Michel Quoist
MEET CHRIST AND LIVE!

translated by J. F. BERNARD
GILL AND MACMILLAN

3. God's children go to school

Our son Henry goes to the local primary school, and I belong to the Parent-Teacher Association. My husband is on one of the school committees. Our daughter Jeanne is at high school, and although she's not yet sure of what she wants to be, she says that she wants to go to college. I wonder if we'll be able to afford to send her? Right now, the odds are against it. And I must say that we don't have much incentive to make sacrifices for her education, because she isn't really a hard worker at school. Sometimes we punish her for being lazy; and we've used every argument we can think of to make her study harder.
My husband and I feel that we have to keep abreast of educational problems and to take an active part in our school organizations, so we try to read as much as we can on the subject. We've come to realize that there are a great many problems. And we realize too, that we have been continually trying to resolve these problems without examining them in the light of the Lord. Finally, yesterday we did so.

We know for certain that God takes an interest in the education of his children, just as he takes an interest in every aspect of their lives.
It is also certain that God wants everyone to attain a maximum degree of development not only in his son Jesus Christ, but also at the natural leve. No father worthy of the name could conceivably be willing to accept the physical, intellectual or moral 'underdevelopment' of his children.
God, therefore, wants every man to be able normally to attain at least a minimum of education; and that minimum must increase as civilization progresses.
There is always a disparity of talents among the children of a family. They have different 'gifts'. The same holds true in the human family. God does not want everyone to be the same. He requires diversity. Every man is different, unique; and therein lies his greatness. None the less, every man must make full use of the talents which God has given him. Differences in education, therefore, should depend upon differences in ability, and not, as they often do, upon wealth and other irrelevant factors.
It is the duty of society, as a whole, to allow every man to develop in proportion to his gifts-that is, to fulfill God' s individual plan for him. By the same token, the gifts of the Father to his children become the responsibility of those children. They must make those gifts bear fruit. This is an absolute condition, and we shall all have to render an account of the use we have made of them.
Thus, we are working in accordance with God's plan, and fulfilling his essential wish for the total development of every man and all men, when, according to our limited means, individually or collectively, we work, through the various associations and organizations to which we belong, for an increase in the world rate of literacy; for equal educational opportunities; for more, and more fairly distributed scholarships; for better schools and teachers; for a reorganization of the educational system; and so for anything which encourages the maximum development of the individual.
What the Father wishes for his children is a balanced, integrated development. And, for that, it is necessary to have an educational system which produces real 'persons'. It is not a question of training dogs - i.e., of making children absorb the greatest possible amount of information - but of teaching human beings to think, to make sound judgments; and of giving each one of them what his individual needs require. This is what we are working for when we campaign for a more 'humanized' educational system, for participation by the students in their own education, for more rational curricula, for the abolition of cramming, etc.
The education and formation of young people is not an individual but a collective undertaking. It is God's work that students and teachers are joined in a single class, in a particular school or scholastic environment for several hours a day and for several years. These are natural groups, and God watches over them. He wants them to become communities open to his Love, and centers of personal development.
Since, in the mind of the Father, a class is a gathering in which the students and teacher are united, we should do everything possible to help the less gifted, to encourage work as a team, and to develop unity among the students themselves. For the same reason, we must oppose the formation of special groups or cliques, any unjustified disorder which would interfere with the work of the community, any dishonesty, any passivity, and anything which would promote the spirit of every-man-for-himself.
We have an obligation to make our classes and our schools succeed. The Christian, whether he is a student, teacher or parent, who tries to find the means to bring about that success and patiently makes use of those means, joins his actions to the action of God which is at work in the whole of human reality.
A young person, like all persons, is a 'whole'. He must be educated at the various levels of his being, including the spiritual level. When we allow our children to receive religious instruction, when we give them the opportunity to live their Christianity in their own environment, we are joining ourselves to God who, from all eternity, has wanted to make the children of men his own children.
All of society must become the Body of Christ, the Church of God. The schools are not isolated institutions within that society. They are not groups cut off from all other groups.
They depend on the whole of society, and they must be open to the whole of life.
Children belong first of all to those who made them: their parents. The parents have the responsibility for their education at every level of their being. They have no right to ignore that responsibility. If they leave the education of their children entirely in the hands of teachers and schools, they become parents who have at least partially 'abandoned' their offspring.
So far as God is concerned, there is no such thing as a single, solitary man. There are only individuals in various relationships with other individuals. In this instance, the individuals are the parents, the teachers and the students themselves, who are collectively responsible, in accordance with their individual roles, for the total development of young people.
Everyone belongs to a particular social environment by which he is profoundly influenced and moulded. At the same time, man is responsible for his environment. He has no right to ignore it, or to reject the natural (and, for a Christian, divine) ties which bind him to his environment. Students, teachers and academic institutions must all take that environment into account; for each environment has its own 'culture', which is a treasure, or a 'talent', which must not only not be ignored; it must also be developed. We cannot allow everyone to be treated exactly alike for we must allow everyone to develop in accordance with his background.
Every student has a real obligation to develop a 'professional conscience' about his studies. Most often, his education is being paid for by society - and especially by working-people. Students, in other words, are privileged beings, and as such they have responsibilities to society. They are responsible for preparing themselves conscientiously to take their proper places as workers, and also in the social and political arenas.
Finally, all those who participate in the educational system-and the students themselves, first of all-are responsible to mankind as a whole. They have an obligation with respect to the goals of improved education and the development of the minds of men. We must learn to look far into the distance; far beyond our own immediate and legitimate interests. Every man who enriches his mind contributes to mankind, allows mankind to take a step toward that 'spiritualization' which is itself a step towards God. It is up to us Christians to place the whole of Christ' s life squarely behind that movement forward.

We now understand better, Lord, why we should belong to parent-teacher associations.
We understand better why we must do everything we can for men to be able to obtain a true education: an education which is balanced, total, open and respectful of all the values of different environments and different communities.
We understand why, despite any obstacles, we must never cease educating ourselves. 
And we have better reasons to give our children-really Christian reasons-why they should work hard in school.

For they are your children, Lord.
Your children go to school.
Your children grow, and become adults.
But how many of them will never develop fully?
How many of them will be permanently damaged? 
You don't want this to happen to any of them, Lord. 
We don't want it to happen either,
and that' s why we want to fight
on your side, Lord.