Last June, the Dean and Barbara White Family Foundation made the largest single investment in PreK-12 education in history. The non-profit promised to donate $150 million to the Big Shoulders Fund over the next ten years to support a network of Catholic schools in northwest Indiana that is “high-quality, data-driven,” and “outcome-focused.” The Most Rev. Robert J. McClory, Bishop of Gary, who also oversaw the establishment of an independent endowment for schools within The Catholic Foundation for Northwest Indiana, had every reason to characterize these initiatives as “truly historic and transformative.”
It’s no coincidence that such a generous gift was made in the very state that boasts the largest participation in a state-sponsored voucher initiative. Enrollment in the Indiana Choice Scholarship Program hit a record 70,000 students last school year, a 31% percent increase over the previous year, putting the power to determine the best schools back into the hands of families who send their kids to them. The growth in the voucher program is largely due to legislation spearheaded by the Indiana Statehouse Republican supermajority that has expanded the opportunity to virtually every family in the state, regardless of income level.
Here’s how the White Family Foundation compounds that opportunity. First, families who could not previously afford to send their children to non-public schools can now do so, thanks to the vouchers. Second, the Foundation steps in to offer funding that will make the opportunity even better by partnering with the schools to ensure that the money spent will enhance academic performance through concrete, measurable results. Third, the students are surrounded by a community that cares, shares the same values, and cherishes the mission to build moral character as much as to educate the mind. In thanking the foundation for its gift, Bishop McClory made it clear that the schools in his diocese “take a holistic approach to education that includes social, emotional, spiritual, physical and cultural development designed to help children become compassionate, contributing leaders.” Little stock would be placed in such words if uttered by the average public school administrator, but coming from the mouth of a shepherd as competent as Bishop McClory, you can be sure the holistic approach is backed by nothing less than the Catholic faith.
The compounding effect of choice, non-profit support, and Catholicism will inevitably make the per pupil impact of the $150 million invested in northwest Indiana far exceed what the United States Department of Education (ED) accomplished with its $ 268 billion for the entire country last year. The shared faith of those northwest Indiana schools, their love of students, their parents’ involvement, and the advantage of local oversight and control will ensure the maximum value of every penny spent.
In contrast, it’s painful to look back on how miserably both liberal and conservative attempts to effect any significant change through the Department of Education have failed. The original purpose of the department was to disseminate sound educational information to local and state authorities. Now, through its various offices, the Department supports policies to improve student achievement, services for students with disabilities, research on academic performance, the enforcement of laws prohibiting discrimination, and the promotion of career development for K -12 students.
The only function that appears necessary at all is the enforcement of anti-discriminatory laws, which can easily be relegated to the Department of Justice. If Thomas Jefferson could walk down the halls and sit in the classrooms of those northwest Indiana schools, I am pretty sure he would advise overhauling, if not eliminating, the Department of Education.
The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 and the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780 make it clear that the framers of our nation desired that public monies be designated for the purpose of educating young people to be competent, responsible citizens. But there is no reason to understand “public” as automatically meaning “federal” or even “governmental.” It rather means that, insofar as education was foundational to ensuring the promotion and protection of the common good, every citizen would contribute to ensuring a sound fiscal footing for schools. If we widen the means of contributing in a way similar to the way school choice has been widened through vouchers, perhaps more non-profits like the Dean and Barbara White Family Foundation would step forward precisely because they see that their dollars would not be wasted in the way the Department of Education wastes billions each year.
One thing is clear: serious leadership is needed to inspire radical change in schools and universities across the nation, but we are far more likely to find that kind of leadership in northwest Indiana than we are at the Department of Education (though that seems to be changing as I write this). President Trump’s former Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, said as much in an op-ed in The Free Press. “Having spent four years on the inside,” she writes, “struggling to get the department’s bureaucracy to make even the smallest changes to put the needs of students first, I can say conclusively that American students will be better off without.”
Whether abolished, merged, or massively overhauled, the Department of Education won’t budge without a fight, as was evident in the chaotic attempt of democratic lawmakers to enter the premises on February 7th. Ideologues know well that their last grip on power is indeed the most powerful, for whoever controls education controls the future of the nation. That is why the framers of this country, well aware of Aristotle’s teaching that the very purpose of politics is to foster virtue in its citizens, considered education as the way of instilling wise and virtuous citizenship for free, self-government.
The problem is that practically no one serving in the Department of Education under the last administration believed wisdom or virtue to be the ultimate purpose of either education or politics. I am willing to bet that wisdom and virtue are the very reasons for which Catholic schools in northwest Indiana exist in the first place. Ultimately, the results will show that, not the money.
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Students are graduating college and barely able to read and write. Remedial reading is a standard freshman course in many of our colleges and universities.
I’ll bet if you asked ALL college graduates, “Tell me what a gerund is”, not even 1% could answer correctly. In fact if you were to ask college professors the same question, they’d fail as miserably.
DEI has destroyed our educational system.
With humble respect, sir, and because I was a top English student in my years of schooling (including 4-year college) and I do know what a “gerund” is, I think that most Americans don’t really care what a “gerund” is, and to be honest, I don’t think it matters today.
At this time in history, I think our main goal in education in the U.S.A. should be to prepare children and teenagers to be actual grownups, capable of reading and writing (not just on an I-phone) well enough to get a decent job (in fields other than IT/game development) and support themselves and reduce the amount of time they spend online with social media and gaming to just a mere few hours a day. The short-staffing in almost all critical fields, especially health care and the skilled trades, is frightening for those of us who are likely to depend on others for our care as we age and die.
If we can accomplish ridding the young (and old) of “online addiction” in the next decade, it will help our country and the rest of the world immensely. But frankly, I see little possibility of that happening, and with the advent of AI, I can actually see a time when “computers” do all our work, including our health care, while everyone lounges about and accomplishes nothing (see the silent film Metropolis). I think the only thing that might alarm U.S. citizens enough to take action would be if professional sports athletes (football, hockey, etc.) were not available to watch because no one is doing sports anymore because they’re all too busy being online with friends they never see in person, and playing “virtual” games.
I think you need to calm down. I wasn’t suggesting that knowing what a gerund is will solve all the problems of the world. Gosh!
You could replace “gerund” with “noun,” “verb,” “metaphor,” etc., etc. Americans don’t really care, and it probably doesn’t matter today.
I wonder, can you also replace those words with “genuflect,” “novena,” “rosary,” or even “faith”? American Catholics don’t really care, and it probably doesn’t matter today.
I believe the little disciplines and traditions absolutely matter in building a foundation for the higher disciplines, especially in this time of history – and up to the reckoning.
The gerund test is problematic for me. I’m in my mid-fifties, well educated, and a good writer. I didn’t know what a gerund was until I was assigned a few years ago to be a co-crafter of a “corporate statement.” My colleague used the term to describe the figure of speech we were adding. I said, “oh, good to know – words ending with “ing” are gerunds.” So transformative was that moment that I haven’t been the same since. You can become a good writer without knowing those details but it’s much better to have the knowledge. The fact is that even as far back as the 1970s we weren’t being adequately drilled with this kind of thing. I probably learned more about grammar by learning Italian than from grade school English classes. Today we have to deal with students, and even professionals, who use words like “impactful,” who talk too much about “deep dives,” and who overuse TO DEATH the term, “literally.” I am literally so bored by the overuse of “literally.” My irritation reminds me of a former professor who hated dashes and apostrophes, and commented on one of my papers, “if it’s needless, why say it?”
About the rigid rule against dangling prepositions: “That is something up with which I will not put!” (Winston Churchill)
From the back bleachers and about Fr. Morello’s “college graduates,” yesterday did we see on international television what a Yale law degree is actually worth in terms of world class statesmanship?
And, about “rithmetic” and now the front-page national debt, during COVID the U.S. wallowed in 40 times (!) the spending than it has over an equal time period in supporting Ukraine and the West repulse an invasion by Czar Putin ($4 Trillion as compared to $100 Billion). In terms of prime-time bullet points, decimal points also matter.
And, about the schoolbook history thingy, when Putin felt assured that the U.S. and West would just roll over in two weeks (!), was he emboldened by the feckless withdrawal from Afghanistan under a former occupant of the White House? A missed talking point?
But, about bipartisan politics within the Republic: What’s the difference between the body language of now pointing fingers at Zelenskyy, and in 1998 another president pointing his finger at Lewinsky? In both cases, blaming the rape victim? About words like “invasion”, “it [really does depend] on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.”
Overall, on the world stage is the “shark tank” the best lighting for dealing with “tanks”?
Daniel, your words “ serious leadership is needed to inspire radical change “ raises the hackles on my neck! If the same thing happens in “public” education as we see happening in government, we will be in deeper trouble than we are at present. Serious is not enough. Serious can be seriously wrong. Serious can imply aggressive action, coercion, imposition, imposed uniformity. Radical is also a powerful word, implying power and instability. No, what we need is moral change, and this is far from being radical. We can’t overhaul institutions without individuals being overhauled first. Conversion and humility should be the means to our goal of educating our youth.
“The original purpose of the department, established by President Andrew Jackson in 1867…” Andrew Johnson, not Jackson.
WHAT MOST MODERN EDUCATION REALLY IS
“All other knowledge is hurtful to him who has not the science of honesty and goodness.” Montaigne, “Essays” (1595).
Because Catholic Social Doctrine (especially the parts about solidarity, the common good, the universal destination of goods) is ignored or rejected (even by most Catholics), “education” has become a mad scramble for the few to win some of the few good or reasonably good seats (careers) in a cruel game of “Musical Chairs” in which there are never enough seats for every citizen to earn enough to survive even at a mere existence level.
Students are falsely and cruelly told that “everyone can win” if they just work hard and long enough.
But can EVERY NFL team have a winning season? No.
Can every student graduate in the top 50% of their high school class? No.
For a some to win, many must lose. Winning always goes hand in hand with losing.
People, like racehorses, naturally vary in their natural abilities.
So, in the education system, the more naturally able rise and the less naturally able sink. The less able are told that it is their own fault that they can’t find a decent job (chair) in the game of musical chairs (the free economy).
The Dean and Barbara White Family Foundation donated $150 million to Catholic schools because of the erroneous belief that if the educational system could be revised and retooled enough, then every student could graduate in the top 50% of their class, and then they’d all go on to have lucrative or at least good solid careers, earning enough money to cover all their basic needs at least.
The famous NFL coach, Vince Lombardi, did say: “Winning isn’t everything; it is the ONLY thing.”
In the vision of Christ, winning (in the money game, the power game, or the status game) isn’t everything.
Rather, walking with Christ, in the Way of the Cross, is everything.
In the Way of the World, the winners (in academia; business; politics; religion) rule over the not-winners, and they rule in their own self-interest (the selfish pursuit of luxury, pleasure, egotism, status, indolence).
In the Way of Christ, the winners don’t lord it over the losers.
Matthew 20:25 “But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
In the Way of Christ, all law-abiding, hard-working, God-fearing people are valued, respected members of the community, who are afforded human dignity and human rights.
Pope John Paul II called for a “civilization of love.”
Instead, we have a “civilization” that is a mad scramble for scarce resources, a true “survival of the fittest,” a true “might makes right” state of affairs.
Alas, I do think that those of us who believed in Pope John Paul II’s hope words (above) were Pollyanna fools. We should have known better. The world is what it is.
The monastics and the desert hermits left this world to escape all of its rottenness.
The nouveaux théologiens convinced many of us that we are all holy now, and that everything is just getting better and better all the time.
Shame on me for being the biggest fool of all.
Better wisdom than mine is invited and requested. But no more Pollyanna dreams, please.
Ecclesiastes,
This is one of the best posts on any topic I have seen on this forum, which I frequent.
This crystallized my philosophy of education quite well.
You are obviously educated well and probably in an earlier time and you understand that 99% of what counts as “school” today is chasing after wind.
It is a waste of time and a fleecing of taxpayers and tithing parishioners. It is a game where only the smartest survive. With rare exceptions, it is all about the metrics and the Benjamins.
Whether a kid meets a benchmark or you get him to show up on count day, none of it really matters. For a teacher, the only thing that matters is the morality that you form in your students and whether you words and example lead souls to Heaven.
Nothing else matters.
Ave Maria!
In his somewhat controversial book “Bad Students, Not Bad Schools” Robert Weissberg reviews a number of (failed) attempts to improve academic achievement. He summarized his research in a formula for academic achievement (A):
A = 8I × 4M × R × P × T
Where:
I represents intelligence
M represents motivation
R represents resources
P represents pedagogy
T represents teaching
This multiplicative formula emphasizes that intelligence (I) and motivation (M) have the most significant impact on academic achievement, with intelligence weighted most heavily. Resources, pedagogy, and teaching are essential but less important than intelligence and motivation in determining academic outcomes.
Weissberg’s formula underscores his argument that student qualities, particularly intelligence and motivation, are more crucial to academic success than factors like school resources or teaching methods. This perspective challenges conventional approaches to education reform rather than addressing student-related factors. I’m relying on memory here, but I believe he makes the case that removing the “worst” 10% of teachers would have a significant impact. That 10% drags down the other 90%.
You are right that every student will not be a Nobel prize winning scientist or greatest of all time athlete or artist but the point is that each student will hopefully achieve his potential and be a responsible and virtuous adult at the end of the process. This gift from The Dean and Barbara White Family Foundation and its goals offer hope for these students and their families and the rest of us.
Having lived, worked and taught in the Diocese of Gary, I have to remain skeptical about the future of Catholic education in the diocese. Money is helpful but true Catholic education can happen even in poverty. Until we rediscover what Catholic education is really supposed to be, we are doomed to failure. Until students graduate from our schools grounded and formed in Catholic Truth, you can spend all the money you want but don’t call it Catholic education.
The Catholic school system here in the U. S. should be disestablished because it is so expensive that it is serving primarily the upper classes while the poor are left in the public schools. The resources should be used for Confraternity of Christian Doctrine and other programs which can be kept open to the poor. General education, although it is important, is an auxiliary function of the Church; not like Christian formation and evangelization which are primary.