The disappearance of Catholic schools from America’s inner cities is ”a national education crisis that needs a national response,” argue Checker Finn and Andy Smarick in a Washington Post op-ed. To their credit, Finn’s Fordham Foundation has been a long-time, loud and too often lonely voice urging action to save Catholic schools. They write:
Most urban Catholic schools were originally built to educate the children of European immigrants; today, they mostly serve poor African American and Latino students. With their long track record of successfully educating ill-served populations, these schools can play a central role in the nation’s effort to expand educational opportunity and reduce the achievement gap. But not if they disappear.
Reformers love scale, so try this comparison: KIPP runs 66 public schools in 19 states and the District of Columbia serving just over 16,000 students. Catholic schools serving 25 times that number of children closed down from 2000 to 2006–nearly 1,200 faith-based urban schools closed, serving 425,000 students. And these are schools that produce results. Diane Ravitch recently noted that in New York City, the four-year graduation rate at Catholic high schools is 99.5%, with 98% of high school graduates enrolling in college. Finn and Smarick want the Obama administration to “help turn this fatal tide” of Catholic school closings.
Stimulus funds could be used to shore up schools on the brink, provide assistance to their teachers and administrators, or expand and replicate promising local strategies. The president could support education tax credits or scholarships, which would help needy students and stabilize school enrollments. By simply underscoring his support and concern for these schools, he would indicate the bipartisan nature of this issue, thereby providing cover to others eager to act but wary of the political implications.
It’s fashionable (and facile) for antagonists in ed policy debates to frame arguments in terms of who’s on the side of children vs. who’s concerned about adults. Here are schools successfully serving two million kids. Who’s on their side? And before one argues that there are church/state issues here, and that public dollars must not go to religious schools, remember that’s exactly what happens every time a Pell Grant pays a student’s tuition at Georgetown, BC, or Notre Dame.
This just in: Eduwonk likes Catholic schools “but remains unpersuaded on the need for a public bailout of Catholic schools absent a lot of reciprocal accountability and transparency.”
If Catholic schools should get public support, why shouldn’t public schools be allowed to live by the same rules Catholic schools do, with the same ability to discipline (and expel) students?
Having been a teacher in both Catholic and Public Schools, I fully support funding for Catholic Schools. I am also a very strong advocate for having the same rules enforced in public schools that are in place in Catholic schools. I have been teaching for 42 years. If anyone whould have told me how drasticlly education would change, I would have told them that they were crazy. A great deal of time is wasted each day dealing with students who “choose” not to learn while depriving others of their right to receive a good education. Something needs to be done NOW. Students in the 8th grade cannot read or do a simple math problem without a caalculator. The common response from kids today is “I don’t care, school is boring”! We do not get support from many parents. One parent told me, in front of her child, that I was lying about her child’s behavior because her child NEVER lies to her. The child walked proudly into class to inform the other students that his mother really told me off. A number of my collogues and I have been shoved, pushed, cursed at and ridiculed by students who received no consequences for their actions. I could go on and on, but I am sure that my frustration with the system is obvious. We need to do something now because things will just get worse.
We should absolutely fund catholic schools, they do a wonderful job of educating our children and providing a concrete foundation for higher education: Preparing them not just academically, but socially, as tolerant and responsible young ladies and gentlemen, respectful of their teachers, and having an appreciation for what they are gifted with. Loving and nurturing custodians, who prepare them to be thoughtful, intelligent and moral human beings.
Catholic Schools are mandated by state and federal government to provide stats pertaining to students, academic achievements, thus government should do whatever possible to assist financially.