Whether they work there or entrust their children to it, anyone who chooses Catholic education is used to answering this question: “But why Catholic education?” “, as it were a form of ignorance in this election a certain justification would be required.
However, Catholic education in France is not an anomaly or a political inadequacy: in addition to being the heir of a rich educational tradition, it is firmly part of a shared national educational project, a project in which it introducing not only pluralism, but also a particular view of man and a particular mode of educational freedom.
The “special character” of institutions
The main feature of Catholic institutions is under a contract of association with the State the idea of ”special character” known to these centers since Debré’s law in 1959, an idea that specifies the place of freedom they have to implement their specialty.
This freedom is dependent on respect for basic obligations that are the general framework by which they are related to the State: respect for official national education programs; teachers employed at the same qualification level as public education; welcome all students; compliance with framework and infrastructure regulations; respect for divinity ; etc. In return for meeting these responsibilities, the State funds teachers’ salaries and contributes to operating costs. Therefore, far from being against public schools, Catholic institutions under contract contribute to the national education project.
In participating in the service of this common good that is education, the “special character” of institutions refers to the idea that each structure can choose to use a specific educational project – a project are chosen consciously with families at the time of registration and that it is an obligation to support their contributions.
And these are not big theoretical ideas: you only have to visit several Catholic institutions when their doors are open to see the great diversity of projects. Depending on its history or the charisma it refers to, each center has its own way of saying what it wants to offer families and translating it concretely into school organization, management , relationships with parents, educational and pedagogical practices, etc. “The special character” is in short an area of meaning and inspiration that distinguishes one institution from another, but which above all allows, in a Catholic institution any, to express the academic side with a Christian concept of man.
The common advantage of diversity
But why this dual public/private system of national education? We could be satisfied with a historical argument, such as: “it is the legacy of the past” because indeed history has an important weight in the constitution of the existing educational landscape right now. I believe, however, that we should not ignore the political argument as to whether, regardless of the choice families make, our common educational good gains something from giving include diversity and choice within the overall proposition of national education.
In fact, there is a general benefit in holding together, on the one hand, an agreement on educational content and a body of knowledge (the well-known programs), and on the other hand a variety of structures that serve this generality. Double recognition: on the one hand, the importance of common content, which is necessary to create a national organization; and on the other side, a lot of conscience and the freedom, which is necessary to respect the otherness that is a partner.
Ideal preview?
Isn’t this an ideal view? We are indeed familiar with the critics who, sometimes without measure, criticize Catholic teaching for being reserved for certain families and therefore being a means of service not to the common people… but to each other.
I believe that this is not to underestimate not only the wide range of Catholic institutions that experience very different sociological realities, but also the very hard methods by which some barriers to opening continue to close (for example restaurants that do not receive subsidies from public authorities, which results in sometimes prohibitive prices for certain sectors of families), and everything that is put in place at all levels to respond to these challenges.
Above all, it should be said again that it is not the sociological signs or the protocols that guide this opening of establishments, but the tradition of welcome that was in the creation of these schools and, more fundamental indeed, the evangelical crisis that requires. that the poorest do not find themselves at the door of the Catholic education proposal – something that would be at its peak.
[1] Louis Lourme directed the Saint-Joseph center in Tivoli, in Bordeaux, for eight years, a Catholic center under a joint contract with the State and under Jesuit supervision. He directed the publication of the Until we bear fruit – Catholic school missions at Bayard. He had already directed the publication of Bayard’s For education, that is to say? Anthropology and Christian education in 2019.
2024-11-10 21:02:00
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