The Home – Society's Fundamental Educational Agency (1929)

[6] "THE home is the fundamental educational agency in society. The first right to educate belongs to the parents. Catholic schools exist because Catholic parents are convinced that the only education which can insure a noble and happy life for their children is that which is rooted and founded in the religion of Jesus Christ. In the words of our Holy Father, Pius XI, 'The state has nothing to fear from education given by the Church and under its guidance; it is this education which has prepared modern civilization in all it has which is really good, superior, and lofty.'

"Catholic schools from kindergarten to university achieve their purpose only in the measure in which they reflect and inculcate a Catholic philosophy of life. The Catholic educator faces no greater responsibility than that of understanding the educational implications of Catholic philosophy and their application to every detail of organization, method, and administration.

"The curriculum of the American school suffers from overloading and lack of organization. Expediency has blinded us to ultimate principles and destroyed in us a sense of relative value. There is need of a sound determination of the fundamentals of education. Applicable to the present situation are these words of our Holy Father: 'We who have some personal experience of teaching and books often fear lest the danger foreseen by St. Augustine be lying in wait for our dear young people: necessaria non norunt, quia superflua didicerunt.' [Trans: they did not know the necessary things because they learned the superfluous.]

"As Catholic educators we need to take strict account of ourselves that we may determine to what extent the superfluous is usurping the field of the necessary in our programs of instruction."

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Source: "The Home – Society's Fundamental Educational Agency: A Timely and Forceful Pronouncement by the National Catholic Educational Association," The National Catholic Welfare Council Bulletin 11, no. 3 (Aug. 1929): 6.