Secular Education vs. Spiritual/Christian Education

[JackieMom]

I got a question like this from our kids’ parish school: That is, which is more important, academics or faith formation? I wrote in that academic subjects had better include faith formation and faith formation had better be academic, because one without the other does not even make sense. You can’t educate a child well with a model that puts religious truth in a box apart from every other kind of truth. That division itself would be a kind of a lie, don’t you think?

For me, both are equally important - but with regard to the school, I’m PRIMARILY paying them to provide an education that I do not believe can be conferred in the home. I do feel like I’m capable of teaching faith formation. So, while botj are equally important to me, I am more concerned with our school providing a solid traditional education, because I feel that I am capable of taking up the cause of religious ed in the home setting more than I am the advanced chemistry cause

 

[EasterJoy]

For me, both are equally important - but with regard to the school, I’m PRIMARILY paying them to provide an education that I do not believe can be conferred in the home. I do feel like I’m capable of teaching faith formation. So, while botj are equally important to me, I am more concerned with our school providing a solid traditional education, because I feel that I am capable of taking up the cause of religious ed in the home setting more than I am the advanced chemistry cause

No, I mean you do not teach history or biology as if the Church doesn’t exist or as if politics do not include a presumption of justice as the prevailing principle by which a society may be judged. There were times in the past when a certain value system would be presumed as part of the academic curriculum, but that is no longer the case. It ought to be. Likewise, understanding chemistry and the physical sciences is necessary in order to intelligently consider some problems of social justice.