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Gravissimum Educationis 30 Years on

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2024

Michael Bayldon
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The Vatican Council issued Gravissimum Educationis on 28th of October 1965. On the 30th anniversary a few reflections may prompt a reconsideration of the document.

Education and schooling are not the same thing. Education, correctly understood, is a lifelong process. Schooling occupies our young days. Although it is a generalisation, I think it is true to say thal modern schooling is the product of the Industrial Revolution.’ Education, by contrast has a longer pedigree. We have schooling because an industrialised nation requires skills best imparted by a schooling process. Recent education reforms (1988 onwards) — particularly under the influence of Toryism — have tried to cement schooling to current economic theory.

The Catholic Church cannot afford to dedicate too many of her resources to reinforcing a particular economic or social theory. Indeed, history shows that the Church has demonstrated wary resistance to such trends. A turning-point arose at Vatican II. In the Decrec Gravissimum Educafionis we read: “Holy Mother Church … is under an obligation to promote the welfare of the whole life of man.” (In modern — politically correct — speech, we would say person, of course). Many, though not all, diocesan education departments concentrate on schooling. This falls under the spell of a myth. The myth suggests that schooling educates. Reality suggests that schooling may open avenues, but education is a most complex process. As the Church slowly climbs out of the shadows of medievalism, we are discovering the need for broader minds, broader concepts of formation. Trends are gradually changing.

Type
Research Article
Information
New Blackfriars , Volume 77 , Issue 902 , March 1996 , pp. 131 - 136
Copyright
Copyright © 1996 Provincial Council of the English Province of the Order of Preachers

References

1 This article is the by‐product of considerable historical study which cannot be reproduced here. Briefly, two impulses provided the background to the development of modern schooling. Empire and industry basically fuelled the notion of Great Britain and its subsequent Commonwealth. Most trace the origins of modern schooling to the latter part of the 18th Century. The age of Paine and the philosophes paved the way. I would agree, but take the philosophical issues much further back in time.

2 It is impossible to list all the possible influences. Each one of these topics merits an article by itself. The intricacies need to be weighed and carefully balanced.

3 Cardinal Ratzinger made a profound and insightful contribution to this debate at Hong Kong in the spring of 1995. He really was appealing to local churches to look more closely at the implications of placing “world” and “church” into two separate boxes. A fruitful adult dialogue is demanded if the church is to survive.