The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-08-30

ATEs SOME OF THE MORE I'M
PoRTANT REASONS IN THE
CURRENT ISSUE OF THE Ro
sARY MAGAZINE.
At this time of the year the old
] question again comes to the surface:
Why choose the Catholic school? Ar
guments for and against the Catholic
school have been adduced time and
again. At the present day all we'll
informed persons know that the Cath
olic school has reached high degree
of efficiency. In spite of this fact
many persons persist in claiming SUI
perior advantages for the non-sec-
tartan institution Often have we
heard the external arguments, so to
speak, in favor of our schools. We
know that the teachers, Sisters or
Brothers or priests, are thoroughly
devoted to their work We realize
that teaching, for them, is a life-work
and that all the energies of their
minds are devoted to this great work.
1t is also clear that the lives and zeal
of these persons dedicated to the
service of God exercise a wonderful
influence on the plastic mind of the
youth. Besides these outward con-
siderations there are other reasons
why the Catholic school is the only
proper sphere for the development of
the Catholic youth.
The Psychology of Education.
The psychology of education may
be summed up in a few words. The
term, education, is derived from the
Latin "educere," to lead or draw out
When applied in an intellectual sense,
the word means to draw out the
latent powers Of the mind and the
will. To educate, therefore, in the
real meaning of the term, is simply to
develop in the child those hidden
powers which Nature has conferred
upon him together with his immortal
rational soul. Whatever pertains to
the powers of that soul falls naturally
under the scope of education. To
develop one faculty or set of faculties
at the expense of the others is to ex
pose the soul to mental or moral
atrophy; it means the dwarfing of the
soul as whole, and consequently q
diminution of it's potential expansion
along that particular line which has
been neglected .--.--a.
The ancients who had attained tc
any degree of culture easily realized
this principle The Spartans erred il
confining their activities to the purely
physical, or to that which was
directly related thereto. The Athen
ians, with the artistic perception of a
superior race, ridiculed their Spartan
neighbors for this barbarous mode o1
rearing the young. The Athenian in
sisted that his children be educated
in the true sense Of the word. He
recognized the fact that his child pos
sessed faculties other than those that
belonged to the physical order. He
would have his child develop along
lines that would produce sym
metrical and well-balanced life, physi
cal, mental and moral. For this pur.
pose the children of Athens were
| taught not only dexterity in warfare
but also those accomplishments that
belonged to higher sphere. They
were taught poetry and philosophy
and the arts The maidens were
trained in all the graces that espe-
cially belong to women, music, dane
ing, posing artistically, and the polite
niceties of life. A veneration for the
gods was deeply implanted in the
young mind. Religion was made to
hold distinctive place in their hearts
So profoundly were the tenets Of re
ligion imbedded in their hearts and
minds that it became part of their
them meant development of all the
powers of the soul, without the sacri.
fee or the neglect of any faculty.
Education Without Religion.
Modern science teaches us a great
deal about brain cells, their func-
tions, their activities, the perils that
threaten and affect them. We are
told that brain-work is not by any
means brain-exercise; that the con-
tinual application of the brain to a
certain subject will have the effect
of lessening the power of the mind
towards success in other lines, unless
the worker varies his application with
some form of diversion. All this but
proves that development along one
line will leave the soul and the mind
one-sided in its views of life and con-
duct.
Now, psychology teaches that ordi-
narily we do not perceive by means
of intuition. For the intellect grasps
the truth of things, while the will
makes use OF that knowledge thus
acquired and adapts it to action So
powerful is the human viii that it
may sometimes act contrary to rea-
son. Thus through malice, or
vengeance, or an inflexible obstinacy,
it urges its commands.
Sic volo, sic jubeo, stat pro ratione
voluntas" ('T so viii, so command,
my will is sufficient reason'). If that
will is not trained by the precepts Of
religion, then morality becomes a
matter OF pure conscience; the indf-
vidual is left alone with his invisible
mentor; the idea OF God which is
found in every human soul soon loses
its force, and the result Is your
modern pagan, or your man Of pure,
natural r1nnr.n Iitrr rrrftI,nrnf thn enrntarr,