latest rankings<\/a> of Catholic schools nationwide, none of the top 25 have a ratio above the national average of 17:1, with most in the single digits. These schools are in a positive feedback loop \u2014 the lower student-teacher ratios and prestigious college acceptances attract higher-income families, which then increases the demand for lower student-teacher ratios and more prestigious college acceptances.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThis loop also has the negative effect of eventually pricing out many potential Catholic school families based only on disposable income, much to the detriment of the true purpose of a Catholic school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In The Catholic School<\/em>, authored by the Vatican\u2019s Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education in 1977, it is explained that the Church \u201cestablishes her own schools because she considers them as a privileged means of promoting the formation of the whole man\u201d and in furtherance of the salvific mission of the Church. In other words, Catholic schools are there to save souls \u2013 all souls, not just those with tens of thousands of dollars in expendable income each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe Catholic School<\/em> addresses the very situation outlined in Murnane and Reardon\u2019s study on private schools in the United States. The document highlights the \u201cconsiderable difficulties\u201d that can arise from \u201csuch nearsightedness\u201d as restricting access to the Catholic school to the wealthy before warning:<\/p>\n\n\n\nThis situation is of great concern to those responsible for Catholic education, because first and foremost the Church offers its educational service to \u2018the poor or those who are deprived of family help and affection or those who are far from the faith\u2018. Since education is an important means of improving the social and economic condition of the individual and of peoples, if the Catholic school were to turn its attention exclusively or predominantly to those from the wealthier social classes, it could be contributing towards maintaining their privileged position[.] (The Catholic School, 58)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nA Catholic school system that is not structured to be accessible to all \u201cruns the risk of giving counter-witness,\u201d according to The Catholic School<\/em>. And in a country where, as Murnane and Reardon report, \u201cnon-Catholic religious elementary schools serve more low-income students than Catholic elementary schools do,\u201d our Catholic schools are missing the mark.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThose responsible for Catholic schools, from the Bishops to school staff to parents and parishioners, must immediately and energetically engage in the public debate around school choice. Public policies that allow low- and middle-income parents to direct the public funding allocated for their child\u2019s education would give Catholic schools an opportunity to again reduce the gap in access to private schools between rich and poor lamented in Murnane and Reardon\u2019s article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Greg Dolan is Director of Policy and Outreach at Catholic Education Partners.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"THE FOLLOWING PIECE WAS PUBLISHED BY EDNEXT ON AUGUST 15, 2018: A recent study in Education Next evaluates the shift in the haves and have-nots of private education, highlighting the disturbing trend of private schools enrolling students predominantly from high-income families. Authors Richard Murnane and Sean Reardon point to the loss of half of America\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
CEP in EdNext: Why Can\u2019t the Middle Class Afford Catholic School Anymore? - CEP<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n