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Thursday, May 15, 2008
SURVEY: HAVE YOUR SAY....
...on this important survey on Catholic educationlaunched by the Association of Catholic Women. Take the opportunity to add your comments in the final section.
The survey seems a bit curious to me. Committed Catholics will "strongly agree" that Catholic doctrine, moral teachng etc should be at the heart of the school. A few people, like me, are committed but a bit sceptical of schools' abilty to teach morals.
However most parents are not regular Mass attenders. They want good exam results, and they want a disciplined but dignified environment for ther children, and they see the school's Catholicism as an instrument to achieve this. Generally they accept that ther chldren will have pre-marital sex (but only after they get to unversity), and won't marry Catholics except by coincidence, and won't go to Mass regularly though they might expect grandchildren to be baptised, so they can also go to a Catholic school.
How exactly they will answer, assuming they take the survey, I don't know. However it doesn't address their real concerns.
Malcolm - Your comment seems a bit curious to me; I would be grateful for some elucidation of your scepticism regarding schools' ability to teach morals. From where I sit, the problem doesn't seem to lie so much with schools' ability to teach morals as with the predomating reticence about explaining exactly what the Church teaches and WHY she teaches it.
The overwhelming approval Bishop O'Donoghue has received since the publication of 'Fit for Mission: Schools' suggests that parents seek genuine Catholic teaching as well as satisfactory exam results for their children.
What "real concerns" do you think the survey fails to address?
Filled in the survey, as a parent I want my children to be educated in their faith as well as in their GCSE's. A person is much more than the sum of their exam results, a fact we can lose sight of in these days of more and more tests! Angela
If you want more responses to your survey why not ask if you can post it on here http://www.totalcatholic.com/discuss/viewforum.php?f=2 I'm not involved with running this site but it might be worth you sending an e mail to the forum moderator. Angela
I don't say schools cannot teach morals at all. But
Children are very conscious that they are not in school voluntarily. Teachers don't have time to form more than shallow personal relationship with any child. The needs of the smooth running of the institution take priority.
It all means that not much can be done. Parents, priests, and elder siblings must do most of the work.
6 comments:
Hi Joanna...will you get that nephew of yours to update my blog to the new one? Many thanks..
The survey seems a bit curious to me. Committed Catholics will "strongly agree" that Catholic doctrine, moral teachng etc should be at the heart of the school. A few people, like me, are committed but a bit sceptical of schools' abilty to teach morals.
However most parents are not regular Mass attenders. They want good exam results, and they want a disciplined but dignified environment for ther children, and they see the school's Catholicism as an instrument to achieve this. Generally they accept that ther chldren will have pre-marital sex (but only after they get to unversity), and won't marry Catholics except by coincidence, and won't go to Mass regularly though they might expect grandchildren to be baptised, so they can also go to a Catholic school.
How exactly they will answer, assuming they take the survey, I don't know. However it doesn't address their real concerns.
Malcolm - Your comment seems a bit curious to me; I would be
grateful for some elucidation of your scepticism regarding schools' ability to teach morals. From where I sit, the problem doesn't seem to lie so much with schools' ability to teach morals as with the predomating reticence about explaining exactly what the Church teaches and WHY she teaches it.
The overwhelming approval Bishop O'Donoghue has received since the publication of 'Fit for Mission: Schools' suggests that parents seek genuine Catholic teaching as well as satisfactory exam results for their children.
What "real concerns" do you think the survey fails to address?
Filled in the survey, as a parent I want my children to be educated in their faith as well as in their GCSE's. A person is much more than the sum of their exam results, a fact we can lose sight of in these days of more and more tests!
Angela
If you want more responses to your survey why not ask if you can post it on here
http://www.totalcatholic.com/discuss/viewforum.php?f=2
I'm not involved with running this site but it might be worth you sending an e mail to the forum moderator.
Angela
I don't say schools cannot teach morals at all. But
Children are very conscious that they are not in school voluntarily.
Teachers don't have time to form more than shallow personal relationship with any child.
The needs of the smooth running of the institution take priority.
It all means that not much can be done. Parents, priests, and elder siblings must do most of the work.
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