Times change. Our state legislature is presently considering government assistance to parochial schools.
My education from first grade through law school was all in public schools, with the exception of grades six through eight, which were at a Catholic school in Thief River Falls, Minnesota. All of my educational experiences, whether public or private, were positive. If the parochial school I attended had an advantage, it was that our classes were smaller. Thief River Falls was a predominantly Scandinavian town, so having a crowded Catholic school was not going to happen.
Times were very different then. Dwight D. Eisenhower was the President. There were only 12 teams in the NFL, only 16 teams in Major League Baseball, and only 6 teams in the NHL. In the NBA, there were such teams as the Cincinnati Royals, Syracuse Nationals, St. Louis Hawks, and Minneapolis Lakers. The Hawks were the last NBA team to integrate. I was in the seventh grade when that happened. These facts are mentioned merely to emphasize how long ago this was.
Public funding or government assistance was a topic of discussion at the parochial school I attended. There was none. A nominal fee was assessed to the student’s parents. The remainder of educational funds was assessed to the members of the parish. Books, football uniforms, and equipment were covered by the parish.
We were taught that if our school took government help, the government might try to control us. That, we were taught, was a violation of the doctrine of separation of church and state. The quotation of the Lord, “That which is of Caesar is Caesar’s, and that which is of the Lord is the Lord’s,” was brought to our attention. Was the Lord being misquoted or taken out of context?
In modern times, is Caesar now confusing itself with the Lord? If the state legislature assists parochial schools at the expense of public schools, one wonders whether such legislation would survive a vote of the people. Lord knows.
