How Can Education Bring Out Our Identity?
A discussion with Darren Burris, Director of Instruction, Boston Collegiate Chartered Schools, and Fr. Albert Holtz, OSB, teacher, St. Benedict Prep., Newark, moderated by Fr. José Medina, U.S. Coordinator of Communion and Liberation, on the future of education in the U.S.
Not long ago, the two institutions that most shaped our identity were the family in which we were born and the schools we attended. Today, the education system seems to have given up on the formation of human identity. Curricula seem to be increasingly focused on "doing" more than "being." Religious and cultural differences find less and less space in schools where a nominal commitment to diversity often translates into the refusal to acknowledge any tradition. The recent discussions about the Core Curriculum have also brought to the fore some important questions about the role of education in forming our national and individual identity. How can the schools help shape the identity of the young, respecting both their freedom and what they have received from their families and their communities? How can educators foster a complete human formation, and not just transmit purely instrumental knowledge and skills? How can a young person today be helped to discover his or her true identity? These and other questions will be discussed by a panel of experienced educators.
