A student makes the case for the Cristo Rey schools

MOJ readers are probably familiar with the work and success of Cristo Rey schools.  A student in my "Catholic Social Thought and the Law" seminar shared these thoughts about the schools:

I have a few friends who work for various Cristo Rey High Schools across the country. As the first of my teacher-friends described the organization’s mission and model, I became fascinated with the concept. These schools only serve economically disadvantaged families. Students earn the majority of their tuition and gain real-world professional experience by working in a corporate office one day each week. Students participate in a rigorous college-preparatory curriculum. Family, community and Catholic school intersect to mutually support the development of these high school students who might otherwise fall through the cracks if they remained in the setting of public education.

The first important aspect of these schools is their commitment to Catholic education. Parents are provided with an avenue to expose their children to a value-oriented education. If students are not Catholic, they can still participate; students of all faiths and cultures are welcome to attend. Additionally, by serving only economically disadvantaged students, participant families are given options about and control over their children’s education that may not otherwise be able to occur. These aspects exemplify the notion that parents possess the fundamental right to make childrearing and education decisions. We discussed these themes in class when exploring the topics of religious freedom and the primacy of the family unit. All this is accomplished through a sustainable financial model that creatively draws in the majority of students’ tuition expenses through the Work Study Program. This program, in turn, has merits of its own. Students at Cristo Rey High Schools benefit from hands-on, real-world professional experience one day each week while they take college-prep courses the other four weekdays. Few peers across the country can boast of this opportunity. This professional experience might spark an interest in a certain career, or, at the very least, I imagine it builds students’ confidence and provides an impressive bullet on a resume that further prepares these students for college. Local businesses also benefit from students’ presence in their places of employment. Barriers likely erode between the corporate world and the world of these economically disadvantaged students, which I’m sure is a valuable educational experience for all involved.

The Cristo Rey Network provides a unique model that led me to contemplate their role as an organization that, while linked to the Church, also mediates between the Individual and the State. As such, it is a daring, powerful model for “shaping souls.”[1]

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[1] From our discussion of The Education of Henry Adams