by MICHAEL OTTO
Catholic secondary schools have once again received high praise in Metro magazine’s annual “Best schools in Auckland” feature.
McAuley High School in Otahuhu is particularly lauded, and is, in Metro editor Simon Young’s opinion, a leading candidate for best school in the city.
McAuley was streets ahead of other decile one schools in Auckland in terms of overall University
Entrance pass percentage from 2010 to 2014.
Mr Young wrote that “ … Catholic schools know the value of an integrated approach to schooling
that engages the whole family”.
“The community raises the child.
“While many other schools also understand this, church schools have a head start in making it happen because the church is already part of family life.
“There are shared values, shared experiences and frequent regular opportunities for church and school to reinforce it all.”
Mr Young also noted that Catholic schools say “it is about the faith”.
“The challenge they pose to state schools, which must get by without religious belief, is to learn from all the other things Catholic schools do well.
“Their holistic commitment to students and their families is an object lesson for all schools.”
The magazine noted that the fees at Catholic schools are much higher than at state schools, but at the same time are only about a third of what parents would face at a private school.
The magazine ran a separate feature titled “In God’s Name” with its annual schools item.
This seven page item covered three schools — McAuley, Baradene and St Peter’s.
This article also noted that Catholic schools sit well above the national averages in all levels of NCEA.
It’s not a modern phenomenon that Catholic schools are envied for their high level of scholarship; it’s been that way throughout my living memory.
However, that high level does not today apply to their passing on of the Faith, essential to their purpose.
It has been said: “Rather send your child to a State school where s/he’ll have to fight for his/her Faith, than to a Catholic school where s/he’ll have it taken from him/her.”
Earlier this year, our bishops released a statement, “The Catholic Education of School Age Children”, wherein they acknowledged the abysmal failure of N.Z’s Catholic schools to affirm the Faith in their pupils.
They wrote:
“(28) There is plenty of data to show that Catholic schools have good academic standards and that their students receive a sound education. But provision of a sound education is not the reason for the existence of the Catholic school; such an education can equally be provided by state or private schools. The Catholic school is first and foremost a place to encounter the living God who in Jesus Christ reveals his transforming love and truth. Its primary goal is above all a question of communicating Christ, of helping to form Christ in the lives of others. That is the goal against which the effectiveness of Catholic schools must be assessed, because it is the reason for their existence.”
And they went on to write:
“…. the first and foremost goal of every Catholic educational institution, that of being a place to encounter the living God who in Jesus Christ reveals his transforming love and truth, has not been achieved.”
And the bishops confessed that the participants in a study undertaken recently,
“equated being a good Catholic with being a good person, with little else being required. They held strongly to the conviction that each individual has the right to believe as they choose – the right to shape their own version of the Catholic faith, which for most does not currently include participation in the faith community, and which may not include it in the future.”
Metro, as should be expected, has no idea of what constitutes the “best schools in Auckland”.
I don’t mind Catholic schools, in fact i believe that kids gain a lof of useful knowledge and skills there. Too many modern kids don’t know the meaning of the word, “discipline” and teachers in Catholic schools know how to teach children and hep them become many sided personalities. A lof of students today are looking through this site and searching for professionals who can create impressive essay papers. Perhaps, we need new vision of teaching in modern public where teachers focus on how to help students take responsibility for their own learning.
great post