THE UNEXPECTED UPSIDE OF... A RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
I was convinced my destiny was either to be the world’s most effective missionary – or to be raptured.
A rare exception is Barbra Streisand’s dramatic turn as a gender-masquerading, would-be young Torah scholar in the 1983 movie Yentl . Not only did the film show the rigors of a religious education (and, as Roger Ebert noted in his review, somehow manage to make its 40-something-year-old female star look like a 17-year-old boy who “sings like an angel”), it treated both religious teachers and their students with respect. Yentl notwithstanding, the reality of religious education is far different than either popular culture or the average secular American might assume. For one, nuns no longer dominate the teaching profession in Catholic schools. The National
Catholic Educational Association reports that only 3% of Catholic school staff are men or women from religious orders. And the diversity and scope of religious schools are often underappreciated. According to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics, 79% of U.S. students who are enrolled in private school attend a school with “a religious orientation or purpose.” That word – “purpose” – is crucial for understanding the experience of religious education. Regardless of faith, tradition, or creed, a religious school makes clear to its students that they will be embarking on a moral and spiritual journey in addition to academic study.
By Christine Rosen
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American Consequences 49
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