The Sorry Situation of Catholic Schools | Mark Bauerlein | First Things
The Common Core episode is just one instance of Catholic school conformity. At this point it is standard practice, most importantly in matters of personnel. What we now have in Catholic schools are too many administrators and teachers who have been seasoned in secular institutions and conceive of their practice in conventional liberal terms. They have adopted diversity and relevance and other progressive ideals as the proper way of formation. In American history courses, they don t assign Wilfred McClay s Land of Hope. Instead, they assign, for example, the politically-correct Give Me Liberty! An American History, by the leftist Columbia professor Eric Foner. Canonical authors remain on the syllabus, but they are given an au courant edge for instance, Emily Dickinson is often cast as a suppressed lesbian. Little thought is given to how Catholic doctrine should guide the study of the arts, humanities, and social sciences. It doesn t even occur to our practitioners to think that way.
I’ll never forget my 6th grader explaining to me that the Catholic missions in California were just concentration camps that the Spanish set up for the Native Americans. He got this in Catholic school, which presumably was teaching the California state curriculum. As far as lesbians go, there is lots and lots at the local girls’ Catholic high school, I hear.