Catholic Schools

Many of the educational institutions founded by the Catholic Church have enjoyed magnificent success in their missions, but current times are challenging, and it is up to the Church to discover new business models to ensure these valuable institutions continue to provide the religious based teaching they are capable of.

It is something our society continues to need in a very deep way.

This article from The Weekly Standard looks at one such institution.

An excerpt.

“During a campaign stop in Milwaukee, site of the largest publicly financed voucher program in America, then-Senator Barack Obama was asked to comment on the city's school reform program. He expressed skepticism about vouchers, but seemed to leave the door open: "You do what works for the kids," he told editors at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. As news of this apparent willingness to buck the teachers' unions made headlines, the campaign issued a quick clarification: Barack Obama "has always been a critic of vouchers."

“If President Obama still wants to know "what works for kids," particularly students on the social margins, he should pick up The Street Stops Here. This compelling portrait of the daily "miracles" performed in Roman Catholic institutions like Harlem's Rice High School isn't designed to make the case for vouchers. (Patrick J. McCloskey favors privately funded tuition subsidies that don't carry the risks associated with government intrusion, and thus protect the unique character of church schools.) No, the author is concerned with a less contentious agenda: He wants to renew our appreciation for the methods, achievements, and requirements of inner-city Catholic schools that might face extinction if they don't stabilize their finances.

“A Canadian journalist who conducted research for the book while attending the Columbia School of Journalism, McCloskey asks readers to discard preconceived notions about the "Catholic model"--a top-down, teacher-directed, virtue-based approach that contradicts the received wisdom of progressive education. He even suggests that urban public schools might incorporate some of the practices of Catholic schools. His moving account of the daily grind at one such institution should easily convince readers that Catholic schools for the poor deserve and need support.

“The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York operates 55 secondary schools. No one would mistake Rice High School for boys, founded by the Congregation of Christian Brothers in 1938, as the crown jewel of the system. Short on funds, staff, and occasionally even students, the school provides a case study of the crisis besetting inner-city Catholic education….

“For much of the 20th century, the steady supply of educated priests, nuns, and brothers established a financially competitive alternative to the public system. The religious teaching orders lived in common and made minimal financial demands, keeping tuitions low. The status quo remained intact until the 1970s, when religious orders lost members in droves and church schools were forced to raise tuitions to cover salaries for lay faculty. Meanwhile, demographic changes in urban neighborhoods reduced the pool of Catholic students.

“Rice High School proves that Catholic schools can still change lives. But the church has yet to adopt an economic model that will keep tuitions affordable. About a hundred Catholic schools close annually, the survivors depend on a patchwork system of contributions from parents, wealthy Catholics, foundations, and local corporations. (Twenty percent of Rice students receive full tuition from Student Sponsor Partners, the nation's first privately funded voucher initiative, which turns away thousands of applicants.) And although Rice is still open for business, McCloskey describes its status as fragile--a "lingering presence" in Harlem.

“The Street Stops Here calls on Roman Catholic leaders, education reform groups, and large philanthropic institutions such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to coordinate a systemwide rescue/reinvention that would protect the legacy of Rice High School, and similar institutions, for generations to come. As Obama said, "You do what works for the kids."