By Gabriel Griffith, Teacher at Crespi Carmelite High School Some Catholic school teachers have voiced concerns that the newest curriculum guidelines issued by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) are overly redolent of donnish theology, betraying an ignorance of the historical consciousness of the Catholic high school student today. The place of environmental education in the Curriculum Framework is illustrative. At a time when the Church has articulated a prescient environmental theology in the face of contemporary crises—from the call for “an education in ecological responsibility” in John Paul II’s World Day of Peace address, to the environmental justice championed by the USCCB itself—under the bishops’ guidelines the “Stewardship of God’s creation” receives only one entry in an optional Catholic social teaching course. Fortunately, our intellectual heritage suggests exciting possibilities for environmental education. The bishops’ curriculum guidelines thus offer an occasion to seek ways to effect the “ecological conversion” called for by John Paul II, and the “environmental justice” and “prudence” heralded by our bishops, within our own tradition. The distinction between intellectual and moral virtues, and accordingly how they are acquired, is particularly relevant to Catholic environmental education. Saint Thomas Aquinas insists that students acquire the theoretical, intellectual virtues—understanding, science and wisdom—under the tutelage of instructors. Thus a classroom is an appropriate venue, teachers and texts appropriate aids, to a student’s effort to perfect the theoretical activities of his intellect. Accordingly, this fall students have attended lively seminars on Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and Aldo Leopold’s Sand County Almanac as a part of our high school’s Environmental Education and Outdoor Leadership program. On the other hand, along with the intellectual virtue of prudence, the moral virtues—justice, temperance and courage—if not infused by grace, must be acquired by habituation and practice according to Aquinas. That is to say, if our goal is for a student to actually acquire the virtue of justice as a part of his character, and not merely a sound theoretical understanding of what justice is, no amount of textbooks, PowerPoint presentations or revised curriculum standards can do the job, unless he is also given real opportunities to practice acts of justice. The Environmental Education and Outdoor Leadership Program at Crespi, inspired by Aquinas’ iteration of the fundamental distinction between our theoretical and practical dimensions, requires students not only to participate in reading seminars and to write a thesis, but also to test this book-knowledge on environmental service projects and fortify it in intensive wilderness expeditions. The data in support of the effectiveness of project and experiential based environmental
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