Attacks on Catholic Ed from the Right

Inspiration: First Things Podcast "Guardians of the Culture"

I would say that I am generally on the conservative side of Catholic Culture (and thus the classical American political spectrum). I love the inclusion of Latin. I find most choir-lead music to be atrocious. I'd be down to dabble in Ad Orientem.

That being said, I find the repeated attacks on Catholic Education from the Right to be absurd in the total. They seem to focus on:

1. Lack of Catholicity.

2. An embrace of Common Core/Secular Values.

3. Not enough classics (man!)

My thoughts:

Re 1: I think (like much of society), our schools can suffer from a lack of Catholicity, adhernence to doctrine, and consideration of the importance of the Faith in our classrooms and communities. I do think that many leaders of my generation and later are looking at this and movement is being made towards a deeper understanding and implementation of the Faith in Los Angeles and elsewhere. I also think that this is an attack rooted in the Catholic cultural wars which have been ongoing.

Re 2: When a college professor on a podcast decries the idea of critical thinking with regards to text, it makes me frustrated and want to blog. Seriously! Teaching secular values can be problematic. Teaching some modern literature is not. Teaching reading skills is not. This might be a longer post in the future, so I'll stop now.

Re 3: This I think is again emblematic of the broader culture. One of the joys of teaching my reading class was sharing The Odyssey, C.S. Lewis, Dante, Catch 22, and more. I think this is also a broadside in the cultural wars. I also think that this can easily be addressed with an eye towards rigor and a focus on mission. If we are Catholic institutions, we need to teach and acknowledge our 2,000 year history of art, beauty, philosophy, and science. Nitpicking curricula choices from an ivory tower ignores the challenges of resources and language on the ground.

The reality is many Catholic families in our Church cannot "opt-out" of the public school system and into a homeschooling environment. Our best option for the next generation of Catholics is a strong system that balances the concerns listed above with an approach that is innovative and welcoming. Criticism and accountability should be welcomed. Constant dunking and point-scoring is damaging.