Last month I made reference to a talk on the future of American Catholic education given by Fordham University President, Joseph McShane, SJ. Father McShane articulated five theses which, he believed, will characterize Catholic schools of the future:
1. The challenges that Catholic education has faced and overcome in the past 50 years will pale in comparison to the challenges that it will face in the next 50 years
2. The American Catholic School System will thrive only if the Church recognizes that it is a community of communities – and that the needs of the various communities that it is called to serve are different
3. The American Catholic School System will survive and thrive only if it is able to believe in, nurture and build community-based schools in which ownership is shared by the parish community, the school faculty and the parents
4. Students will come in the door expecting one thing (namely, an entrée to a successful professional life) and they will discover something entirely far richer: they will discover the faith
5. The American Catholic School System will thrive only if it is seen as … a great, transcendent and transforming instrument of both grace and personal enrichment
I commented on his first thesis in this space last month. This time, I want to take up his second thesis that the success of Catholic schools is (and will be) a function of their ability to become a “community of communities.”
At first glance, the notion that a school can function as a “community of communities” may appear to be a bit of an oxymoron. After all, one could argue that the primary function of a school is to nurture a community of learners. But this perspective, while accurate, overlooks the challenge every school faces in responding to the needs of a heterogeneous population of students while, at the same time, treating them as equals. Successful schools recognize that their students come from different neighborhoods, cultural, economic and ethnic backgrounds and academic foundations. Even the most prestigious school must face – and meet – this challenge.
At La Salle, for example, we take great pride in the policy established by our Board of Trustees, which requires that the student population we serve should reflect the demographics of the San Gabriel Valley. This explains why there is no majority from any one racial/ethnic population among our students; why 5% of them qualify for full tuition assistance and the next 10% are eligible for 50% financial aid grants and that up to 30% of our students will come from religious traditions other than the Catholic Church. At La Salle, we strive to create one community of learners out of the various communities from which our students’ identity is forged. Our success in this endeavor is predicated upon the strong ties between home and school that are nurtured over the course of four years. It is not at all unusual, for example, to have parents tell me that they appreciate the diversity of teenagers who socialize in their home after school and on weekends. This unity in diversity can be observed on our campus at lunch, during break, in the classrooms and on the playing field. And, while no adolescent society is ever completely free of the tyranny found in social relationships among peers, at La Salle, I find that our young people are extremely conscious of the inclusive values inherent in schools sponsored by the Christian Brothers. This, too, echoes the American Catholic school experience over the course of the last 150 years.
In describing the emergence of the Catholic school system in the middle of the 19th century, Father McShane artfully notes that “…the American Catholic Church was (and is) the only institution in the nation (aside from the nation itself) that mirrors the national motto/aspiration: “Out of many, one.” Then, the challenge for the Church was to protect an immigrant population from the quasi-public effort to instill Protestant religious values in Catholic children, thus weakening their adherence to Catholic beliefs. So the Church nurtured “ethnic villages” organized around urban neighborhoods where Central and Western European immigrants could feel comfortable speaking their native language and practicing cherished customs from their homeland.
In some ways American Catholic schools continue to protect our students from a hostile culture – only now the hostility is to be found in the secularization of values, the homogenization of customs and the incessant stream of messages which effectively degrade moral and ethical principles that are the essential building blocks of healthy social interactions. At La Salle, these challenges are met with a robust response that is prevalent throughout the day-to-day school experience especially in the Religion classroom, monthly liturgical celebrations and our retreat and community service programs. These programs enable the students entrusted to our care to develop a respect and compassion for others, especially the poor and, equally importantly, to celebrate the diversity of the human condition. It is in this sense that La Salle, like the American Catholic school system can be said to be a “community of communities.”
Next month: shared “ownership” of the educational enterprise.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
The Future of Catholic Education
In a recent address to the John Carroll Society of Washington, DC on the future of Catholic education, Fordham University President, Joseph McShane, SJ articulated five theses:
1. The challenges that Catholic education has faced and overcome in the past fifty years will pale in comparison to the challenges that it will face in the next fifty years.
2. The American Catholic School System will thrive only if the Church recognizes that it is a community of communities – and that the needs of the various communities that it is called to serve are different.
3. The American Catholic School System will survive and thrive only if it is able to believe in, nurture and build community-based schools in which ownership is shared by the parish community, the school faculty and the parents.
4. Students will come in the door expecting one thing (namely, an entree to a successful professional life) and they will discover something entirely far richer: they will discover the faith.
5. The American Catholic School System will thrive only if it is seen as … a great, transcendent and transforming instrument of both grace and personal enrichment.
The context for Father McShane’s address is the startling shift in the number of Catholic schools from a high of over 12,000 in the 1960s to just over 7,000 in 2009. The vast majority of the closed schools have been located in the nation’s inner cities. This trend mirrors the demographic shift that Father McShane describes as the “suburbanization of American culture” in which the expansion of Catholic education followed the move from urban to exurban locations. This informs McShane’s first point: that the challenges facing Catholic education in the next fifty years are expected to be far more dramatic than anything experienced in the last fifty. Why? Because, as McShane notes, the success of the first 100 years of Catholic schools in the United States “reflected the ethnic villages (neighborhoods) in which the Catholic people lived. This was a brilliant strategy: the bishops sought to keep the Church together by catering to the very different needs of their diverse flock. (They sought unity through diversity.) This meant that schools reflected linguistically and culturally the neighborhoods in which they were located.” This isn’t the case in suburbia, where schools like La Salle, located on the edge of an urban center, serve a majority/minority population. Moreover, the population served by a Catholic school tends to become more homogenous the farther out it is from the urban core. Ironically, therefore, the social network that sustained Catholic schools for the first hundred years (local, ethnically based institutions staffed by “inexpensive” labor – religious men and women – united in the values and traditions of the Catholic faith) – will be largely absent in the next fifty. La Salle is a case in point. In 1960 there were fifteen Christian Brothers staffing a school of 400 boys. Today there is one Brother on staff (doing the work of three!) serving 740 young men and women. Our students come from 33 different communities and, while two-thirds of them identify as Catholic, we are proud to serve students who identify with each of the major world religions. We are equally proud of the ethnic diversity that they represent. I would argue that this is precisely why La Salle enjoys a robust admissions profile. Our success as a Catholic high school in the early years of a new millennium is due, in no small part, to our ability to adapt to the needs of the community we serve. This is a uniquely “Lasallian” characteristic, derived from the commitment of Saint John Baptist de La Salle to meet the needs and challenges of the students entrusted to his care, particularly in and around the margins of seventeenth century French cities.
By the time you read this column, we will be in the middle of “Catholic Schools Week” an annual nation-wide celebration sponsored by the National Catholic Educational Association (www.ncea.org). I want to take the opportunity of Catholic Schools Week to begin to explore the theses Father McShane asserts and to see how they correspond to the lived reality of La Salle High School. Next month: the Catholic school as a “community of communities.”
1. The challenges that Catholic education has faced and overcome in the past fifty years will pale in comparison to the challenges that it will face in the next fifty years.
2. The American Catholic School System will thrive only if the Church recognizes that it is a community of communities – and that the needs of the various communities that it is called to serve are different.
3. The American Catholic School System will survive and thrive only if it is able to believe in, nurture and build community-based schools in which ownership is shared by the parish community, the school faculty and the parents.
4. Students will come in the door expecting one thing (namely, an entree to a successful professional life) and they will discover something entirely far richer: they will discover the faith.
5. The American Catholic School System will thrive only if it is seen as … a great, transcendent and transforming instrument of both grace and personal enrichment.
The context for Father McShane’s address is the startling shift in the number of Catholic schools from a high of over 12,000 in the 1960s to just over 7,000 in 2009. The vast majority of the closed schools have been located in the nation’s inner cities. This trend mirrors the demographic shift that Father McShane describes as the “suburbanization of American culture” in which the expansion of Catholic education followed the move from urban to exurban locations. This informs McShane’s first point: that the challenges facing Catholic education in the next fifty years are expected to be far more dramatic than anything experienced in the last fifty. Why? Because, as McShane notes, the success of the first 100 years of Catholic schools in the United States “reflected the ethnic villages (neighborhoods) in which the Catholic people lived. This was a brilliant strategy: the bishops sought to keep the Church together by catering to the very different needs of their diverse flock. (They sought unity through diversity.) This meant that schools reflected linguistically and culturally the neighborhoods in which they were located.” This isn’t the case in suburbia, where schools like La Salle, located on the edge of an urban center, serve a majority/minority population. Moreover, the population served by a Catholic school tends to become more homogenous the farther out it is from the urban core. Ironically, therefore, the social network that sustained Catholic schools for the first hundred years (local, ethnically based institutions staffed by “inexpensive” labor – religious men and women – united in the values and traditions of the Catholic faith) – will be largely absent in the next fifty. La Salle is a case in point. In 1960 there were fifteen Christian Brothers staffing a school of 400 boys. Today there is one Brother on staff (doing the work of three!) serving 740 young men and women. Our students come from 33 different communities and, while two-thirds of them identify as Catholic, we are proud to serve students who identify with each of the major world religions. We are equally proud of the ethnic diversity that they represent. I would argue that this is precisely why La Salle enjoys a robust admissions profile. Our success as a Catholic high school in the early years of a new millennium is due, in no small part, to our ability to adapt to the needs of the community we serve. This is a uniquely “Lasallian” characteristic, derived from the commitment of Saint John Baptist de La Salle to meet the needs and challenges of the students entrusted to his care, particularly in and around the margins of seventeenth century French cities.
By the time you read this column, we will be in the middle of “Catholic Schools Week” an annual nation-wide celebration sponsored by the National Catholic Educational Association (www.ncea.org). I want to take the opportunity of Catholic Schools Week to begin to explore the theses Father McShane asserts and to see how they correspond to the lived reality of La Salle High School. Next month: the Catholic school as a “community of communities.”
Thursday, November 19, 2009
We Have Met the Enemy & They is Us
I can’t wait for this election to be over. Don’t misunderstand me – I’ve been glued to the news channels on television and radio for the better part of the last six months – and one reason why I look forward to November 5th is what I consider to be the excessive length of time it took to get from the first Primary to Election Day. And while I believe that American voters would be better served by a relatively brief election cycle (such as in Britain, where it is six weeks), that doesn’t fully explain my desire to see this election season come to a close.
My political exhaustion stems from the incredibly polarized context within which this presidential contest is being negotiated. While I recognize that the art of politics requires that the choice of candidates needs to be presented in stark terms; it is hard for me to watch the debates and view television ads which imply that support for the other side will lead to moral, economic and political ruin. After all, the nation survived the election of 1868 which put Ulysses S. Grant (a man better suited for the battlefield than the halls of government) in office, as well as the disputed election of 1876 that put Rutherford B. Hayes in office. More recently, while the election of Herbert Hoover in 1928 didn’t directly lead to the Great Depression, historians regard his failure to respond effectively to this calamity as one of the great presidential failures.
The point, I think, is obvious: the strength of the American political system is to be found in its resilience. We understand that politicians are as flawed as we are – yet when it comes to the ballot box, we seem to ignore that rational understanding and invest entirely too much energy into the “Great Man” theory – that one man (or woman) can singlehandedly fix our problems. Recently, I was listening to a radio presentation of a panel discussion of Republican and Democratic economists who were debating the causes of our current financial crisis. At the end of the session, the moderator – a student at Georgetown University – summarized the conversation by expressing gratitude that the panel could disagree agreeably. I sensed a note of astonishment in her voice. That’s why I can’t wait for this election to be over. Somehow we have allowed the public debate about our Nation’s future to become a shouting match regarding who’s right and who’s wrong. Last time I checked, neither political party (nor their leadership) could fall back on a sterling record regarding their prognostication skills. And that’s the point: we, the consumers of political messages, allow our elected officials to distract us from the central fact that neither red nor blue states have a lock on the Truth. We do this because the issues are complex and complicated and it is stressful for us to try to figure them out. Yet, the desire to consider these challenging social problems in a simplified way often results in outcomes we never expected.
While it is easy to look at religious world views through the same, cynical lens, there are perspectives which remind us that, in the end, we are responsible for the people we elect. The Catholic Bishops in the United States issued a pastoral letter entitled:
Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship
The document offers three statements, in particular, which clarify our responsibility as citizens and Catholics:
We do not tell Catholics how to vote. The responsibility to make political choices rests with each person and his or her properly formed conscience.
and:
As Catholics we are not single-issue voters. A candidate’s position on a single issue is not sufficient to guarantee a voter’s support.
and:
Conscience is a judgment of reason whereby the human person
recognizes the moral quality of a concrete act. . . . [Every person] is obliged to follow faithfully what he [or she] knows to be just and right”
What I find particularly encouraging in these statements – and in the document as a whole – is the Bishops’ clear recognition that we are responsible for the government we put in place and we cannot abandon that task in search of simple answers. So, while I can’t wait for the election to be over, I can find some peace in the notion that glib answers in debates or advertising cannot be substituted for our individual responsibility to choose wisely, carefully, and with a great deal of thought.
My political exhaustion stems from the incredibly polarized context within which this presidential contest is being negotiated. While I recognize that the art of politics requires that the choice of candidates needs to be presented in stark terms; it is hard for me to watch the debates and view television ads which imply that support for the other side will lead to moral, economic and political ruin. After all, the nation survived the election of 1868 which put Ulysses S. Grant (a man better suited for the battlefield than the halls of government) in office, as well as the disputed election of 1876 that put Rutherford B. Hayes in office. More recently, while the election of Herbert Hoover in 1928 didn’t directly lead to the Great Depression, historians regard his failure to respond effectively to this calamity as one of the great presidential failures.
The point, I think, is obvious: the strength of the American political system is to be found in its resilience. We understand that politicians are as flawed as we are – yet when it comes to the ballot box, we seem to ignore that rational understanding and invest entirely too much energy into the “Great Man” theory – that one man (or woman) can singlehandedly fix our problems. Recently, I was listening to a radio presentation of a panel discussion of Republican and Democratic economists who were debating the causes of our current financial crisis. At the end of the session, the moderator – a student at Georgetown University – summarized the conversation by expressing gratitude that the panel could disagree agreeably. I sensed a note of astonishment in her voice. That’s why I can’t wait for this election to be over. Somehow we have allowed the public debate about our Nation’s future to become a shouting match regarding who’s right and who’s wrong. Last time I checked, neither political party (nor their leadership) could fall back on a sterling record regarding their prognostication skills. And that’s the point: we, the consumers of political messages, allow our elected officials to distract us from the central fact that neither red nor blue states have a lock on the Truth. We do this because the issues are complex and complicated and it is stressful for us to try to figure them out. Yet, the desire to consider these challenging social problems in a simplified way often results in outcomes we never expected.
While it is easy to look at religious world views through the same, cynical lens, there are perspectives which remind us that, in the end, we are responsible for the people we elect. The Catholic Bishops in the United States issued a pastoral letter entitled:
Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship
The document offers three statements, in particular, which clarify our responsibility as citizens and Catholics:
We do not tell Catholics how to vote. The responsibility to make political choices rests with each person and his or her properly formed conscience.
and:
As Catholics we are not single-issue voters. A candidate’s position on a single issue is not sufficient to guarantee a voter’s support.
and:
Conscience is a judgment of reason whereby the human person
recognizes the moral quality of a concrete act. . . . [Every person] is obliged to follow faithfully what he [or she] knows to be just and right”
What I find particularly encouraging in these statements – and in the document as a whole – is the Bishops’ clear recognition that we are responsible for the government we put in place and we cannot abandon that task in search of simple answers. So, while I can’t wait for the election to be over, I can find some peace in the notion that glib answers in debates or advertising cannot be substituted for our individual responsibility to choose wisely, carefully, and with a great deal of thought.
Monday, October 19, 2009
All You Have to Do is Show Up
It was 4:00 PM when I left the school building a week ago Friday. I happened to be walking through the Ahmanson Science Hall when I noticed a half-dozen Freshmen sitting on the floor, intently examining the computer screen of a laptop in front of them. One of the group noticed the puzzled look on my face and hastened to explain that they were working on a Science project. I smiled, wished them well, and continued on my way. As I passed the Atrium of the Dining Hall, there were three upperclassmen, seated at a picnic table laughing at a story being told by a fourth. Next, I passed the Blakeslee Library where a trio of girls was attempting to share two earplugs connected to an Ipod. As I made my way to my car, I could hear a coach’s whistle halting a Girls Volleyball practice in the Duffy Lewis Gymnasium. Out on Lancer Field, I could hear Pat Wickhem announcing the start of the JV Football Game. Did I happen to mention that it was 4:00 PM on a Friday?
Later, when I returned at 7:00 PM to watch the Varsity lose a heartbreaker against San Marino, I noticed that not only were the stands packed with La Salle students and parents (and, I should point out a Drum Line that was clearly having way too much fun performing for the fans) but the area in front of the Concession stand was so jammed with freshmen that we could have easily conducted a Class Assembly on the spot. As I walked home that evening, I thought about each of these scenes and with a clarity that happens typically when I trip and fall, I asked myself how I got so lucky.
I’ve often said that being President of a school like La Salle in a community like Pasadena is really quite easy – all you have to do is show up. Meaning that the sense of community at La Salle – as in Pasadena – is so completely tangible that, as the School’s chief promoter, all I have to do is nurture the overlapping circles created by La Salle’s interaction with the wider community it serves. At a time of day when some schools take on the look of a ghost town, La Salle – the school that never sleeps – is buzzing with activity. I’ve long since stopped fussing about the School’s gates being open on a Sunday – for I know that some thing is always going on.
I am lucky – not so much because La Salle is a perpetual beehive of activity – but because students and adults want to be here. I get to promote a school community that celebrates individuals coming together for a common purpose. I’ve always remembered the advice Pete Griffith, P ’00, ’03 gave me shortly after my arrival at La Salle: “Richard, you don’t understand something. When our kids are happy, we’re happy.” It goes without saying that, by definition, teenagers go through volatile swings of emotion – often in the same day! So, the notion that teenagers can be happy requires some parsing. Perhaps the best way for adults to get their arms around the notion of adolescent happiness is to observe those moments when they are looking forward to something – a sweet sixteen birthday party, a date with the Captain of the Football team, the chance to perform at Café Bibliotheque, being in the starting lineup at Homecoming, to suggest a few. Similarly, when they are disappointed that an enjoyable activity comes to an end – Prom, a pep rally, or a graduation party come to mind. At La Salle we can take a rough measure of adolescent happiness by noting their presence on campus long after the school day ends or – strangely enough – by their determination to go to school, even when a head cold makes them sound like bleating sheep. There’s a certain magic that happens at La Salle each moment when adults and teenagers come together to pursue a common purpose.
I’ve often remarked that 50% of my own success is due to luck – some would argue it’s more like 95% - whichever – I can assure you that when I observe our students at work, at play, or socializing with each other and think about the 24/7 world of La Salle, I know I am very lucky indeed.
Later, when I returned at 7:00 PM to watch the Varsity lose a heartbreaker against San Marino, I noticed that not only were the stands packed with La Salle students and parents (and, I should point out a Drum Line that was clearly having way too much fun performing for the fans) but the area in front of the Concession stand was so jammed with freshmen that we could have easily conducted a Class Assembly on the spot. As I walked home that evening, I thought about each of these scenes and with a clarity that happens typically when I trip and fall, I asked myself how I got so lucky.
I’ve often said that being President of a school like La Salle in a community like Pasadena is really quite easy – all you have to do is show up. Meaning that the sense of community at La Salle – as in Pasadena – is so completely tangible that, as the School’s chief promoter, all I have to do is nurture the overlapping circles created by La Salle’s interaction with the wider community it serves. At a time of day when some schools take on the look of a ghost town, La Salle – the school that never sleeps – is buzzing with activity. I’ve long since stopped fussing about the School’s gates being open on a Sunday – for I know that some thing is always going on.
I am lucky – not so much because La Salle is a perpetual beehive of activity – but because students and adults want to be here. I get to promote a school community that celebrates individuals coming together for a common purpose. I’ve always remembered the advice Pete Griffith, P ’00, ’03 gave me shortly after my arrival at La Salle: “Richard, you don’t understand something. When our kids are happy, we’re happy.” It goes without saying that, by definition, teenagers go through volatile swings of emotion – often in the same day! So, the notion that teenagers can be happy requires some parsing. Perhaps the best way for adults to get their arms around the notion of adolescent happiness is to observe those moments when they are looking forward to something – a sweet sixteen birthday party, a date with the Captain of the Football team, the chance to perform at Café Bibliotheque, being in the starting lineup at Homecoming, to suggest a few. Similarly, when they are disappointed that an enjoyable activity comes to an end – Prom, a pep rally, or a graduation party come to mind. At La Salle we can take a rough measure of adolescent happiness by noting their presence on campus long after the school day ends or – strangely enough – by their determination to go to school, even when a head cold makes them sound like bleating sheep. There’s a certain magic that happens at La Salle each moment when adults and teenagers come together to pursue a common purpose.
I’ve often remarked that 50% of my own success is due to luck – some would argue it’s more like 95% - whichever – I can assure you that when I observe our students at work, at play, or socializing with each other and think about the 24/7 world of La Salle, I know I am very lucky indeed.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Bothersome Friends
Saint John Baptist de La Salle, the Founder of the Christian Brothers, was a prolific writer, authoring hundreds of letters as well as documents – like The Conduct of Christian Schools – which had a lasting influence on the Brothers, long after his death. An essential concept promoted throughout the Founder’s writings is the notion that the Brothers should be “obliged to look upon themselves as the older brothers of those who come to their classes.” The imagery of this concept is rich in the kinds of relationships we imagine occur in the ideal family. What better way to characterize the kind of nurturing relationship between teacher and student imagined by De La Salle than to liken it to that of an older brother? In the ideal, an older brother takes us by the hand, encourages us to develop our God-given talents, keeps us from harm, and watches over us constantly. For De La Salle, this is precisely what he asked the early Brothers to imitate as they entered their classroom each day.
Fast forward three hundred years and listen to the words of Brother Álvaro Rodríguez Echeverría, FSC, Superior General of the Christian Brothers, describe the student-teacher relationship:
Both the image of the older brother and bothersome friend formed the foundation of the annual Faculty/Staff Retreat conducted by Student Life Director Ed O’Connor just prior to the start of the 2008-2009 year. I was struck by these images (updated slightly by including older sister in their iteration) as Ed challenged us to answer three questions:
Working in a school like La Salle, it is easy to take for granted the family metaphors we frequently use to describe the educational experience of the students entrusted to our care. Because they are so familiar to us and because we make assumptions about their efficacy, we need to be reminded from time to time of their power and of the “awe-full” responsibility they require us to shoulder. So, as I spent the day with my colleagues wrestling with these three questions, I began to realize that De La Salle’s vision for the Brothers - and their lay colleagues - required more than a simple acknowledgement of its utility to the task of educating students. His vision is as fresh today as it was 300 years ago because, in the words of one Lasallian author:
While the concept of “Christian anthropology” is the stuff of research papers, in terms of our use of family metaphors to describe the student-teacher relationship in a Lasallian school, it is as simple as De La Salle’s understanding that, if we see everything with the “eyes of faith,” then we become grounded in a spirituality which recognizes that God’s Spirit transcends categories and social divisions. We are older brothers and sisters – and sometimes a “bothersome friend” - to the students entrusted to our care because we see God in them as easily as we see God in ourselves. We are grounded in a relationship that demands the kind of care and concern an older sibling offers to her sister or brother.
The Faculty/Staff Retreat concluded with a ritual in which each of us deposited in a basket a card containing an individual resolution to be a better older brother or sister in some specific way during 2008-2009. I can’t think of a better way to welcome our students back to their home away from home. Happy New Year!
Fast forward three hundred years and listen to the words of Brother Álvaro Rodríguez Echeverría, FSC, Superior General of the Christian Brothers, describe the student-teacher relationship:
“A beautiful Lasallian image is that of the bothersome friend… We need to be bothersome for the sake of the children whom we educate in order to obtain what might be necessary for them, without counting the difficulties or the inconveniences it might cause for us….”
Both the image of the older brother and bothersome friend formed the foundation of the annual Faculty/Staff Retreat conducted by Student Life Director Ed O’Connor just prior to the start of the 2008-2009 year. I was struck by these images (updated slightly by including older sister in their iteration) as Ed challenged us to answer three questions:
1. How have I acted as a big brother or sister to the students entrusted to my care?
2. What motivates me to be a big brother or sister to my students?
3. What makes it difficult for me to be a big brother or sister to my students?
Working in a school like La Salle, it is easy to take for granted the family metaphors we frequently use to describe the educational experience of the students entrusted to our care. Because they are so familiar to us and because we make assumptions about their efficacy, we need to be reminded from time to time of their power and of the “awe-full” responsibility they require us to shoulder. So, as I spent the day with my colleagues wrestling with these three questions, I began to realize that De La Salle’s vision for the Brothers - and their lay colleagues - required more than a simple acknowledgement of its utility to the task of educating students. His vision is as fresh today as it was 300 years ago because, in the words of one Lasallian author:
“What we have here is…a Christian anthropological view which is the basis for…personal relationships.”
While the concept of “Christian anthropology” is the stuff of research papers, in terms of our use of family metaphors to describe the student-teacher relationship in a Lasallian school, it is as simple as De La Salle’s understanding that, if we see everything with the “eyes of faith,” then we become grounded in a spirituality which recognizes that God’s Spirit transcends categories and social divisions. We are older brothers and sisters – and sometimes a “bothersome friend” - to the students entrusted to our care because we see God in them as easily as we see God in ourselves. We are grounded in a relationship that demands the kind of care and concern an older sibling offers to her sister or brother.
The Faculty/Staff Retreat concluded with a ritual in which each of us deposited in a basket a card containing an individual resolution to be a better older brother or sister in some specific way during 2008-2009. I can’t think of a better way to welcome our students back to their home away from home. Happy New Year!
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Enter to Learn; Leave to Serve
A recent poll conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press revealed that of those adult respondents surveyed:
Just 27% say they are satisfied with national conditions, while 66% are dissatisfied.
Positive views of the state of the nation have been mired at about 30% for most of the past two years; in December 2006, 28% said they were satisfied with the way things were going in the country, while 65% were dissatisfied.
It’s easy to see why… the Iraq war shows no sign of an end on the horizon, the sub-prime crisis has spiraled into a liquidity problem for the financial services sector, and unemployment is edging up while the Federal Reserve is becoming concerned about the possibility of rising inflation. Sounds to me like the 1970s called and they want their problems back!
Closer to home the rapidly escalating price of gasoline has caused both Ford and General Motors to scale back production on popular sport utility vehicles as the market for them is verging on collapse. And, consumer confidence is at a 16 year low. As the nation turns its attention to the upcoming presidential contest between Senators Obama and McCain, more and more pundits are describing the election as a dramatic choice between stability and change.
Whether that description is true, or not, remains to be seen. That having been said, there can be little doubt that our national dilemma regarding the direction the country should be taking provides an historic opportunity to define the relationship between shared civic values and the collective good. The problem, however, clusters around a conundrum: whose civic values? ... and which collective good?
The dreary state of the national attitude towards our near-term future may appear to be an odd topic for a column in the Parent Newsletter - which essentially ushers in the 2008-2009 academic year (note all those forms included with the Newsletter that must be filled out before the first day of school!). Encountering a new year – whether it occurs on January first or August 21st – is an opportunity to make resolutions, to remind ourselves of the priorities we have set, and, significantly, to embrace the opportunity to establish a new direction. I’ve grown fond of wishing students “Happy New Year” on the first day of school; not only because it startles them into recognizing that they are embarking on a new school year, but also because the same sense of hope and optimism which typically accompanies the cheers of well wishers in January can be found in the more sedate and purposeful behaviors of students and teachers in August.
A new school year makes it easy, however, for students, teachers and parents to focus their attention on the matters at hand – new faces, new responsibilities, new textbooks – and to miss the obvious at a place like La Salle ... we are also charged with forming the next generation of socially responsible citizens. Our Mission Statement makes this clear:
Just 27% say they are satisfied with national conditions, while 66% are dissatisfied.
Positive views of the state of the nation have been mired at about 30% for most of the past two years; in December 2006, 28% said they were satisfied with the way things were going in the country, while 65% were dissatisfied.
It’s easy to see why… the Iraq war shows no sign of an end on the horizon, the sub-prime crisis has spiraled into a liquidity problem for the financial services sector, and unemployment is edging up while the Federal Reserve is becoming concerned about the possibility of rising inflation. Sounds to me like the 1970s called and they want their problems back!
Closer to home the rapidly escalating price of gasoline has caused both Ford and General Motors to scale back production on popular sport utility vehicles as the market for them is verging on collapse. And, consumer confidence is at a 16 year low. As the nation turns its attention to the upcoming presidential contest between Senators Obama and McCain, more and more pundits are describing the election as a dramatic choice between stability and change.
Whether that description is true, or not, remains to be seen. That having been said, there can be little doubt that our national dilemma regarding the direction the country should be taking provides an historic opportunity to define the relationship between shared civic values and the collective good. The problem, however, clusters around a conundrum: whose civic values? ... and which collective good?
The dreary state of the national attitude towards our near-term future may appear to be an odd topic for a column in the Parent Newsletter - which essentially ushers in the 2008-2009 academic year (note all those forms included with the Newsletter that must be filled out before the first day of school!). Encountering a new year – whether it occurs on January first or August 21st – is an opportunity to make resolutions, to remind ourselves of the priorities we have set, and, significantly, to embrace the opportunity to establish a new direction. I’ve grown fond of wishing students “Happy New Year” on the first day of school; not only because it startles them into recognizing that they are embarking on a new school year, but also because the same sense of hope and optimism which typically accompanies the cheers of well wishers in January can be found in the more sedate and purposeful behaviors of students and teachers in August.
A new school year makes it easy, however, for students, teachers and parents to focus their attention on the matters at hand – new faces, new responsibilities, new textbooks – and to miss the obvious at a place like La Salle ... we are also charged with forming the next generation of socially responsible citizens. Our Mission Statement makes this clear:
Motivated by a spirit of faith and zeal, our students are informed by and made responsible for the world in which they live.
Happy New Year!
Over the course of four years La Salle students will be exposed to a variety of learning experiences that reinforce this noble goal; yet the pressing issues which command our attention every time we turn on the television can seem too great for a teenager to ponder. If we remain focused on the larger context of our Mission: to produce good students and good people, we can get our intellectual arms around global issues – if only to remind ourselves that the values nurtured here at La Salle are the very same ones that will facilitate adult conversations regarding the relationship between shared civic values and the collective good.
What better place to launch a conversation about a future world that isn’t at war that, is in harmony with the environment, and promotes cross-cultural cooperation than in a school where students are encouraged to:
Enter to Learn; Leave to Serve
Happy New Year!
Friday, June 19, 2009
Zealous Teachers
For administrators, faculty and staff at La Salle, the last day of school is not when the students finish their final exam but the following Monday when we gather for our end-of-year retreat day. Director of Student Life, Ed O’Connor typically serves as our “retreat master” and organizes the day so that there are plenty of group activities. I particularly like this approach because it affords me the opportunity to listen to my colleagues reflect on the year just ending. These activities were especially interesting this year because the theme of the retreat was The Virtue of Zeal. I’ve written in this space and elsewhere that the Lasallian virtue of Zeal plays an important role in the way schools sponsored by the Christian Brothers seek to fulfill the Mission given them by Saint John Baptist de La Salle. Here is how Brother Agathon, the fifth Superior General of the Christian Brothers, defined Zeal in 1786:
The zealous teacher attends to his or her responsibility for educating the students. The education of youth demands, on the part of those who are charged with their care, the most undivided attention, the most constant efforts and concern for the most minute details.
It should be clear from this description that the pursuit of the virtue of Zeal is what is expected of Lasallian educators. Even the most talented and enthusiastic teacher will only occasionally achieve the “most undivided attention” in the classroom! Some might wonder why we focused on Zeal at a faculty retreat that concludes the year? This, too, is uniquely Lasallian. De La Salle’s vision of education was entirely focused on the future; what will happen down the road as a result of a teacher’s efforts in the here and now. In his Fifteenth Meditation for the Time of Retreat, De La Salle made this observation:
For the future, then, devote yourself with zeal and affection to your work
So, as we ended our year, Ed challenged us to reflect on three tasks:
• naming something in our work that encourages us to be zealous
• naming one or more practices that we use to support our zeal
• identifying something we want to do more of or better when we return to school at the end of August
Now, here’s why I enjoy listening to my colleagues in these group activities: as each small group reported on their conversation together, the overwhelming response to the question of what encourages our zeal involved teacher interactions with students. And, their response to “new year resolutions” involved behaviors that will enable them to expand and deepen their relationship with the students entrusted to their care. As I thought about this remarkable dynamic, it occurred to me that there is another way to frame these comments – teachers at La Salle genuinely like their work and, in particular, care deeply about their students. Not only was this message clear at a time when one could expect teachers to be drained of energy and looking forward to time away from school, but it was articulated by virtually every small group that reported out. And, while we are all human, which keeps us from achieving the state of zeal envisioned by Brother Agathon, it is gratifying to know that the quest is just as important for the dedicated colleagues I am fortunate enough to support. Not a bad way to end a year and an even more exciting way to anticipate the one coming up!
The zealous teacher attends to his or her responsibility for educating the students. The education of youth demands, on the part of those who are charged with their care, the most undivided attention, the most constant efforts and concern for the most minute details.
It should be clear from this description that the pursuit of the virtue of Zeal is what is expected of Lasallian educators. Even the most talented and enthusiastic teacher will only occasionally achieve the “most undivided attention” in the classroom! Some might wonder why we focused on Zeal at a faculty retreat that concludes the year? This, too, is uniquely Lasallian. De La Salle’s vision of education was entirely focused on the future; what will happen down the road as a result of a teacher’s efforts in the here and now. In his Fifteenth Meditation for the Time of Retreat, De La Salle made this observation:
For the future, then, devote yourself with zeal and affection to your work
So, as we ended our year, Ed challenged us to reflect on three tasks:
• naming something in our work that encourages us to be zealous
• naming one or more practices that we use to support our zeal
• identifying something we want to do more of or better when we return to school at the end of August
Now, here’s why I enjoy listening to my colleagues in these group activities: as each small group reported on their conversation together, the overwhelming response to the question of what encourages our zeal involved teacher interactions with students. And, their response to “new year resolutions” involved behaviors that will enable them to expand and deepen their relationship with the students entrusted to their care. As I thought about this remarkable dynamic, it occurred to me that there is another way to frame these comments – teachers at La Salle genuinely like their work and, in particular, care deeply about their students. Not only was this message clear at a time when one could expect teachers to be drained of energy and looking forward to time away from school, but it was articulated by virtually every small group that reported out. And, while we are all human, which keeps us from achieving the state of zeal envisioned by Brother Agathon, it is gratifying to know that the quest is just as important for the dedicated colleagues I am fortunate enough to support. Not a bad way to end a year and an even more exciting way to anticipate the one coming up!
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