ROMAN CATHOLICS AND THE SCHOOLS
By THE REV. PHILIP PRIME, S.J.
THE heavens portend another storm in the educational 1 world, as soon as the war is over. The Act of 1936 is one of the few important instalments of education legisla- tion which has not split or sunk a Government. It is the religious difficulty which makes the schools question so contentious, and the Roman Catholics are the most furious, though not the most numerous, of the combatants. These conflicts would be less frequent and less violent if the Roman Catholic attitude, shared by the other denominations in varying degrees, were underscood by our fellow-citizens. The Catholics—a minority and poor—pay for their own schools, and fight all corners on their behalf, not out of mere fanaticism or particularism, but because we take our stand on a vital sociological principle. I have yet to meet the man who has understood what that principle is and has been unwilling to admit that it is intelligible, reasonable, practical and just. Unfortunately, it is only the wise who will stop to hear it ; the many pick up some phrase like "religious atmosphere" and rush into the fray thinking they understand all there is to be said about it.
There was a time, not so long ago, when education in England meant primarily learning to read, to write and to count. Its meaning was extended, still more recently, to include a smattering of history, geography and literature. There mere force of facts has compelled us since the Great War to stretch the connotation of the term to include elements which have no proper relation to the classroom at all—physical culture, cleanliness, sport, even feeding. The Board of Education takes cognisance today of a wide field of childhood's interests. A complete notion of educa- tion must, however, be wider still. There is no logical division in the development of youth ; you cannot draw a line through the natural process of growth, and say "this side of the child's existence is education, properly so called, and the rest is just life in general." Education is the total formation of a personality from infancy to natural in- dependence.
Upon whom, therefore, lies the responsibility of foster- ing, rearing, supporting, teaching, training and sending the young out into the world? To whom does the infant, the child, the youth, look for these necessary helps? He looks to the family. The responsibility lies upon the family, that is, upon the parents. This is the cardinal and unshakeable principle upon which all society is founded. The duty of education is inseparable from parenthood. It is the com- pletion of the natural function of marriage. It is the very purpose of stable family life. Just as to bring up their children is the inviolable responsibility of parents, so it is their sacred and inviolable right.
The family circle alone cannot, however, afford all the opportunities which the growing boy or girl requires. The school and the influences of teachers and of other children have a great part to play. If it belongs to the parents to choose the influences which surround the infancy of their children, how can it be denied that it is for them also to control the school influences, by choosing the type of school to which they can with confidence entrust their children? For they give their children to the school in trust, not in dominion, and in doing so they do not and cannot abdicate their own responsibility. The function of the school—whether it is a State school or private—is therefore derived from the duties of the parents. The school- master is in loco parentis. From this again it follows that the school shares the grave obligation which lies upon Catholic parents to bring up their children conformably to the Catholic religion. Nothing could be more disastrous , to the tender mind of a child than to find a conflict between Catholic teaching in the home and a non-Catholic or profane atmosphere in the school. Merely from a psychological point of view, such a contradiction cannot fail to be bewildering and harmful to the child. • The study of any subject in a school curriculum, in E0 far as it has educative value, orientates the mind, and imparts a special outlook ; it has a bearing upon life as a whole, which the competent teacher will not fail to indicate ; it suggests remote unformulated conclusions, the content or tendency of which is to an amazing extent determined by the outlook of the teacher. The Catholic parent, bound by his responsibility to God to protect his children from any- thing that might injure their faith or misdirect their moral energy, cannot entrust this all but creative power, which is indeed almost a sharing of his very fatherhood, to any who do not share his principles and creed. In teaching subjects which are not closely allied to religion, the teacher must constantly guard his pupil against drawing erroneous con- clusions, or receiving erroneous impressions which may appear as obstacles to faith, or which may weaken the principles of conduct. This religious preoccupation cannot hinder, but can only further, the advance of sound learning, since revealed truth cannot be at variance with reason or fact.
On the other hand, to possess a standard of criticism is a great stimulus to thought. A Catholic history-master, for example, will find himself compelled on occasion to criticise and correct current interpretations of his subject ; but he will criticise historically. He corrects what is un- historical in the name of true history. He does not blink unpleasant facts, but he looks to the facts themselves to yield up their true significance, which he knows cannot do hurt to faith. This criticism is not unscientific ; it is not bowdlerising ; and any conscientious educator knows how necessary it is in these days to steady the pupil-mind amid the stupefying whirlwind of vehement but uncertain and even foolish opinions which is sweeping the world and invading even the schools. The Catholic parent knows that this care will be taken of his children in a Catholic school, and only in a Catholic school. It is upon his conscience before God to ensure this protection for the immortal souls which God has committed to his keeping. Parents have, then, a duty and an absolute right to send their children to Catholic schools and no other ; for there alone can Catholic doctrine be taught and other learning in accord- ance with that doctrine.
Consequently, we cannot admit the justice of any educa- tional system in which public money is applied on the principle that "he who pays the piper calls the tune." If parents cannot afford to pay for a schooling, it is right that the State should help them to fulfil their obligations, in the interests of the children. But it may not supersede the parents, whose rights, as natural and principal educators of their children, are absolute ; still less may it hinder thei from fulfilling their most sacred obligation of shielding ti 2 faith of their children. It may not snatch those childrc away to force them into non-Catholic schools ; nor m, public money (to which Catholics contribute equally wit others) be spent on the provision and maintenance gratuitous education which Catholics cannot use, unless is also spent on the provision and maintenance of a sufficier, number of Catholic schools. Otherwise Catholics pay f( their education twice over, as they now actually do ; and since the vast majority of Catholics are poor, such injustice puts them to intolerable sacrifices. We claim, in the nam, of justice and of freedom of conscience, Catholic teacher, in Catholic schools for our children, and we make a similar claim on behalf of the parents of any religious denomina- tion which values the souls of its children.
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