The Grammar of Catholic Schooling and Radically “Catholic” Schools

Martin Scanlan

doi:10.15365/joce.1201032013

Abstract

A “grammar of Catholic schooling” inhibits many elementary and secondary Catholic schools from reflecting on how they practice Catholic Social Teaching (CST). The values of human dignity, the common good and a preferential option for the marginalized are central to CST. Schools can live these values by serving children who live in poverty, are racial, ethnic, and linguistic minorities, or have disabilities. This article demonstrates how a grammar of Catholic schooling has allowed Catholic schools to fall into recruitment and retention patterns antithetical to CST. Drawing upon a multicase, qualitative study of three urban Catholic elementary schools serving marginalized students, the article illustrates how select Catholic schools are breaking the grammar of Catholic schooling by practicing CST. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Highlights

R egarding recruitment and retention of students, tensions between selectivity and inclusivity vex Catholic schools
Since Catholic Social Teaching (CST) affirms human dignity, the common good and a preferential option for the marginalized, schools that primarily seek to serve children who live in poverty, are racial, ethnic, and linguistic minorities, or have special educational needs can be thought of as applying CST into their structures of recruitment and retention
This article presents a reanalysis of this data through the conceptual lens of a grammar of Catholic schooling

Summary

Introduction

R egarding recruitment and retention of students, tensions between selectivity and inclusivity vex Catholic schools. The private nature of Catholic schools drives selective admissions practices that frequently marginalize these same students. This article reviews the history of elementary and secondary Catholic schooling and introduces the notion of a grammar of Catholic schooling as a paradigm for understanding the marginalizing tendencies that have developed in this historical context. It presents data from three Catholic schools that seem to challenge this grammar by serving significant numbers of marginalized students.

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion