Total Education
“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.” ~ Aristotle
This week is Catholic Schools Week and I thought, perhaps, a few quotes about education would be more than appropriate throughout the week. Today, we begin with “the entire package”. Every school has a mission statement. Ours is “Educating the whole child in the values of Jesus and Mary.” That pretty much sums up our philosophy and what we do.
The whole child. Some schools focus on a part of the child, specifically his or her intellect. They provide as many programs as possible to make that child “smart” and give that child an advantage in education. Other schools see that as lacking a huge component, the human component. Therefore, they educate the mind but they also provide education and enrichment for other areas of life as well: sciences, the arts, band, chorus, and the like.
While all of that is well and good, that is still not the whole child because it cuts out the most crucial part: the spiritual. We need to educate our spiritual lives as well if we are to be the well-rounded Christians that God wants us to be and that the world so desperately needs.
We educate our spiritual selves by learning our prayers and praying daily, by doing good works to benefit others, by aiding others spiritually in prayer for them, by visiting the Blessed Sacrament, by going to Mass regularly, by celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession), and a whole host of other ways.
Only when we learn our academics, participate in the sports and the arts, study our religion, pray and practice our faith will we be totally educated in the values of Jesus and Mary.
FAITH ACTION: Value the things that speak to your heart: prayer, service, devotion, care, respect. Allow these to inform the things that educate your mind.