In the United Kingdom, writes Philip Hensher in "The Spectator", it was recently announced that Shakespeare is to be dropped in his entirety from the high school English curriculum. That leaves the study of a single novel as the sole compulsory element left in the curriculum. What an education along these lines will produce was brought home to me recently in sobering fashion, writes Hensher.

For those who graduated from the St. Ignatius Institute, the most important thing that needs to be said is that it was, in many ways, exactly what Catholic higher education should be. It was truly alma mater a nurturing mother to scores of students like me. It trained our minds, our hearts and our wills, and it literally changed us forever.

I admire President George W. Bushs intentions to reform the public school system in America, but these efforts are largely going to be directed by or defined by the federal government, and, after decades of so-called federally-managed education, it is clear that Uncle Sam has screwed this up royally.

Students will understand that St. Peter was given a special pastoral ministry by Jesus Christ: that of Rock and Shepherd of the early Church.

In this lesson, students will learn the number of Christians in the world and the three main divisions of Christianity: Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant. The breaking up of Christianity was not what Christ wanted. Students will understand that the papacy is one of the main doctrines about which Protestant and Orthodox Christians disagree with the Catholic Church. They will explore some basic facts about the papacy.

Like so many other drug education programs, Quest is a feelings-based program operating on the dubious assumption that morality is a by-product of "feeling good about yourself." Critics of the feelings based therapeutic approach claim that while it may be useful in therapy, it has no place in drug education.

I have spent a significant part of my life trying to convince students in my ethics classes (I refrain from identifying them as "ethics students") of the indispensable value of good moral principles.

In learning right from wrong, young people ought to have the benefit of ideas that have been around for a while. Beginning in the 1960s, however, educators have vied to outdo one another in rushing the newest developments and techniques into the classroom and into young heads.

The General Directory sets forth the principles which are the foundation for the sound teaching of the faith. Only if these principles are understood and applied will the Church meet the challenge of catechesis in our time and overcome the significant difficulties which have been encountered in catechesis over the past decades.

Will Rogers once said that it was not ignorance that was so bad but, as he put it, "all the things we know that ain't so." Nowhere is that more true than in American education today, where fashions prevail and evidence is seldom asked or given.