“Monsieur,
Louise de Marillac, widow of Monsieur Le Gras, secretary to the Queen, Mother of the King, very humbly supplicates Monsieur des Roches, Rector of Notre-Dame de Paris, informing him that the sight of the great number of poor in the Saint-Denis district leads her to desire to take charge of their instruction. Should these poor little girls remain steeped in ignorance, it is to be feared that this same ignorance will be harmful to them and render them incapable of cooperating with the grace of God for their salvation. Should you agree, for the glory of God, Monsieur, to give the above-mentioned suppliant the permission required in such cases, thereby allowing the poor the liberty of sending their children free of charge to schools where they would be unhindered by the rich, who do not want those who teach their children to accept and keep poor children so freely, these souls, redeemed by the blood of the Son of God, would be obliged to pray for you, Monsieur, in time and in eternity.”
Louise de Marillac, Letter 41, request presented to the rector of Notre-Dame de Paris.
Reflection:
- St. Louise shows two situations that have dominated teaching until the twentieth century: free and private (for payment) education, on one hand, and on the other, not mixing the students who pay with those who attended a class free of charge.
- Since the 19th century, much has been written about state intervention in teaching. Although some of these responsibilities must be given to the state so that all people enjoy the same rights and opportunities, many believe that its intervention should be minimal and respectful of the autonomy of decisions made by individuals and families.
- According to data obtained in 2012, Spain has 32,173 educational centers, 22,011 public and 10,162 private or concerted, mostly religious, with a rate of one educational center for every 1,467 inhabitants. Madrid, Basque Country and Valencia lead the ranking of regions with more private or concerted centers per inhabitant, and precisely Madrid and Basque Country are well above not only the average of Spain, also of the OECD in educational level.
- Why do private schools enroll fewer foreign students? Because the private schools receive much less support from the Civil Administration for the specific attention to these students. Why would a family with limited resources enroll their child in the concert if, until recently, students in this network were not entitled to a lunch grant and had fewer support staff?
- When immigrant students make up more than 20% of the total of a center or a classroom, it is difficult to give them a good educational response, to them and to the rest of the students. And the overall data of the Spanish Ministry of Education leave no doubt about the current imbalance in the schooling of foreign students in public and private education.
- At present there is a serious problem: to integrate immigrants into the teaching that welcomes them, to make those who have to leave their country not feel exiled.
Questions for dialogue:
Do you have to respect the culture of the immigrants and the way of educating that they had in their country, or would it be good to force them to integrate?
Do all the borders of all countries have to be open to welcome immigrants?
Do you relate to and treat immigrants just like the native born?
Do you treat Hispanics, Europeans or Muslims the same way? Why?
Benito Martínez, C.M.
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