Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2009 / Educators flock to Cobo for non-public education conference
Educators flock to Cobo for non-public education conference
by Jared Field of The Michigan Catholic
Published November 6, 2009
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Jared Field | The Michigan Catholic
Archbishop Allen Vigneron gave a short message, saying he still enjoys the smell of chalk dust, and then the prayer for the nearly 3,000 in attendance at the MANS Conference in Detroit. |
Detroit - We wouldn't be the Church God wants us to be without the schools.
That was the message of Archbishop Allen Vigneron, who delivered a short message at the outset of the 14th annual Michigan Association of Non-Public Schools General Education Conference and Expo on Thursday at Cobo Center in Detroit.
"Faith-based education is based on the faith that in Jesus Christ there is a great wisdom, a wisdom about how to live not only toward the next world, but for this world," he said. "It's a wisdom that gives light and vibrancy to social studies ... mathematics, literature and to all the things we're about."
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Jared Field | The Michigan Catholic
Elementary school singers joined forces for a mass choir to ring in the 14th annual MANS Conference. |
Archbishop Vigneron told an audience of more than 3,000 educators and administrators, representing schools tied to numerous Christian denominations, that he shares their passion for teaching.
"I come as a teacher myself, not only in my role as a pastor in the Church, which is a very important service of teaching, but someone who likes the classroom and enjoyed my years as a professor of philosophy," he said. "And while I know it's a little outdated, I still enjoy the smell of chalk dust."
The opening session of the conference, aimed at educational unity among faith-based schools, was headlined by Anthony Muhammad, Ph.D., an award-winning teacher, administrator and author.
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Jared Field | The Michigan Catholic
Muhammad |
Muhammad spoke about radically changing the culture of American schools to achieve outcomes that more closely resemble a belief that all educators should share: Every student can learn.
In short, he wants to close the achievement gap - the chasm that crisscrosses success and failure.
"Today, a quality education is priceless," said Muhammad, who reminded the audience that the jobs of yesteryear, available to so many straight out of high school, are mostly gone. "The dominance that we used to enjoy from an industrial standpoint, from a creativity standpoint, from leading the world in new innovations standpoint is not what it used to be."
The solution, said Muhammad, is not simply more resources in schools. He wants a new approach marked by unity among educators. In essence, he wants to transform the toxic culture found in many schools that has created the achievement gap.
"We have good resources, good research; our issue is sociologic," he said. "It's about getting everybody to work in synergy with one another to get things done.
"We know what to do; we just need to do it."
Muhammad said that it is imperative that the system, which he says is based on artificial norms of learning, is overhauled.
"Year after year, students end up fitting neatly in the system, because the students are made to fit the system rather than the system fitting the needs of the students," he said. "I'm talking about radical change," he continued, "taking the old system and blowing it up."
He said that any system that perpetuates the achievement gap, one that does not believe that all students have the capacity to learn, goes against the tenets of Christianity. He said that after Jesus had the opportunity to spread the message to the Jews, He told the disciples to give everyone the opportunity to hear it.
"Every human being should have the opportunity to grow and to be special, and yet we create systems that don't support that very premise.
"Why do we waste our time comparing student to student, when our concern is developing the individual?"
Julie Haberl, a third-grade teacher at St. Mary Catholic School in Pinckney, said that Muhammad's message of change should resonate with all teachers.
"There are different types of people and different types of teachers, but everyone can change," Haberl said.
Linda Mabel, an eighth-grade teacher at St. Mary, said she was inspired to work together to effect change in her school.
"I thought he really underscored the importance of collaboration," she said. "If you're going to transform a school, it's important to work together. He showed us the dangers and the pitfalls of how teachers can actually work against that, even though they want to be good teachers.
"I want to get back in there and try to be a believer, to try to stand up for what we want. You just have to keep grinding."
The Michigan Association of Non-Public Schools was formed in 1972 with the vision of fostering "a just and educated society for the public good, our schools, homes, and churches" in order to "prepare children to be servants of God in contemporary society."
The theme of the two-day conference was "Educating in Unity - Making a Difference in Society."
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