One of the problems is that when you have an organization
with two
separate and independent value systems (in this
case,
school and
convent) one of the systems
will
suffer for the sake of the other. For example, old
and/or unqualified
nuns can be put to teach children.
By
unqualified I mean that these women had no
preparation, training, or disposition for either
teaching
or
dealing with children. And since the good of the
convent has taken precedence, no control
is exercised over the damage to the children.
The only thing that still pisses me off about Catholic
elementary school is the way it aggravated some of my
little sister's instabilities. Maybe it even created
them. When she was in first grade, her "teacher" used
to lock kids in the closet as punishment, tie them
to their desks, and other such merriments. I still wish
I had slapped the nun's face when she had me called to my
sister's classroom so I could witness her humilation
for having made a harmless mistake with some school
material.
Two years later, my sister had a teacher who used to
fall asleep in class. Perhaps God was trying to give
the kids a break. But try to think what in the world
kept all those seven year olds sitting quietly in their
desks with their hands folded as the nun snored quietly?