As the social environment becomes more polarized, a need develops for education grounded firmly in the truths about life, its goodness and the human person. Catholic schools go a long way to meeting this need, but the foundations of learning are still worth considering as parents, the first educators of children and also for the sake of continual growth and reform in existing schools.
As I contemplate the pros and cons of Catholic school, public school, homeschool and even the basics of parenting styles, here are three principles that I would seek to implement outside of school or even as school itself, depending on the situation and needs of the family. They are Nature, Art and Love.
1. Nature
The first step is going outside in the natural world, observing plant and animal life as well as geological phenomena, and learning about how it works. This comes innately to small children and adults, I think, and inspires wonder.
Later this serves as a foundation for hard sciences and math and also as an introduction to the wonder of God and creation. Science develops from exploring physical reality and divides into the subjects of biology, astronomy, chemistry, physics, etc. Mathematics are naturally observable in action in real life. Rocks can be counted. Tree branches act like fractals. The ocean ebbs and flows, gravity works, things fall, nautiluses build perfect shells, the seasons change and the sun keeps on rising.
Further, I think wonder and curiosity are the foundations both of learning and of love of God. The Catechism comments on man’s sense of wonder and goodness as the beginnings of faith: “With his openness to truth and beauty, his sense of moral goodness, his freedom and the voice of his conscience, with his longings for the infinite and for happiness, man questions himself about God’s existence” (33). Openness to the beauty and power of the natural world inevitably confronts us with a force greater than ourselves, but one that is nevertheless accessible.
2. Arts
Philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre has lamented the loss of memorized speech in today’s culture. I agree about its importance for cultural and linguistic formation. An ideal curriculum would emphasize literary art and memorizing poems, prayers and songs as well as visual art and the classical masters.
In the West today, we tend see ourselves as “cultureless,” global, beyond the pettiness of localized tribes. But even this sensibility grew out of post-modernism and humanism, ideas inextricably born from the Western canon.
We cannot escape our inherited culture. This is not to dismiss the value of others or of learning about others. It is merely to embrace what we are, the reality that the western tradition of philosophy has led us up into the present day. While it has made missteps, there is also a wealth of often-forgotten wisdom from the Greek philosophers into Rome, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and Enlightenment. Our heritage in the U.S. today is the heritage of the West, which overlaps with a good deal of Catholic history, another bounteous tradition worth sharing both for those of us who believe it and for its sheer beauty.
Sharing the literary, visual and philosophical bounty of the Catholic faith and the Western tradition with children invites them into it, to take it up as their own and build on it and from it. It gives them their identity and heritage. Even for immigrants or non-Catholics, they will have the chance to learn this culture and perhaps embrace it or meld it with their own ethnic heritage (or perhaps reject it altogether, but at least do so knowing what it was).
Artistic works too share this wealth, giving children a groundedness for appreciating beauty and the beautiful creations that can touch our souls and provide a context for our being. As Aristotle put it, we are social animals and always dwell in groups that form us.
Over time, this introduction of culture through poems, songs, prayers and art provides the foundation for all the humanities: literature, philosophy, history, languages etc. I even think that the love of one culture inspires not hatred for others, but curiosity because one has glimpsed the transformative and shaping power of language, beauty and thought.
3. Love
While nature and art, in my mind, form the main content of a good education, love must be its structure and frame. Most central to goodness and happiness are love of God, neighbor and appropriate love of self.
If I could describe love of God, quickly and practically, it is recognition of our realistic limits and therefore reverence and appreciation for the power beyond us, which is God. As Christians, we further recognize from revelation and grace that incredible gift of salvation through the sacrifice of Jesus of Nazareth, and we revere and appreciate the gratuity of that gift and the effect it can have in our lives, which is liberation from sin.
Love of neighbor is much simpler; it is concern for others as equally worthy of love as we are. And it requires appropriate love of self because if we have no concept of our own lovableness before God despite our woundedness, we will be unable to see the lovableness of others despite their woundedness.
Appropriate love of self is humble acceptance of our goodness and gifts as created by God, not a selfish sort of pride that sees ourselves as better than others.
Granted, teaching all that is a tall order, but I think the seeds of it are in social learning: sharing, taking turns, considering the feelings of others, playtime, manners, learning from others and in respecting legitimate authority.
Love of self should be taught primarily through appropriate levels of responsibility for the child’s age and ability, which is designed to be rewarding in itself and increase the child’s confidence in his or her ability to influence the world positively.
Finally, there should be as little technology as possible in elementary school; no calculators, computers, tablets, phones etc. Instead, rulers and compasses are to be used. Later, when kids can grasp the role of technology as a tool, not an end or a free pass, it can introduced.
I wish I lived up to this in my own parenting; I try to make playing outside, singing songs and rhymes and kindness to others all priorities. I know I fall way short and am often snippish, impatient, and happy to get some quiet by allowing TV time. But if I could concoct an ideal to stimulate young minds and form them in the life of Christ that would be highly adaptable depending on the needs of the student, this would be it.
Stephanie Pacheco is a freelance writer and convert from Northern Virginia. She earned a M.A. in Theological Studies, summa cum laude, from Christendom College and holds a B.A. from the University of Virginia in Religious Studies with a minor in Government and Political Theory. Her work has been featured in America Magazine, Crisis Magazine, Soul Gardening Journal and syndicated by EWTN and Zenit. She blogs about making sense of the Catholic Faith in modern life at theoress.wordpress.com and lives with her husband and two young children.
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