Miriam T. Rooney

English

St. John's University School of Law

The Catholic Lawyer Volume 4 Number 3 Volume 4, Summer 1958, Number 3 Article 4 May 2016 The Role of the Parent Miriam T. Rooney Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.stjohns.edu/tcl Recommended Citation Miriam T. Rooney (1958) "The Role of the Parent," The Catholic Lawyer: Vol. 4 : No. 3 , Article 4. Available at: https://scholarship.law.stjohns.edu/tcl/vol4/iss3/4 This Symposium Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at St. John's Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Catholic Lawyer by an authorized editor of St. John's Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact selbyc@stjohns.edu. THE ROLE OF THE PARENTMIRIAM T. ROONEY*W ITH THE SECOND HALF of the twentieth century well under way, itmay be safely predicted that this will be set down in history as anera of conflicting ideologies. There have been, of course, striking advancesin mechanical inventions. There has been a tremendous improvement inthe standard of living, especially in this country. But even more significanton the world scale have been the efforts at persuasion, at propaganda,so-called, and thought control. Developments in electronics - in tele-phone, radio, tape recordings, photography, and television - have mademass communication easy. New professions, such as public relations,advertising, opinion research, and even journalism itself, have beendirected not so much toward reporting facts as toward clanneling com-munications for the purpose of arousing the greatest possible response.The Supreme Court, keenly sensitive to these pressures, has gone togreat lengths to emphasize the constitutional guarantees of freedom ofspeech and of the press. All over the world, the people are expected totake sides for or against specific forms of governmental powers, but theyare often required to choose on the basis of suppressed, subverted, ordeceptive information rather than frankness and truth.Implicit in all this is a recognition that man's intellect is the mostimportant feature about him, and that he has in fact free will, or the powerto choose between alternatives presented for his judgment. Appeals aredirected through his need for better food, better clothing, better housing,and more labor-saving devices. Arguments based upon the desirabilityof increased income probably are the most insistent of all. Although thepropaganda is usually aimed at bodily comfort, toward which man, alongwith the lower animals, is instinctively drawn, nevertheless it in fact*A.B. (1930), A.M. (1932), Ph.D. (1937), Catholic University; LL.B. (1942),George Washington University. Dean and Professor of Law, Seton Hall UniversitySchool of Law.ROLE OF THE PARENTacknowledges that he may accept or rejectwhatever is proposed for his consideration,and that no matter what his decision ulti-mately amounts to, it can have tremendouseffect on production, consumption, andhuman activity in general. Even the produc-tion and consumption of propaganda itselfis recognized as premised upon man's abil-ity to receive or to refuse.With the ultimate battleground, therefore,located in each person's mind, the mostimportant task in the world is to assist thatmind to make its best possible decisions.Information is, of course, the first requisite,since a person cannot choose what he doesnot know. Accordingly, efforts must bemade to make information - true, accurateinformation - available for each mind tograsp. However, merely making the infor-mation available is not enough. It must bepresented in such a way as to arouse a per-son's interest, and only such notions areinteresting as are immediately related toone's individual experience. Skill is required,therefore, in providing useful information,and this skill involves an understanding ofhow the human mind works. The attempt topour information from one mind into an-other is never successful. Rather, a step bystep process, carefully planned in accord-ance with ever widening concentric circlesof interest, must be worked out. To providethis, schools have been established, all theway from kindergarten to university, andteachers have been in incessant demand.But what happens if the teachers are un-skillful or not fully informed; what if theschools are themselves instruments of prop-aganda through governmental compulsion?All education which is effective is ulti-mately self-education. The pupil whoseinterest is aroused, naturally shows hiseagerness to learn by such expressions as,"show me," "how do you do that?", "why?"Through imitation he begins to develop hisown powers, but not until he makes theexperience fully his own does his personaleducation take shape. A well-educated manhas put forth a tremendous amount of effortin self-development, and all who would befully civilized are obliged to do the same.No one can, however, become completelyeducated by his own efforts. He needs some-one to point out to him distinctions anddifferences, to make comparisons, to giveexplanations which seem plausible to himon the basis of his own experience. Withoutthese, he becomes bored, frustrated, ormerely uninterested. The extent of his intel-lectual development is in fact dependentupon the quality of the teaching that isavailable to him. Given the right start, hemay go far on his own, but handicapped bylittle or no good teaching, his efforts mayadvance him only part way toward the goalhe might otherwise have been capable ofreaching. This is what is meant when it issaid that education is in effect a social proc-ess - although the school exists not for so-ciety, not for the government, not even forthe teachers, but rather for the student.Each person has not only a natural incli-nation to learn but also a natural duty toexercise and perfect all his powers, bothmental and physical, in the development ofa sound mind in a sound body. The instinctto do this is observable in small children,whose insistent "why?" or "tell me," or "letme" is as natural as the urge to creep or totouch. Unfortunately, in too many cases,the child who is given conscientious atten-tion by his parents in the interests of bodilyhealth finds that his intellectual urges arenot so readily satisfied, and he becomes acomfortably adjusted individual, instead ofa fully developed one.No less important than the duty to learnis the duty to teach. The obligation to teach,by word or by example, rests upon everymember of society, because, by his veryexistence as a human being, he necessarilycommunicates to other human beings in hisimmediate environment. Whether what hecommunicates is for good or ill is his re-sponsibility, but the natural obligation toteach implies, of course, the duty to teachwhat is right.The duty applies particularly to parents,through whom the child enters society. Howare they to know what is right? How canthey acquire the skills needed to preparethe child for the proper reception of newintellectual experiences? Such knowledgerarely comes by direct revelation, or evenby instinct, but rather is itself part of thelearning process. The parents provide theexample which the child imitates. The par-ent is the one relied upon by the childto answer his questions. The parent is theone expected to hold out a strong hand tohelp over stumbling blocks when the goinggets rough. Happy is the child whose par-ents value the best possible education, whospeak about it at home with interest andenthusiasm, and who encourage the childto take his part naturally in conversationsabout ideas. If the parents have not them-selves had the privilege of good teaching,they must necessarily rely heavily upon theschool to develop the intellectual powers ofthe child. If this reliance is sympathetic thechild can go far, but if it is made uncompre-hendingly, or even resentfully, the likeli-hood of the child's success is considerablydiminished. In any event, the school can dono more for the child than the parentspermit it to do. The teacher properly doesnot have absolute authority, but has onlysuch authority over the child's training as is4 CATHOLIC LAWYER, SUMMER 1958delegated to him by the parents.The obligation to teach, which rests uponevery member of society in preparing thechild for social living, is never an obligationto replace the parents against their wishes,unless the parents are unable to carry outthis responsibility themselves. One of thereasons that Catholic schools have histori-cally been entrusted by parents, Catholicand non-Catholic alike, with the educationof their children is that the Church acknowl-edges and guarantees this duty and right ofthe parents - a fact which parents instinc-tively recognize and appreciate. One of thereasons that state-controlled schools havebrought upon themselves severe criticism atspecified times and places arises from theirforcible pre-emption of the parents' placein the proper training of the young. The gov-ernment, because it is a perfect society, or-ganized for the temporal welfare, does haveauthority within its jurisdiction to requireat least a minimum standard of culture, andshould provide adequate instruction con-cerning civic responsibility and even militarydefense. Outside of these functions, whichare peculiar to itself, the government's dutyis to assist parents in providing good educa-tion for their children, but it must neversubordinate parents to an unimportant posi-tion in the educational system, for the verynatural reason that were it not for theparents, there would be no children, and nocitizens to be educated.One of the most serious difficulties con-fronting contemporary educators is themisunderstanding and mistrust which fre-quently arise in different communities be-tween parents, church-controlled schools,and public, or government-controlled schoolsystems. Here communication often breaksdown, to the great detriment of the child,who, as he grows up, must take a respon-ROLE OF THE PARENTsible place in the community, no less thanin the family and the church. Leadershipin pointing out a solution to the difficultyhas not been lacking. Fifteen years agoPope Pius XII said,He who would have the star of peace shineout . . . should take care above all thatthe bond of trust and mutual help should bere-established between the family and theschool, that bond which in other times gavesuch happy results, but which now has beenreplaced by mistrust where the school, in-fluenced and controlled by the spirit ofmaterialism, corrupts and destroys what theparents have instilled into the minds of thechildren.For the government's part, the UnitedStates Supreme Court has taken the parents'side, not only in supporting private schoolsagainst a proposed state monopoly of edu-cation in Oregon,1 but also in the flag salutecase,2 the New York released time case,3and even in the much criticized McCollumdecision, 4 invalidating an Illinois law con-cerning religious instruction under publicschool administration. Confronted with amixed community life, where parents withall kinds of preferences and beliefs on spirit-ual as well as temporal matters must betreated with equal respect, the Court hastaken a hands-off position on behalf of thegovernment in religious education and hasbeen content to leave education in secularmatters where it finds it. Whether this deci-sion in fact provides strong enough assis-tance to the great number of parents whoare convinced that eternal values are evenmore important than temporal in the edu-cational process of their children has not' Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510 (1925).2 Board of Educ. v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624(1943).3 Zorach v. Clauson, 343 U.S. 306 (1952).4 McCollum v. Board of Educ., 333 U.S. 203(1948).been conclusively determined. What has be-come increasingly clear is that the govern-ment-controlled school is a school of limitedand not total jurisdiction over the educationof the child. Inferentially it may be saidthat to the extent that the directors of thestate-supported school systems recognizethe priority parents have in the educationalprocess, and devote their best efforts to as-sisting the parents in their task instead ofpresuming to supersede them in any degree,they will be able to make their purposesbetter understood, and thereby win readycooperation from parents generally. To theextent that mutual understanding and coop-eration is encouraged between parents andpublic school administrators, it may be an-ticipated that the tendency toward divisive-ness in the community may be minimized.In mentioning the enactment, adminis-tration, and interpretation of school laws,as well as laws for the regulation of com-munity life generally, thought should begiven to the matter of how legislators, law-yers, and judges may best be educated.Laws, of course, can be no better than themen who draft them. If better laws aredesired, better-educated men are needed toenact and interpret them, and see to theirobservance. It is possible to use state forceto secure obedience to legislative decreesfor a time, at least, whether they are goodor bad. In the long run, however, and espe-cially in a democracy, only those laws willbe willingly obeyed which the people arepersuaded will operate for the commongood. Persuasiveness in law, as in otherforms of communication, implies that menare reasonable, intelligent, and capable ofmaking their own judgments. In fact, dem-ocratic government is itself based on theassumption that reasonable men will acceptat least minimum standards for conductingpublic affairs, and will conform to what themajority agree upon as best for the timeand circumstances. Most men obey lawsthat are enacted in a democracy, not out offear of a policeman's stick, but because theyparticipate in making the law by agreement,expressed or implied, with its purpose. If alaw is arbitrary, however, they will at firstprotest, then try to have it amended or re-pealed, and, if unsuccessful, will ultimatelyignore, disobey or resist it.It is in the law schools of the countrythat the good lawyer must be tested beforehe can qualify for a position of leadership.What goes on in the law schools is, there-fore, important to every member of thecommunity, although few of these will beable to pass judgment upon the degree ofexcellence of the training which is actuallygiven. What all are able to do, however, isto call for, encourage, and support excellenteducation in the law schools, instead of tak-ing good law schools for granted, or evenaccepting mediocre preparation, on the pleathat that is all the poor man can afford. Thecontrary is in fact the case. The poorer theman the better professional preparation hewill need, and this should be more widelyrecognized. The better the education pro-vided in the law schools, the better the lawsregulating education in general, and thebetter the whole educational system is, thebetter community living can be. From whathas already been said, it may be understoodthat the law schools, along with the rest ofthe educational system, have an exceedinglyimportant function in the world-wide strug-gle to influence, if not to captivate, theminds of men.On one side of the deepening struggle areranged temporal rewards, material success,force and power; on the other, eternalvalues based on truth, justice and respect4 CATHOLIC LAWYER, SUMMER 1958for human personality. Fear is contrastedwith confidence; abject slavery with liberty.Both sides, by their reliance upon the per-suasiveness of mass communication, giveimplicit acknowledgement that each man isa very important person who has power tochoose one side or the other. Neither hasyet scored a decisive victory in the struggle,although preliminary skirmishes alreadyseem to have been won and lost. Which willbe the ultimate victor? The answer is obvi-ous. That side will win which is more per-suasive to the reasonable man. The moredifficult question is, how will the reasonableman know the best side to choose; how canhe be sure he is being told the truth; howcan he verify the facts and determine thevalidity of the reasoning directed to his in-telligence? Education alone provides theanswer. Who will teach him truth; whomcan he trust? First of all are his parents,whom he is generally pretty certain he canrely on; but beyond what they know, towhom can he go? To the general agreementof the better educated members of his com-munity? But what if they do not know, orhave been deceived? The default of theintellectuals in more than one country hasled the people astray, it must be remem-bered. Ultimately he turns to those whosegood works and whose obviously good in-tentions for his welfare have impressed himas sincere. And he will doubtless be broughtback eventually to the Creator of his uni-verse. He will find himself repeating againthe age-old cry: "To Whom shall we turn,,Oh Lord - Thou hast the words of eternallife." And the answer will come, as it did tohis ancestors of old, from the sacred scrip-tures reverently handed down by parentsfrom generation to generation, "I have notleft you orphans.... Learn of me.... I amthe Way .... Go and teach."

The Role of the Parent

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The Role of the Parent

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