There’s a mosaic at the entrance to the private school operated by St. Philip Neri Roman Catholic Church on Chicago’s south side that says the following:
“The State has the right to insist that its citizens shall be educated,” attributed to Pope Leo XIII.
Now, Martin Luther said much, much worse regarding education several centuries before Leo drew breath, so I cannot complain on sectarian grounds. But educated for what? To what end? That of the church? Or of the state? Do the ends of the individual human being, and the individual human soul, matter? Can someone be “educated” against his or hew own will? I suppose it’s not possible to have proper “human resources” if they aren’t “educated”…
As an added note, the carillon of St. Philip Neri was ringing out the melodies to armed forces tunes. “Anchors Aweigh” and “As the Army Goes Rolling Along” and all that.
1:41 pm on July 4, 2007
