from this denial is contributing to this problem."
Clearly the author has no idea how to make and support a logical argument. The confusion being felt by many Catholics (for sake of argument, I will assume that the confusion is real although no specific surveys are offered in support of the conclusion) can equally be blamed on those Catholic leaders who hijacked Vatican II to instill their own sense of Protestantism and moral and cultural relativism into the liturgy and Catholic education. I can attest to the latter since I personally suffered through this type of lunacy near the end of my Catholic school education (8th grade) and into my 9th grade C.C.D. program almost 25 years ago. My parents recognized how the concept of Absolute Truth was being glossed over, and took me out of the Church sanctioned program. (For a more current example, review the website of St. Joan of Arc parish; this parish is a perfect example of moral relativism in action within the Catholic Church that is a real cause of confusion on what is right and wrong.)
So, why are some Catholic schools outperforming many public schools (I will even grant this point even though no specific evidence has been provided to support the conclusion)? A better question is, "why does any school outperform another school?" The answer, as cited above, is parental involvement. In the case of Catholic schools, parental involvement is almost always mandatory. This involvement includes active participation in P.T.O., school events (especially fundraisers), and the academic, cultural and spiritual lives of the children. If the parents are not actively involved and/or if the children are behavioral problems, the children are not allowed to attend the parish school unless some extreme circumstances are present. Of course, these children are sent to public schools as a result. The Catholic schools get to choose who they keep.
The pamphlet also conveniently ignores the great number of parents who may not be able to afford to send their children to a parochial school. What are they supposed to do? Are they bad parents? The pamphlet implies that they are, but reasonable people realizes that this is a silly conclusion.
To address the issue of teaching at a public school with a large number of Catholic students, I asked the local (and large) Knights of Columbus council to sponsor a Columbian Squires group at the public school at which I teach. Even though I am not a member of that council (although I am member elsewhere), I volunteered to spearhead the effort. I was informed that the council had no desire to be involved since they were only concerned with the Catholic high school located in another city. With a student population that is heavily Hispanic and Catholic, the potential for good from such a Squires group is excellent. If successful, it could even spread to several other schools in the district and neighboring cities that are served by the council in question. This myopic thinking is appalling; but, unfortunately, it appears to be indicative of the us-versus-them mentality of those who champion Catholic schools while publicly denigrating public schools and their attendees - even the latter's Catholic attendees.
The position of the pamphleteer in short: the American public education system is a moral wasteland; it is responsible for the fact that many Catholics are confused about good and evil and has caused a crisis of faith; thus, good Catholic parents will not send their children to public schools.
In short, the position of the pamphleteer is untenable with one exception. On the very last line on the last page, printed in bold, is the following: The church and parents teach children the truth.
Yes they do; and, if parents want their schools to reflect that, they need to be involved in the activities and organization of any school to which they send their children. I am a public school teacher who is proud of his profession. I am also a Catholic parent who will likely send his children to Catholic schools. What I will not do is send my precious children to any school that does not respect the Truth. Unfortunately, simply saying a school or parish is "Catholic" does not mean that it really is. Responsible parents must investigate parishes and schools. Simply relying on a name or unfounded hearsay found in little pamphlets is not responsible.
