CGHS Spiritus article: "Forming Our Future"

Education articles today make constant reference to the future: “21st century learning,” “emerging technologies,” “education 3.0.” Educators discuss how to prepare students for an uncertain and challenging future, as if the light at the end of the educational tunnel is the headlamp of an oncoming train.

We’re now a decade into the 21st century, and even with rapid and drastic changes in technology and communication, the essential need of our Catholic high school students and communities remains exactly the same: to learn how to share our gifts in service to God and each other. Our biggest educational successes of the past 10 years have been the fruit of relationships on campus, supported not replaced by new technologies. As the leadership expert James Kouzes writes, “The best way to lead people into the future is to connect with them deeply in the present.”

Our focus, then, cannot be on the technology first, but rather on the integral human formation of each person on campus. Doing so will enhance our students’ use of the remarkable technological tools we incorporate in our schools. Today our students are capable of accessing tremendous amounts of information and opinions, able to reach out to vast audiences instantly, and can interact with a wide variety of environments daily. This “future” is a great gift to our students, as long as they have the personal integrity to maintain balance, intellectual curiosity, and faith that leads them to love God and others.

By encouraging and forming these traits we embrace the future, which is with us now, in our classrooms, hallways and homes. St. Francis de Sales told us to “bloom where you are planted.” Taking this to heart, we are certain to encounter a future that is shaped by our students, deeply rooted in their formation today.