Newspaper Page Text
Saturday, August 20, 1960
THE BULLETIN
Section Two—PAGE. ELEVEN
NEED TO PROGRESS Center of Education
Tremendous Growth
Seen for Decade
(Continued From Page 10)
in parochial control. The percentage of private
schools has remained constant.
Undoubtedly, the advantages that accompany the
consolidation of small schools into a larger unit such
as the diocesan has led to the closing of some schools
formerly serving a single parish.
Increase in Lay Teachers
The increase in percentage of lay teachers and the
decrease in percentage of sisters are probably the
most notable items in the Catholic secondary schools.
Sisters have borne the main task of teaching in all
Catholic elementary and secondary schools, but it has
been impossible for them to increase in numbers as
rapidly as the schools have expanded in these past
few years of mushroom growth. The clergy, religious,
and laity alike are coming to realize the significant
contribution the lay teacher has to make, particularly
in the education of adolescents.
It is clear that there are not enough Catholic high
schools to accommodate all the boys and girls seeking
admission to them. Applicants are sometimes rejected,
although most schools use every possible means to
take all who apply.
National testing programs have been designed to
select for scholarship grants those students who ap
pear most capable of succeeding in college. These test
ing programs have become powerful influences on
high school curricula and admission practices.
Historical Development
To understand better the history of Catholic se
condary education a brief look at American educa
tional development is necessary.
In this country there has always been some type of
institution corresponding with elementary and second
ary schools of today.
The first elementary school was the reading school,
necessary for literate citizens and church members.
This early elementary school expanded in curriculum
and length of term into the six or eight-year school
of our time.
Secondary school development is more complex.
In pioneer days there existed side by side with the
reading school a Latin grammar school needed to pre
pare boys to be ministers and statesmen. It was
selective and its aims were primarily social because
it served the need of society for clerical and political
leaders. In pioneer society this form of higher educa
tion was not needed by all youths and was not pro
vided for all. Children of more prosperous parents
were often sent to European schools.
Ey.en in Colonial times, however, the situation be
gan to change. There was a growing recognition of the
need for wider educational opportunity, and the acad
emy, founded in 1751, was a first step in that direc
tion. Although it did not change radically from the
Latin grammar school, it was more aware of both in
dividual and social needs. It recognized expansion in
commerce and attempted to prepare youths for com
mercial pursuits.
Catholic secondary education laid its permanent
foundation in the dominance of the academy. Before
that time, Catholic education in general had been
carried on in seclusion and secrecy because of intoler
ance and persecution.
In 1789, however, when Georgetown became a per
manent institution, it was apparent that the era of
persecution was ended. As other secondary schools
were established they offered a curriculum typical in
European secondary schools, a six-year classical course
forming the core of the curriculum.
Appearance of High School
The high school appearing on the scene in 1821, but
which began multiplying in numbers only since 1890,
has brought the education of adolescents far along
toward attainment of the democratic ideal. It has con
tinued to prepare for college, but has recognized wide
differences in native endowment and, basing its pro
grams on sound psychology, has attempted to lead each
youth to progress in proportion to his native ability
and aptitude and to be ready to assume with dignity his
place in society.
The real beginning of the Catholic secondary
school as separate from the college or academy took
place in 1890 when the Roman Catholic High School
for Boys was founded as a free school. John W.
Hallahan High School for girls followed in 1912.
The liberal arts ideal of education for living rather
than for specific occupational competence has remained
the strongest concept in the Catholic philosophy of
education. Consistent with this has been the stress on
those courses that are considered the foundation of
the Christian cultural heritage.
Sister Janet predicts that there will be tremendous
growth in the parochial high school system. In the
next 10 years, she says, “it is reasonable to hope that
we shall know more about meeting individual dif
ferences, about stimulating all types of pupils to maxi
mum achievement, and about valid and reliable meth
ods of educational and vocational guidance. The Catho
lic high schools of 1960 have great responsibility to
progress in all these areas.”
The classroom remains the center of Catholic edu
cation. Here pupils receive not only instruction in
religion along with moral training, but the best of
ber of Catholic institutions of higher learning in their
enrollment.
According to John P. Sullivan in a pamphlet,
Catholic Higher Education, U.S.A., published by the
NCWC Department of Education, the number of Cath
olic colleges and universities has more than doubled
in the past 50 years, jumping from 98 in 1909 to 224
in 1959.
Even more startling is the explosion of enroll
ment in these schools. “Since 1909,” Mr. Sullivan
writes, “college and university enrollments have
jumped from i6,040 to 290,578,” an increase of more
than 17 times. In comparison other private colleges
and universities in the country have increased their
enrollments by about 11 times in the same period.
In addition there are about 14,000 persons enrolled
in non-credit courses in the Catholic institutions in such
public service areas as labor schools, business, manage
ment, and government courses, correspondence pro
grams, and adult education. An additional 21,000 stu
dents attend summer institutes, clinics, workshops, and
in-service training programs.
Women's Colleges
Most impressive has been the development of
higher education for women. Of the 136 colleges
founded by women religious now operating, 109 have
been founded within the past 50 years. “Catholic
women’s colleges,” says Mr. Sullivan, “gave evidence
of a really heroic determination and sacrifice. During
the worst depression years, women religious founded
29 institutions of higher education; all but one are
still operating.”
Of the 224 Catholic colleges and universities, 33
enroll male students only, 110 admit only females, and
81 (almost one-third) receive students of both sexes.
“Women students,” according to Mr. Sullivan, “account
for 40 per cent of the total undergraduate enrollments
at all Catholic higher education centers in the United
States. This is higher than the national average (35
per cent) of women undergraduates at all institutions
of higher education.”
One of the best indications of the quality of Cath
olic colleges and universities is the percentage of these
institutions that have received recognition from re
gional accrediting agencies. According to the U.S.
Office of Education Directory, 1958-59, 87 per cent of
four-year Catholic colleges and universities meet the
standards and requirements of their regional accredit
ing organizations. These figures compare with 73 per
cent of Protestant and 41 per cent of all other private
foundations that can claim this distinction.
An area in which Catholic higher education is
making great strides and in which still greater prog
ress will be made in the future is the field of gradu
ate study.
“In education beyond the bachelor’s degree, there
are 60 Catholic institutions that now maintain graduate
teaching in secular subjects. All is in an environment
imbued with Christian ideals.
schools or departments.” In addition to arts and
science programs, these schools have broadened their
graduate offerings to include such specialized fields
as music, social work, library science, foreign service,
education, business administration, and journalism.
About 10 per cent of the masters’ degrees awarded
by private universities in the United States are con
ferred by Catholic institutions. The picture is less
rosy in the area of doctorates. “In June, 1958, the 12
Catholic universities with doctorate programs con
ferred 247 Ph.D. degrees and four Ed.D. degrees,
which represented but six per cent of the 4,272 earned
doctorates presented by 56 private foundations.”
Great in Healing Arts
One of the greatest contributions of Catholic educa
tion to the welfare of the United States has been in
the area of the healing arts. Medical and dental
schools, it should be pointed out, are the most costly
department of any university, and “these schools rep
resent heavy financial sacrifices on the part of the
Catholic universities which maintain them.”
Five Catholic universities, Georgetown, Creighton,
Marquette, Loyola of Chicago, and St. Louis operate
both medical and dental schools; two more, Detroit
and Loyola of New Orleans, have dental schools. Seton
Hall is now developing both a medical and a dental
center.
In 1959 these schools graduated 450 doctors and
514 dentists. All have the full approval of the AMA
and the ADA. Some of these schools provide-a large
proportion of physicians and dentists in areas in
which there would otherwise be a severe shortage.
Out of 64 institutions of higher education having
fully accredited collegiate nursing departments, 24
are Catholic, a proportion of more than one-third.
Catholic colleges and universities face problems,
some of which may become more severe in the future.
“Catholic institutions, according to estimates based
on current data by the National Newman Federation,
now educate only two-fifths of all American Catholics
who go on to higher education. With the rising tide
of college enrollments at hand, Catholic higher educa
tion faces a most critical challenge.”
Unbelievable Triumph
Despite its problems, Catholic higher education
in the United States represents an almost unbeliev
able triumph.
The dimensions of this triumph were well stated
by the eminent English historian, Christopher Daw
son: “Only in this country (the United States) and
in this half-century have Catholics of such diverse
national backgrounds, without help from the state,
produced the educational machinery to bring its youth
from kindergarten through grade and high schools
to college and university.”
FROM 98 TO 224 INSTITUTIONS
Catholic Colleges, Universities Make
Breath-Taking Progress in Fifty Years
By Edward T. Smith
T HE STORY OF CATHOLIC COLLEGES and universities in the United States in the past 50 years
is one of breath-taking progress, spiced with difficulties, new and old, that have yet to be
overcome.
Mirroring the growth of the Catholic population in the U. S. from a missionary outpost of
14,000,000 in 1909 to a stronghold of 39,000,000 in 1959 has been a dramatic jump in the num-