FOCUS SECTION THE PAST IS PROLOGUE: AMERICAN CATHOLIC EDUCATION AND THE NEW CENTURY

The author of a recent history of American Catholic education points to three ongoing traditions—tenacity, adaptability, and identity—as evidence that parochial education will continue well into the next century. In this per-sonal essay, Walch challenges a pessimistic assessment of Catholic educa-tion that appeared in Phi Delta Kappan. He also highlights other, more pos-itive assessments of Catholic schooling. Walch concludes that even though American Catholic parochial education will never again attain the position of influence it had in the mid-20th century, parish schools will remain important education laboratories for the coming century. Does the past repeat itself? For Catholic education that seems to be thecase. Catholic parents today face educational choices similar to those faced by their great-grandparents 100 years ago: Can I afford to send my chil-dren to the parish school? Is the Catholic school curriculum just as good as the public school curriculum? Will my children be better Catholics if they go to parish schools? Will my children lose their faith if they go to public schools? Each generation has answered these questions a little differently, bu