How do you get an "A" in Life?

The Friday of Memorial Day weekend was my 19^th Graduation exercise at La Salle. As I greeted parents of the Class of 2018, I noted that their child was not alive when I started at La Salle. Their reaction was consistent: pause…smile…and express surprise at how fast life passes by. As I think about the last 19 years, I find myself reacting in a similar manner. In the last 19 years:

• ·       Four Presidents have occupied the White House (one survived impeachment)
• ·       Three Governors have presided in Sacramento (one was recalled by the voters)
• ·       Four Mayors have attempted to manage Los Angeles
• ·       Three Popes have occupied the Chair of Saint Peter (one was the first to resign the position        in over 500 years)
• ·       9/11 happened
• ·       The Arab Spring unfolded
• ·       Stanley Kubrick died (it matters to Baby Boomers)
• ·       The US fought two wars simultaneously
• ·       Disastrous hurricanes became a fact of life
• ·       The Great Recession nearly robbed us of the capacity for hope
• ·       Smartphones became a “thing”
• ·       Major League Football finally acknowledged the game’s impact on the health of its players       (while it paid way too much attention to a semi-inflated football)

I could go on, but you get the idea – we are so busy with the present moment that we fail to notice how much has happened when we take the time to look in the rear view mirror. We are too busy to pay attention to the impact national, regional and local events have on how we live our lives. All of the events noted earlier have shaped our worldview and form the basis of what teenagers take for granted. By way of example, for those of us of a certain age, we take for granted that:

• ·       we will be successful in our world of work, because our parents shaped that expectation        when we were young (and a robust economy made it possible)
• ·       having lived through three unwinnable wars, we tend to be suspicious of any military action
• ·       achieving middle class stability is a reasonable expectation
• ·       respect for the other is less an obligation than a function of our independent world view

None of these assumptions (okay, perhaps the suspicion of military action) can be attached to the worldview of the Class of 2018. They are about to enter college – and later – the workforce with little confidence that they will secure meaningful work. They face a world in which two household incomes are the minimum requirement for a middle class lifestyle. And, happily, they approach adulthood in which respect for the other is taken for granted, rather than an obligation (that’s still a work-in-progress if you live in the inner city).

I became a Catholic school educator over 40 years ago because I believe (and still do) that Catholic schools offer the best opportunity for young people to become good students and good people. And, yet, the world I entered as a 22-year-old teacher is not the world I occupy as a 63-year-old administrator. I’m not complaining, mind you. Today, I am far more enthusiastic about the power of Catholic education to shape the values and perspectives of young people than I was 40 years ago. In many ways, I find that the Catholic school world teenagers occupy today is far more conducive to the transmission of Gospel values than what I encountered in the 1970s. Some of that is a product of the course of events which have shaped how we understand the world around us and some (perhaps, more?) of it is a function of how our Church has evolved in its ongoing effort to minister to the changing needs of the folks in the pews.  Without a doubt, I am convinced that how we deliver Catholic education in the 21^st century is infinitely superior to that which I inherited when I first entered a classroom on the day after Labor Day in 1977.

And, yet, the Class of 2018 faces an incredibly uncertain world. Even students with a 4.0 GPA cannot assume that they will be accepted by the college of their choice. Students in the middle of the GPA spectrum can, happily, count on attending a four-year college, but they may not assume that their Baccalaureate will translate into a rewarding job which aligns with their chosen career path.  And students who, for whatever reason, do not go on to matriculate to a four-year college or university, will, undoubtedly find themselves on the economic margins of society some twenty years later.  As of 2016, a third of US citizens had achieved a Baccalaureate degree – that is the highest percentage in over 75 years. From an income perspective, graduates of four year colleges and universities are expected to earn almost double what a high school graduate will earn and those possessing a graduate degree will earn nearly 50% more than those with a Baccalaureate. Happily, a whopping 75% of La Salle’s Class of 2010 (the most recent year for which statistics are available) are in the workforce with a Baccalaureate degree in their pocket (the national average is 59%).

But this isn’t about celebrating the value of a La Salle education relative to college and career success. Rather, what I want to point out is that it was ever thus. High school and college graduates have always faced an uncertain future. The twelve events I experienced over the course of the last 19 years at La Salle can be replaced by twelve other events from 40 years ago and will be replaced by twelve events twenty years from now. These trends inform and shape our worldview, but they don’t determine it. The “A” a student received in an Advanced Placement course doesn’t translate to an “A” in marriage or parenting or service to the community. Those “A’s” are scored by how our students respond to the challenges of daily life, which are shaped by what went before and by what will come next.

Obviously, none of us can predict what will come next; but we can ensure that the young people entrusted to our care possess the skills and character traits necessary to respond ethically and dynamically to the unexpected changes the world will throw at them. My prayer for the Class of 2018 is that they will achieve an “A” in life.

When heroism is quiet ... it's louder than you think

              Not long ago, we received a wonderful email from Duke Banks ’64, which was triggered by his receipt of the School’s annual Christmas card. The card featured a portrait of Brother Solomon, our newest Lasallian saint, with an explanation of how his canonization was approved by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints because of a miraculous cure of a young girl in Caracas, Venezuela. It seemed altogether a bizarre connection between an obscure 18^th Century Christian Brother who was martyred in the French Revolution and the Catholic community in Caracas who had been venerating a statue of Brother Solomon over the course of the last fifty years. It turns out Duke’s extended Venezuelan family (he was born in Caracas with Venezuelan heritage on both sides) was intimately connected to educational institutions sponsored by the Christian Brothers in Central America. Somewhere, along the way, a statue of Brother Solomon ended up in a chapel serving residents living on the outskirts of Caracas. The Chaplain, who was educated by the Christian Brothers, gave the statue pride of place in the Sanctuary and, upon its installation, declared:

“We receive Blessed Solomon, and we will yet make him a Saint.”

It only took a mere fifteen years for that to happen. Also note that, through Duke Banks ’64, La Salle also enjoys a remote connection to the Febres Cordero family – from which emerged Brother Miguel Febres Cordero, the first Lasallian saint of the Americas and the first saint of Ecuador, his home country.

I dwell on this wonderful story of the little-known La Salle connection to Brother Solomon because, it seems to me that as the English Romantic Poet, William Wordsworth, penned at the time of the Industrial Revolution:

The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers

His critique, back then (and, perhaps, applicable to this modern-day moment) was described by one critic as: “the decadent material cynicism of the time.” The current news cycle is rife with cynical and apocalyptic stories of political intrigue, charges of cronyism and a never-ending (and exhausting) Washington battle over how to provide health care for 22 million people who would not, ordinarily, have a reasonable opportunity to access it. It is at times like this that I conclude that “the world is too much with us.”

I suppose it was ever thus. After all Saint Solomon was confronted by the awful choice of denying his vowed commitment to the Church and losing his life – and that was over two hundred years ago! I think we can learn something from Brother Solomon’s steadfast commitment to his vows. We may be fortunate not to have to consider the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our life’s commitments, but we aren’t excused – any more than Saint Solomon was – from living our lives with dignity and integrity. Here is what Brother Robert Schieler, the Superior General of the Christian Brothers had to say about Brother Solomon at the time of his canonization:

“Brother Solomon gives us a lesson of great integrity and loyalty with the options taken, even at the sacrifice of his life. And God only knows how necessary it is today to live with integrity and loyalty in a world where it has become normal to trample rights unscrupulously against our conscience, against others and against God, for mere interest and profit ... Secondly, there is another message that Brother Solomon proposes to Christian teachers and consecrated persons in general: to be witnesses of Christ, whatever the cost.  The world today needs more than ever loyalty, consistency, justice, generosity, altruism even at the cost of your own life. “

This last sentence captures, for me, the essential challenge this Lasallian school in Pasadena must face every day if we are to be faithful to the principles of our founding Brothers as well as those in a long line of Brothers who preceded and followed Saint Solomon: to exercise loyalty, consistency, justice, generosity and altruism even when the world around us appears to have abandoned them.

It seems to me that we need more heroes. The turbulent present moment admits of little by way of seeing past the intense conflict between political factions. Even within the Catholic Church, we encounter those who celebrate the leadership of Pope Francis as ground breaking and necessary and those who fear his innovative style will erode cherished traditions and beliefs. I’m not clear on why our American culture insists on a divisive either/or rather than an embracive both/and; but here we are, passively co-dependent on a Hobson’s Choice which, more often than not, forces us into no choice. Elsewhere[i], I’ve observed that Pope Francis is not only the first Jesuit pontiff, but quite possibly, given his preferential option for the poor and marginalized, the first Lasallian pontiff. Our Lasallian world calls us to pay attention to heroes – saints – in order to inspire us to be the better people we want to be.

Pope Francis is, for me, one of those heroes, but also, by example, highlights the wonderful young people we are sending off to college and a life of purpose and fulfillment. This is where I find strength in knowing that the Lasallian educational mission is not only alive and well, but able to nurture in those who encounter it a commitment to lifelong learning, service and leadership.

As we begin a new year at La Salle (my nineteenth!), let’s pray that the courage and integrity that inspired Saint Solomon will enable all of us who are responsible for the students entrusted to our care to demonstrate a similar, quiet heroism in the midst of a world that sometimes seems to have lost its bearings. After 60 years of fidelity to the principles of Saint John Baptist de La Salle, the Founder of the Christian Brothers, I think this Lasallian community is up to the challenge.

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[i] Cf. my February, 2015 Blog entry (http://lasallehs.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2015-12-01T15:59:00%2B01:00&max-results=7&start=7&by-date=false) WHAT MAKES POPE FRANCIS DIFFERENT?

Lasallian Values as seen from 200 meters in the sky

             

There is a fascinating building in Singapore called the Marina Bay Sands Hotel. It is billed as the most expensive stand-alone casino resort property in the world. Built to address Singapore’s anticipated growth in tourism, the hotel faces the city-state’s central business district to the north and the Singapore Strait to the south. What makes the resort remarkable is a 340 metre-long “Skypark,” shaped in the form of an enormous boat (to echo the city-state’s role as a major Southeast Asia shipping hub) which sits atop of and links together the three hotel towers. The Skypark contains gardens, jogging paths and an infinity pool which support the activities of nearly 4,000 visitors (think: a small town suspended more than 600 feet in the air).

              The Marina Bay Sands Hotel was my last view of Singapore as we departed the city-state for Los Angeles. “We” refers to a team of five La Salle colleagues who joined me on a week-long trip to Hong Kong and Singapore. These two cities have a sizeable Lasallian “footprint” with sixteen schools between them. We were particularly interested in visiting three schools: La Salle College in Hong Kong and Saint Joseph’s Institution and Saint Joseph’s International School in Singapore. These three schools are highly-regarded for their superb college-preparatory programs and it was my idea that they and we might benefit from establishing some form of networking relationship which could include students and teachers from each institution.

              Our hosts were truly gracious, generous with the time they shared with us and clearly proud of the work they do on behalf of the students entrusted to their care. Their sense of hospitality mirrored what I know visitors experience when they come to La Salle here in Pasadena. There was definitely a “Lasallian feel” to the schools we visited – surrounding their students with historical images of De La Salle and other Christian Brother saints. In fact, I suspect they do a more consistent job in this regard than we do here in Pasadena! What makes this effort truly impressive is the fact that all three schools serve a significant number of non-Christian (Buddhist and Muslim) students. And, given the fact that two of the three schools are 100 and 166 years old, one should assume that the Christian Brothers have always served a significant non-Christian student population. I was struck by this commitment to sustaining a Lasallian identity in a part of the world where Catholics are clearly in a minority. Saint Joseph’s Institution, for example, proudly displays their Lasallian Core Values (Faith-Service-Community) throughout the campus, making this visitor feel like he could be at any school sponsored by the Christian Brothers here in California! La Salle College, Hong Kong, decisively proclaims this Lasallian principle:

(The College) seeks to empower all students to realize their potential through

academic study, sport, and the arts

Reminds me of the “three-legged” stool (academics, arts, athletics) I like to use as a metaphor to describe the La Salle Difference here in Pasadena!

              The opportunity to visit successful Lasallian schools in a part of the world that is non-Western and, largely, non-Christian was transformative for me. I came away from the experience more convinced than ever that Lasallian – and Catholic – values can be meaningful to students of all – and no – faiths. Even more powerful is the recognition that what we do here in Pasadena is echoed in Lasallian schools a half a world away. While I have been aware of the fact that Lasallian schools operate in over 70 countries, it hasn’t really occurred to me to appreciate how deeply connected we are, united in passing on a nearly 400 year old educational tradition bequeathed by a genius of an educational innovator – Saint John Baptist de La Salle.

              As I departed Singapore and thought about the Marina Bay Sands Hotel, I realized that my final memory of my first trip to Asia was a structure containing three separate elements united by a boat-shaped “bridge.” What an appropriate visual metaphor for my experience of our shared Lasallian world that bridges oceans and continents for the simple purpose of delivering a high quality “Human and Christian education to the young, especially the poor.”[i]

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[i] Rule of the Brothers of the Christian Schools

Keeping our students safe

             

While the images in the Los Angeles Times of thousands of students participating in the National Student March in protest of gun violence were grimly impressive, the most powerful image for me was a mental one inspired by the quote of Parkland, FL resident Marc Harris on why he marched:

My daughter, Jenna, is a sophomore at Douglas and was cowering in a closet

during the murders at her school

As an educator who has spent 40 years working with teenagers, I can’t think of a more chilling image of what is wrong with the world they will inherit than that of Jenna cowering in a classroom closet. It is hard enough for parents and teachers to equip teenagers to move through adolescence without being overwhelmed by the corroding effects of traditional and social media messages that encourage them to act in irresponsible ways; much less have to worry about keeping them safe at school. Between the triple challenges of adolescent development, increasingly more rigorous academic expectations and the fragmented social structure confronting teenagers on a daily basis, the high school experience is sufficiently intimidating that our young people shouldn’t also have to learn to be afraid of what might happen to them if they encounter an unbalanced individual armed with rapid fire weapons. Cowering in a closet is not the answer.

              Some may be quick to point out that the solution to gun violence is increased funding for enhanced behavioral health services. Yes – that is a solution – one that may reduce gun violence many years from now. However, our children need to be safe now. On average, 12 young people a day die from gun violence. The National Association of Social Workers makes the argument that the issue of reducing gun violence is distinct and separate from the right to own firearms.

I agree.

Having spent a fair amount of my teaching career in Upstate New York where the opening day of hunting season regularly witnessed an increase in school absences, I respect the responsible use of firearms. As Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes famously argued that “falsely shouting fire in a movie theater” is not protected free speech, demonstrating that there are limits to the First Amendment, we already have limitations in place with respect to the Second Amendment. Making the case for the prevention of certain arms acquisitions by individuals who don’t have a clear and obvious reason to use them shouldn’t be in conflict with the prerogatives of the Second Amendment. Just as we all desire safety in theaters, we should also desire safety in schools. This argument is increasingly being made by a wide variety of professional educational, religious and medical organizations, including:

·       The Catholic and Episcopal Bishops

·       United Methodist Church

·       Presbyterian Church

·       United Church of Christ

·       Rabbis Against Gun Violence

·       National Catholic Educational Association

·       Jesuit Schools Network

·       Dominican Sisters Conference

·       Franciscan Friars

·       Lasallian Association of Secondary School Chief Administrators

·       National Association of Independent Schools

·       California Association of Independent Schools

·       National Parent Teacher Association

·       American Association of Nurse Practitioners

·       National Association of Social Workers

These and other organizations are asking for a national conversation regarding effective measures necessary to reduce gun violence. This conversation shouldn’t be about an “either/or” dichotomy (as currently appears to be the case) but a “both/and” dialogue in which competing individual rights (to bear arms/to go about one’s business in safety) are addressed in common sense ways. It is not common sense, for example, to argue on CNN (as one politician did) that the Parkland students should learn CPR rather than marching in the streets.

              Which brings me to the question of student protests. Those of us who grew up as “Baby Boomers” well remember the ugly protests against the Vietnam War that took place on college campuses across the Nation. Those demonstrations – regardless of their merit – fanned the flames of a country already divided over Vietnam. The student protests against gun violence, however, were led by articulate and thoughtful young people who had a story to tell the nation about the personal toll gun violence was exacting in their schools. I am reminded of the student walkout at La Salle on March 14^th. Teachers and administrators spent a great deal of time thinking about how to approach this event. We knew we wanted to be supportive of students’ exercise of Free Speech, but we also didn’t want the event to become an incoherent example of adolescent anarchy.

              Therefore, I was gratified to observe how student leaders Isabella Marez ’18 and Katrina Yuzefpolsky ’19 approached the walkout. Students quietly left the building and stood in front of the campus while Bella and Katrina read out the names of the 17 victims. They observed 17 minutes of silence and then concluded with a prayer service. Students re-entered the building and quietly continued on with their school day.

              This moment was all the more powerful because of Katrina’s own story. Ten years ago, on Christmas Eve, Katrina opened the front door to be greeted by a man dressed in a Santa suit (her aunt’s ex-husband) who began firing one of four semi-automatic weapons, striking Katrina in the face and killing nine of her relatives. To see Katrina quietly, politely and thoughtfully organize her peers on March 14^th was to know that, while we may not leave them a more humane world when they reach adulthood, they will certainly act in a manner consistent with Martin Luther King, Jr’s famous observation:

“…the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

Remembering the quiet authority Bella and Katrina exercised that day is, for me, a far more hopeful mental image than that of Jenna Harris cowering in a closet.

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The problem with car horns

                            

Typically, my morning route to La Salle takes me to the south gate entrance of the lower parking lot, so I don’t often experience the congestion that takes place in front of the School during student drop-off at the time of the warning bell prior to the start of first block (I’m told it isn’t pretty).   Not too long ago, however, I had an 8am meeting with a donor in Sierra Madre, so I found myself driving north on Hastings Ranch Drive with the intention of turning right onto Sierra Madre Boulevard. The light was red, so I came to a stop, looked to my left and, proceeded to make a right-hand turn, thinking there was sufficient time to do so without impeding oncoming traffic. Apparently, I was wrong, because an SUV caught up behind me and, while leaning on the horn, proceeded to swerve to the left and then immediately cut into my lane, just in front of me. It appeared to me that the driver was angry that my poor judgment prevented him (her?) from arriving at the intended location in a timely manner. So, imagine my surprise when, not more than 1000 feet later, the driver pulled over to the curb in front of La Salle to drop off a student. I say, surprise, because I can only imagine the conversation between student and parent at that particular moment of high drama: “I’m going to be late and I’ll have to serve a detention and miss (insert activity) after school!”

              I suppose that this is a typical dialogue between most teenagers and their parents at some point in time. Having grown up in New York, my version of that conversation entailed getting out the door and to the bus stop in time – only it was my mother urging me to avoid the detention! So, I recognize that it was ever thus. What troubles me about the particular scene which I encountered on a certain Thursday morning was the SUV driver’s use of the car horn as an instructional tool. I say “instructional” because I’ve noticed over my nearly 20 years living in Los Angeles that the car horn – initially designed as a safety/warning device – appears to be more frequently used as a means of informing someone else of their errant behavior behind the wheel of a car – an electronic version of “You’re an idiot!” Don’t get me wrong – I spent a significant chunk of my life in NYC – so I’m used to horns blaring. But, for the most part, blaring horns were the provenance of taxi drivers, not SUV drivers. Yes, any visitor to Manhattan will recall the incessant use of the car horn; but, in general, their function is to alert another car driver that they are dangerously close to another vehicle (or to point out that cutting off another vehicle in order to make it through a changing stop light is a foolish choice). So, from my perspective, a blaring horn ought to be for the purpose of alerting another driver that an oncoming train is about to bring a life, well-lived, to a premature end.

              Not so in Los Angeles.

I get how frustrating traffic congestion is here (it really is worse than NYC). I get the frustration drivers experience when unexpected events clog the freeways (I’ve had too many heart-thumping-just-in-time- to-get-on-my-plane-at-LAX moments). What I don’t get is – other than providing an outlet for a person’s frustration at losing control of one’s expected arrival time – why leaning on a car horn is an acceptable response to the unexpected behavior of a complete stranger who, undoubtedly, is making his/her own assumptions about what is taking place at a particular moment. In my situation, I am ready to grant that I may have misjudged the distance between me and the oncoming vehicle. If so, a quick tap on the horn would (it seems to me) alert me to my error. A blaring horn (it seems to me) is a statement about my poor driving skills (most of my family and friends would agree) rather than a reminder to be more careful next time, or a quick alert that I am too close to an oncoming vehicle. The blaring horn, the rapid movement to circumnavigate my car and the immediate move to the curb tells me that, not only have I inconvenienced the offended driver, but that I needed to be taught a lesson.

              Perhaps I do – but I don’t think that responsibility should be held by any driver (especially in LA!) who is irritated by my – seemingly – poor judgment in a situation that transpired in less than two minutes. I especially don’t think that responsibility should be shouldered by a harried parent who is anxiously trying to ensure that the student passenger avoids being late for school. Here’s why…

              What’s the worst that can happen … an afternoon detention that becomes an inconvenient interruption into an already overscheduled day? Actually, that’s not the worst that can happen. The worst that can happen is that a teenager learns that it is okay to vent anger at strangers who may (or may not) have made a poor choice. We see too much of that among our peers in today’s society.  We (perhaps) agree that everyone should exercise more patience, more tolerance towards others. We worry about how to ensure that the next generation behaves in a responsible manner with respect to situations that, inevitably, they will not be able to control. But, what we don’t necessarily appreciate is that they are watching us and watching how we react to unexpected situations. They learn from us – without our ever noticing – that our reactions teach them how they should react.

One of the most difficult challenges I face in my role as a leader of the La Salle community is paying attention to the fact that my every reaction is parsed for its significance to those around me. I don’t always get it right – and my colleagues are there to help me accept that. I can’t imagine how difficult it is for parents to endure a lifetime of scrutiny. I only know that if we aren’t prepared to notice that our reactions to unplanned disruptions to our routine have consequences beyond the momentary annoyance, we run the risk of sending mixed signals to those for whom we have the greatest hope will be able to move our fragmented world closer to embracing the values of respect, tolerance and giving others the benefit of the doubt.

I think we would all benefit from putting the car horn on mute.

             

When everyone is shouting, no one is listening

"May you live in interesting times" is commonly attributed to a traditional Chinese proverb. While seemingly a blessing, the expression is normally used ironically in that “uninteresting” times is generally a preferred situation for most people. Regardless of one’s political persuasion, I think we can all agree that we are definitely living in interesting times. What I want to comment on, however, is not the latest news (fake or otherwise) coming out of the Nation’s Capital (or, indeed, any State Capital) but, rather, the unintended consequences of the shouting, finger-pointing and “holier than thou” attitudes which increasingly characterize conversations in the public square. The recent partial shutdown of the Federal Government is a case in point. Including the one just ended, each of the last four government shutdowns occurred because of ideological challenges that had nothing to do with the issue at hand: enacting a continuing resolution to fund the government until Congress is ready to approve the annual budget. We teach our students that a continuing resolution is a simple tool designed to continue last fiscal year’s authorized spending patterns until disagreements surrounding next year’s budget can be resolved. So, they ask “Why is new stuff put in that doesn’t have anything to do with the continuing resolution?”

Good question.

With this most recent shutdown, both political parties are guilty as charged with “putting stuff in” that shouldn’t be there. The answer, of course, is complicated – beginning with the tired meme “playing to their base” – which while tired, is generally the first problem with this dysfunctional method of funding the Federal Government. The Democrats were “playing to their base” by insisting on addressing immigration issues. During the Obama Administration, a 15 day shutdown was driven by the Republicans desire to limit – or eliminate – the Affordable Care Act. Neither objective should have ever seen the light of day in a continuing resolution. So why do our political parties pursue this strategy? Because (in my opinion), they have lost the ability to manage the art of compromise. One could make the argument that the need to pass a continuing resolution is a function of the failure to compromise with respect to the approval of a full budget. In the words of Country Music Singer, Kenny Rogers,

“you have to know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em.”

By playing to their bases, our political parties inherently understand that they can’t risk “folding their cards” and angering their base. Compromise is the victim of this short-sided approach. Recently elected Red state (Alabama) Democratic Senator Doug Jones observed that this approach robs the Senate of its most vaunted characteristic as the world’s greatest deliberative body (1a: the act of thinking about or discussing something and deciding carefully: the act of deliberating).

So why comment on this now? Because, as with so many other national, political, social and cultural issues, when our students see social and political dysfunction on television (and increasingly) on Social Media; they are inherently absorbing lessons which are antithetical to the values we seek to promote at school and which you seek to promote at the dinner table. As I’ve commented in this space before: if everyone is shouting, no one is listening. What makes matters worse is the plummeting rates of voter participation in local, state and national elections. When our students witness gridlock in Washington, even the most compelling civics lesson taught by the most charismatic teacher isn’t going to counteract their perception that things are broken, and their inevitable conclusion that elections can’t – or won’t – fix them.

We want our students to listen to each other, their teachers and parents. We want them to respect positions with which they don’t agree and, most importantly, in a world touched by Original Sin, we want them to learn the art of compromise. As a Catholic school, we emphasize that perfection is to be found in Heaven and not on earth. Compromise is the only strategy capable of moving any issue, project or cause closer to perfection. After 30 years as a Catholic school administrator, I know that La Salle is the best school I’ve ever had the privilege to lead. I also know it isn’t perfect and that, without the art of compromise, it will not become even better than it now is. I want our young people to appreciate the art of compromise when it comes time for them to assume leadership roles in business, social institutions or politics. That hope can’t be realized without willing partnerships beyond home and school. However, I don’t see us returning to “uninteresting times” in the near future.

Maybe we should turn the TV off for a while

It's not easy combating bad boy behavior

For quite some time I’ve avoided commenting on the twin scourges of sexual abuse and sexual harassment; the former because of the obvious mishandling of the issue by our own Church over the course of the last three or four decades; the latter because, quite frankly, it has been a head-scratcher for me to learn – particularly lately – of the systemic and pervasive character of this sin against the seventh commandment in American society. I assure you, I am not being naïve. I recognize that men – especially men in positions of power and authority – can succumb to the temptation of using their influence in deleterious ways, particularly with respect to women. People of a certain age don’t need the disgusting behavior of Harvey Weinstein to be reminded that a Hollywood stereotype – the “casting couch” – was rooted in reality. What causes me to scratch my head these days is not only the extent of the scourge of sexual harassment but that it can be (and is) found in pretty much every occupational category one can imagine: entertainment, politics, journalism, sports, transportation and, yes, religion. And, now, we learn (November 17, 2017, National Catholic Reporter) that this scourge can be found in the hospitality industry.[1] Unhappily for Catholics, renowned New Orleans Chef John Besh, the subject of a months-long sexual harassment expose by the New Orleans Times-Picayune, is well known as a Catholic activist, having served on the advisory board of the Center for Ethics and Culture at the University of Notre Dame as well as participating in the Middle East Ecumenical group Chefs4Peace. I suppose it is naïve of me to think that an individual with such a deep commitment to his Catholic faith could lose his way in such a spectacularly calamitous fashion…yet another head scratcher.

This is particularly discouraging for me as one who has spent the last 40 years in Catholic education. After 40 years, I recognize that it is enormously challenging for parents to guide their teenagers safely through the rough and tumble world of adolescence. I have seen these challenges manifest themselves in different ways, whether it was the seventies, eighties, nineties or – especially –the current moment. Not only has Social Media fundamentally altered the landscape teenagers negotiate, but it has also created an environment in which information is shared instantaneously, giving adults little opportunity to shape their children’s understanding of its significance. Shaping how young people understand the world which surrounds them is central to the process of forming a values-based perspective. Those of us of a certain age remember that the dinner table served as a Petri dish for values formation. Discussing the day’s events, its challenges and successes, enabled parents to provide a context for the moral formation of their children's consciences. With the advent of Social Media, it is almost impossible to prepare children for the onslaught of the unmediated information to which they are exposed, let alone to put it in the context of a values-based world view. Which is why the prevalence of sexual harassment is such a head scratcher for me – how do we help teenagers learn how to respect others – especially women – when they are fed a steady diet of #metoo messages? How do they learn to manage their own emerging sexuality when adult celebrities – some of whom they may be inclined to admire – have clearly failed to embrace the messages of respect for the other that we are trying to teach them at home and at school?

As bleak as this appears (to me), I am encouraged by the rapid response trend of different institutions to the charge of sexual harassment: they are quickly severing ties with those individuals who have been credibly accused. While I want our teenagers to learn Respect for all persons (a Lasallian core value) in the classroom and at the dinner table, I recognize that we all need reinforcement of social values through negative consequences (I am not necessarily being an upstanding citizen because I obey the posted speed limit). While our teenagers are being exposed to a steady diet of “bad boy” behavior by adult celebrities, they are also learning that there is a price to be paid for it. I suspect that the scourge of sexual harassment will continue to unfold, but it will be met with an increasingly vigorous “zero tolerance” response. Our young people will observe this dynamic, going forward, and will, inevitably, make the necessary connection to the importance of the values we teach them at home and at school.

It will not be easy. I regularly tell parents that everyone has their individual demons which lurk just below the surface; unfortunately adolescence is that time when the filter hasn’t been fully developed – all the more challenging when they see too many adults who are incapable of maintaining their own filters. We need to double down on this challenge. While I am comforted at the prospect of a healthy student culture at La Salle enabling our teenagers to acquire appropriate pro-social skills when interacting with their peers, I also recognize that high school is a time in an adolescent’s life when the hormones try to throw a party and forget to invite the brain! Together, parents, teachers and administrators must confront the scourge of sexual harassment and equip our young people with the tools to resist the bad boy behavior of celebrities who should have known better.

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[1] Chef’s Catholic connections in spotlight after sexual harassment allegations