The Problem of Catholic School Teachers Deferring to the Home on Controversial Religious Issues

This paper observes that an ironic tension occurs in the discussion of controversial issues in some Catholic schools. One technique that teachers use in response to student disagreement with the official Church view on a controversial issue like contraception, homosexuality, or female ordination is to present Church teaching but then suggest that students follow up at home with their parents for further information. While this technique is promising to some degree, it sits uneasily against the remarks that some Catholic education commentators make regarding deficiencies in the home regarding student formation and socialization in the faith. The discussion acknowledges some advantages in this technique, but ultimately concludes that it is flawed because it sidesteps the school’s responsibility to promote higher-order religious thinking and undermines the home-school-Church partnership by placing the responsibilities of families and parishes into schools

Bearers of Diverse Ecclesiologies: Imagining Catholic School Students as Informing a Broader Articulation of Catholic School Aims

The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive, although not exhaustive, picture of the kinds of real concerns and concurrently inferred ecclesiological perspectives practicing Catholic students have. It reports findings from an interview study with 16 students at a private Catholic high school in Canada who self-identify as Catholic in order to demonstrate that it is in a Catholic school’s best interest not to rely on narrow or singular definitions of Catholic identity, especially insofar as these are tied to minimal and external markers of institutional affiliation. While the sample’s size and particularity do not generalizing to a larger population of Catholic adolescents or to all Catholic schools, it nonetheless validly contributes to a modest theoretical claim about the unity and diversity of student experiences and how they conceptually inform a Catholic school’s aims. In the conclusion I hypothesize that student spirituality will be optimized if it is conceptualized and discussed in explicit, pluralistic terms. Keywords Catholic Education, Catholic School, Ecclesiology, Religiosity, Aims Porteurs d\u27ecclésiologies diverses : imaginer que les élèves des écoles catholiques permettent d\u27expliquer plus largement les visées de l\u27école catholique Le but de cet article est de représenter de manière plus complète, mais non exhaustive, la nature des inquiétudes réelles qu\u27éprouvent les élèves catholiques pratiquants et les points de vue ecclésiologiques qui en découlent simultanément. Il relate les conclusions tirées d\u27entretiens effectués auprès de 16 élèves d\u27un lycée catholique privé au Canada, qui s\u27identifient eux-mêmes en tant que catholiques, en vue de montrer qu\u27il vaut beaucoup mieux qu\u27une école catholique ne s\u27appuie pas sur des définitions étroites ou uniques de l\u27identité catholique, surtout dans la mesure où elles sont associées à des marqueurs minimaux et extérieurs d\u27affiliation institutionnelle. Alors que la taille de l\u27échantillon et sa particularité ne doivent pas être généralisées à une plus large population d\u27adolescents catholiques ou à toutes les écoles catholiques, cette étude contribue néanmoins à valider une modeste allégation théorique sur l\u27unité et la diversité des expériences vécues par les élèves et l\u27éclairage conceptuel qu\u27elles projettent sur les visées d\u27une école catholique. En conclusion, je formule l\u27hypothèse que la spiritualité des élèves sera optimisée si elle est conceptualisée et exprimée en termes explicites et pluralistes. Mots-clés : éducation catholique, école catholique, ecclésiologie, religiosité, visées Portadores de distintas eclesiologías: imaginando a los estudiantes de escuelas católicas como informantes de una articulación más amplia de los objetivos de la escuela católica El objetivo de este artículo es el de proveer una imagen comprensiva, aunque no exhaustiva, de los tipos de preocupaciones reales y, simultáneamente, de las perspectivas eclesiológicas inferidas que poseen los estudiantes católicos practicantes. El artículo informa de los hallazgos de un estudio basado en entrevistas a 16 estudiantes de un centro de educación secundaria privado católico en Canadá, que se auto identifican como católicos, para demostrar que a las escuelas católicas no les conviene apoyarse en definiciones estrechas y singulares de lo que es la identidad católica, especialmente al estar vinculadas a marcadores mínimos y externos de afiliación institucional. Aunque el tamaño y particularidad de la muestra no permiten generalizar a una mayor población de adolescentes católicos o a todas las escuelas católicas, sí contribuyen eficazmente a una modesta afirmación teórica sobre la unidad y diversidad de las experiencias de los estudiantes; así mismo, esclarecen cómo informan conceptualmente sobre los objetivos de las escuelas católicas. En la conclusión, formulo la hipótesis que la espiritualidad del estudiante rendirá más si esta se conceptualiza y discute en términos explícitos y plurales. Palabras clave educación católica, escuela católica, eclesiología, religiosidad, objetivo

The Effect of Postsurgical Edema of the Knee Joint on Reflex Inhibition of the Quadriceps Femoris

Journal of Sport Rehabilitation, 1996,5,172-182 © 1996 Human Kinetics Publishers, Inc.The purpose of this case study was to investigate reflex inhibition of the quadriceps femoris in a subject with postsurgical edema of the left knee. The subject was a 45-year-old male with a traumatic knee injury with resultant edema who underwent elective arthroscopic surgery. Reflex inhibition was assessed by H-reflex elicitation in the femoral nerve and surface electromyography of the quadriceps. To assess the degree of edema, direct circumferential measurements were taken. On the first presurgical visit, the left knee demonstrated mild edema with a decrease in H-reflex amplitudes. Two days after surgery, a further reduction in amplitudes and more swelling were demonstrated followed by an increase in amplitudes and a reduction in edema on the 28th postoperative day. These findings document a relationship between reflex inhibition and joint swelling that was previously described in experimental models where joint edema was simulated

Electrochemistry in silver catalysed ferric sulfate leaching of chalcopyrite

Journal ArticlePrevious investigations have demonstrated the catalytic effect of silver additions in the ferric sulfate leaching of chalcopyrite. CuFeS2 + 4Fe+3 > Cu++ + 5Fe++ + 2S° The enhanced rate of leaching was found to be due to the formation of an intermediate Ag2S film which forms on the CuFeS2 surface by an exchange reaction. Under these conditions, unlike the uncatalysed ferric sulfate leach, the elemental sulfur forms a nonprotective reaction product on the Ag2S crystallites. As a result, the rate appears to become limited by an intermediate electrochemical reaction in the Ag2S film rather than by transport through the elemental sulfur reaction product

High school philosophy teachers’ use of textbooks: Critical thinking or teaching to the text?

One of the few contexts in which high school students are introduced to argumentation is in philosophy courses. Do such teachers promote critical thinking and argumentation? We present the findings of a mixed-methods empirical study of Ontario high school philosophy teachers, providing insight into the degree to which teachers promote oppositional readings of texts in a manner consistent with critical thinking. We identify the factors that contribute to critical thinking, as well as the barriers, focusing textbooks use

Teleology and Realism in Leibniz's Philosophy of Science

This paper argues for an interpretation of Leibniz’s claim that physics requires both mechanical and teleological principles as a view regarding the interpretation of physical theories. Granting that Leibniz’s fundamental ontology remains non-physical, or mentalistic, it argues that teleological principles nevertheless ground a realist commitment about mechanical descriptions of phenomena. The empirical results of the new sciences, according to Leibniz, have genuine truth conditions: there is a fact of the matter about the regularities observed in experience. Taking this stance, however, requires bringing non-empirical reasons to bear upon mechanical causal claims. This paper first evaluates extant interpretations of Leibniz’s thesis that there are two realms in physics as describing parallel, self-sufficient sets of laws. It then examines Leibniz’s use of teleological principles to interpret scientific results in the context of his interventions in debates in seventeenth-century kinematic theory, and in the teaching of Copernicanism. Leibniz’s use of the principle of continuity and the principle of simplicity, for instance, reveal an underlying commitment to the truth-aptness, or approximate truth-aptness, of the new natural sciences. The paper concludes with a brief remark on the relation between metaphysics, theology, and physics in Leibniz