What is the point of schooling? Author and educator John Taylor Gatto, in his book Weapons of Mass Instruction, remarks that modern schooling is no longer aligned with the purpose of education. In his words, “learning isn’t the point of school; winning is; attention is never placed on quality of thought or performance, but on something entirely different; reaching the winner’s circle.” How did we reach this mindset? More importantly, how do we change it? General thought on the purpose of education and the way it should be administered has fluctuated throughout history. To find the true reason for education, we must look to the Catholic Church. It is then necessary to study our society and the history of its schooling system to understand the cause of its collapse.

A flourishing society should be built upon the solid foundation of educated citizens. For this, it is essential that there are firm standards set in place for the regulation and promulgation of an education steeped in truth, which is both given and received with the correct intention. A real education ought to be edifying, leading students to God through goodness, truth, and beauty, with the purpose of becoming more fully human.

The need to learn is radically entwined with the human soul. John Taylor Gatto describes a feeling we’re probably all familiar with: “Some inner clock is ticking in every life, warning us we have appointments to keep with reality: real work to do, real skills to learn, real battles to fight, real risks to take, real ideas to wrestle with.” Humans are made in the imago Dei, the image of God. As such, they have Reason, Intellect, and Will. Christian teaching often focuses on Free Will, the ability to choose what’s good, to choose God, but it sometimes overlooks the necessity of having a well-formed mind in order to have the capability to know what is good and to choose it. Saint Athanasius said, “For as the word we speak is an image of the Word who is God’s Son, so also is the wisdom implanted in us an image of the Wisdom who is God’s Son.” Gregory of Nyssa, referring to the words “Let us make man in Our image, after Our likeness,” wrote,

For man is an image because he has a mind, and a rational soul; and he is a likeness because his will is directed to the good, and in this he imitates God. For the divine nature is good, and it is the aim of the rational nature to be like it in goodness… For the Maker of our nature has, as it were, provided a home for our power of free will, in our intellectual faculty. (On the Creation of Man)

We have free will, but we can ourselves restrict it by not seeking to fulfill our human potential spiritually and intellectually. It is, therefore, our responsibility to deepen our knowledge and seek the truth. We are told very plainly in the Prologue to the Catechism of the Catholic Church that God “calls man to seek Him, to know Him, and to love Him.” The Catechism also teaches, in paragraph 1704, that the human person “By his reason, is capable of understanding the order of things established by the Creator. By free will, he is capable of directing himself toward his true good. He finds his perfection ‘in seeking and loving what is true and good.’” This is the purpose of education.

Now the question is: how is this obligation fulfilled, not in the lives of adults, who learn by their own choice, but in the educating of children? A child cannot take up his own education in the same way an adult can. So how is education to be enforced at an age-appropriate level? Pope John Paul the Great offered an answer to this question in his Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio, on the role of the Christian family in the modern world. Writing on the right and duty of parents regarding education, he said:

The task of giving education is rooted in the primary vocation of married couples to participate in God’s creative activity: by begetting in love and for love a new person who has within himself or herself the vocation to growth and development, parents by that very fact take on the task of helping that person effectively to live a fully human life.

The Second Vatican Council clearly stated, “Since parents have conferred life on their children, they have a most solemn obligation to educate their offspring. Hence, parents must be acknowledged as the first and foremost educators of their children.”

This clearly demonstrates the principle of Subsidiarity, which, as defined by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops,

reminds us that larger institutions in society (such as the state or federal government) should not overwhelm or interfere with smaller or local institutions (such as the family, local schools, or the Church community)…. Subsidiarity reflects the essential freedom and innate human dignity of each person while also recognizing the role higher authorities, such as government, can play to ensure that all people are able to thrive.

The latter part of this definition shows that, while parents are the primary educators of their children, other parts of society do have a certain responsibility in this regard.

Government involvement in education is a controversial topic in the modern day. There are strong opinions ranging from “no government regulation in education” to “large improvements in enforced curriculum standards,” and homeschooling families often pit themselves ardently against the public school system. So what role does the government have in the rearing of children? Why should a political regime get a say in the duty of parents? The State is responsible for the good of its people, and it therefore has a certain duty to see that children do not suffer from either the negligence or mere ignorance of their parents. The education of future generations is of the utmost importance to, and in the highest interest of, the State, for without well formed citizens, the structure of society will crumble. Any body of people needs to plan for its future in order to flourish in the long term, and this is not possible without providing for the education of the young. Furthermore, a good education should be available to everyone regardless of wealth or status. Many parents are unable to teach their own children. In these cases, the government ought to provide resources for the families who need them. 

The trouble starts when the government oversteps its authority and reaches into the territory of parental responsibility. The government should act as a safety net, to protect its people when the primary providers fail to do so; this would be following the principle of Subsidiarity. Unfortunately, the people holding power do not often adhere to this of their own volition. As Cicero wrote, “Law is the highest reason, implanted in nature, which prescribes those things which ought to be done, and forbids the contrary. Therefore, laws must be set in place to both fulfill needs while also restricting power.” This would be the ideal set up for a system of education.

Now let’s turn from the theoretical structure, for which we should be striving, to our own country. The schooling system in America is not set up for students to reach their potential. And it is certainly not ordered to lead students to God. In fact, the school system does not even attempt to lead students to the truth. It denies the parent’s right to have a say in their child’s education, for it sees the family as a “retrograde institution,” and that children would be better reared by “the exports.” The system is in place to force everyone into a mold. The goal of elementary school is to prepare you for high school; the goal of high school is to get good grades, so that you can get into a prestigious college; the goal of college is to get a degree that will admit you to a good job. In this way, you climb the ladder of drudgery which reaches its peak when you obtain the “American Dream”—a 30 year mortgage and two car payments. Now you’re stuck there laboring until you reach the age of retirement. Curiously, nowhere in this system of education is education the point.

Our “education system” is not a poorly planned apparatus, but is instead a carefully constructed organization meant to control the masses and form them into a worker-consumer class. It does not intend, or even wish, for people to gain a love of learning, but rather to stop thinking on their own. In this corrupt system, we must recall our purpose and duty to live out our full human potential, so that we can join in the goodness of our Creator. I will conclude with these encouraging words of Pope Benedict XVI: “Even today, there is ultimately nothing else we could wish for but a listening heart—the capacity to discern between good and evil, and thus to establish true law, to serve justice and peace.”