Guest column by Fr. Lawrence Stoley,
Diocesan Director of Catholic Schools
Many people today are skeptical as to whether there is objective truth. Objective truth is something which helps all people, of all cultures, in all ages, reach their final purpose. Food, for example, is an objective truth, i.e., it is true that all people in every age need nourishment to fulfill their life’s purpose.
In the public square, there are so many ideas competing for our attention claiming to be true, or right; how is one to know? In earlier days, many of the early missionaries labored among cultures which had already instilled in the minds of their people a sense of the divine, and the consequent aspirations for transcendental things such as truth, goodness, and beauty. In our world today, many of our youth lack even the fundamental framework these ancient cultures provided which served as a kind of mental scaffolding to ascend to higher things.
In the Diocese of Lincoln, our vision of education begins, as St. Thomas teaches, with the senses. In traditional Catholic thought, we come to know the world around us through our senses. Each of our five senses provides particular data to the common sense, which organizes it and then passes it on to the imagination.
The image thus created possesses all that sight, sound, taste, touch, and feeling can provide in a rich, multifaceted mental picture. Good, healthy mental pictures are necessary for the intellect to form concepts which aid in higher level reasoning and judgment skills. It is here, in the imagination, where I believe we can help our youth who are so deeply immersed in the virtual world of the modern age.
Building the imagination can be fun, and exciting. In the classrooms, it is our hope to see children in contact with the real world as much as possible. We know there is a difference between the salamander we see on the computer screen, and the salamander in the terrarium in the classroom. When we come to know something through the fullness of our senses, we are truly one with the thing itself, rather than with a screen upon which the image is projected. Screens, by their nature, are blank and lifeless, so too have our imaginations become in this virtual world we live.
In the classrooms, especially in the lower grades, I want students to have a rich and robust experience of the natural sciences. For example, in one of our schools, I am told that a teacher created a section of the Nemaha River in miniature so that students might be able to study the local flora and fauna in the area. Experiences like these, coupled with literature of life on the river, provides a fertile seedbed for young minds to dream and wonder about God’s creation.
Building the imagination continues by providing children with great stories of virtue and heroism. Students should be well-versed in the lives of the saints and the miracles God worked through their intercession. Time should be allowed for in-class plays, and poem recitals. It is not enough to hear a great poem once; from my experience, it is important to commit a great poem to memory so that one can think about the beauty of its words, and extract the deeper meaning it holds.
We all know that a great deal of time is given in high school to speech and drama. Wouldn’t it be wonderful for the subject matter of those speeches and moments of drama to be about the virtue of a martyr, or scenes from Sacred Scripture?
The vision of Catholic education does not stop with the imagination. With an imagination filled with rich, wholesome stories and images, the mind next elevates these mental pictures into concepts, which builds a Christian view of life; a framework, if you will, for higher aspirations to follow. The mind is now free to consider the big questions of life and one’s eternal destiny.
In the high school years, students should study St. Thomas’ five proofs for God’s existence and the proof for the immortality of the soul.
These preambles of faith lay the foundation for a meaningful conversation about religion and the wonders of our Catholic faith. Great investment has been made in our young priests, that they might study these questions thoroughly and be able to offer assistance in teaching these ideas in the classroom.
Going forward, I would like to see evidence of higher order thinking and judgment skills in our students as they near graduation. Students entering into our world today need to have the skills of analysis, and judgment, in order to correctly evaluate the ideas with which they will be confronted in their post-secondary experience.
Too often in education, we remain at the knowledge level only, and fail to challenge students to analyze opposing arguments in order to judge the validity of their interlocutor’s conclusion. We need to equip our young people with the tools to defend themselves against merely emotional arguments which are so prevalent in our world today.
Thus, I would like to see continued attention given to the skills of grammar and writing, upon which the foundation of communication resides. In my opinion, education does not stop with simply reciting facts and figures learned for taking a test. Graduates from our Catholic schools should be able to express what they have learned in written form. This is not to exclude the need for learning fundamental facts and figures by rote, but education must not stop here. A graduate from our schools must be able to both analyze an argument, and to synthesize an intelligent critique as a written response.
Although there are many challenges in our world today, I believe the best solution for our children is to be firmly rooted in the truth of the real world. Through the gifts that God has given us, the senses, the imagination, and the intellect, we can come to know the wonders of God’s creation, and ultimately the Crown Jewel – Jesus His Beloved Son.
