SCHOOL MINISTRY

History

Catholic Education I

Our Lady of Peace has made a massive ministry, money and time commitment to Catholic education by sponsoring a Catholic school. Reflection on what we are doing as a parish committed to a school ministry and why we are doing it is very much the currency of Catholic education in our time, especially at the elementary level. January 23 through 30 is Catholic Schools Week.  

Consequently, in an effort to contribute to our whole-parish reflection on our commitment to our school ministry, and in the interest of placing this in its full context, I will use these next weeks to do a summary of Catholic education's history in the United States. I find this history not only fascinating, but also critically important for understanding the issues surrounding Catholic education in our times.  

Education in the Spanish and French Colonies

If we consider education to be the transmission of culture, the early Spanish and French missionaries certainly carried on an educational effort. Their effort was aimed, however, at the conversion and civilization of the Native Americans. They accomplished much in transmitting culture. They accomplished relatively little of lasting value, however, judged by the standards of formal schooling.  

The Spanish effort was centered in Georgia, Florida, Texas, New Mexico and California. Its major tool was the mission system, which lasted from 1540-1840. Civilizing the Native Americans was given first priority.   Communal mission life was well-suited to learning. The padres - the only literate people among the Spaniards - tutored students individually and in small groups for the learning of letters. The emphasis of their work, though, was teaching children doctrine, which was set to music, allowing the liturgy to function as the major educational tool.  

The French effort was centered in the region of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi basin. Their outposts were far flung.   There was little time for letters. After the founding of New Orleans in 1718, however, the opportunity for schooling began. The Franciscan Capuchin Fathers established a small school for boys soon after the city was established. The Ursuline sisters established the Ursuline Convent school in 1727. The French also established mission schools in Maine (1640), Detroit (1755), and St. Louis (1764-74). Almost every mission had a small school for Native Americans and settlers among the French.  

Education in the English Colonies

The English had similar cultural values to the Spanish and French. The expanse and geography of their colonies, however, led to differences.  

The Southern Colonies were laissez faire in their attitude.  Education was the privilege of the wealthy, to be provided by the father of the family according to his means. The first public school, established in James City, Virginia, in 1641, was an apprenticeship school, much like the Spanish and French mission schools. Literary training was put into the curriculum of these schools only in 1750. Tutoring predominated in the South. Where schools existed, most were Anglican.  

The Northern Colonies were physically more compact, culturally homogeneous, and liberally endowed with college trained and strongly motivated clergy and laity. These colonies established schools consistent with the theocratic attitudes of the settlers. Massachusetts Bay Colony decreed schools compulsory in 1647. Town schools rose rapidly, as did Latin grammar schools (39 before 1700). An impressive array of educational institutions, especially Congregational schools, arose in the Northern Colonies.  

The Middle Colonies were comprised of English, Dutch, German and Central European settlers. This led to what we call "parochialism." That is, all schools were denominational, even if multi-denominational, in the Middle Colonies. These schools were viewed as little enclaves of religious culture.  

A large number of English Catholics settled in the Middle Colonies. Their education efforts were limited because of intolerance toward Catholics, even in Maryland. There, in 1660, the Jesuits established a college. An elementary school was established in Newton, Maryland, from 1640 to 1688.   Jesuits opened a school in New York City that lasted from 1662 to 1689. In Pennsylvania, because of religious tolerance, Catholics were to meet with generally more success. A Jesuit Catholic school lasted there from 1704-1765. The first parochial (parish) school was opened at St. Mary's Church, Philadelphia, in 1767.

All in all, while schools could be found in the midst of fields across the colonies, education tended to be offered to the wealthy in the colonial period. Elementary education, the "three Rs," was slow in developing.  

The Early National Period

The War for Independence was devastating for schools at all levels in the former colonies.  In 1878 the Continental Congress expressed strong support for education. It was Jefferson's conviction, for instance, that "if you expect a people to be ignorant and to be free, you expect what never was and never will be." Nonetheless, state and federal governments were slow to accept responsibility for schools. Besides, the Continental Congress ultimately left the business of education to the states.  

Land grants made in the Northwest Ordinance of 1785 and 1787 forced the states to provide for distribution of significant funds for subsidizing education. At this time, and during the early national period generally, before the Church/State separation clause came to be interpreted otherwise, the state government allocated funds to private and denominational academies, orphanages and other welfare schools.  

Public Education

Jefferson presented a plan for public education in the state of Virginia in both 1779 and 1817. It failed to pass the legislature both times. The founding of the University of Virginia in 1825, however, opened up possibilities. The graded school catering to the masses and supported by public funds that we know today grew incrementally, and very slowly.  

The New England states began requiring that towns provide schools as early as 1789. The Middle Atlantic states were slower to move in this direction because of the mixed backgrounds of the population. The emphasis here was on education for the poor. The Southern states were content to endow schools that applied to the state for funding. They generally assisted private schools and sported what they called pauper schools. This diffuse pattern of fits and starts remained the norm until after the 1830s.