Sikkink: Catholic schools foster healthy environment
By HELENA PAYNE
News Writer
Catholic schools foster an environment that makes parents more likely to get politically and socially involved in the community, according to a recent study by David Sikkink, assistant professor of sociology in the University.
"The Catholic school [parents] are the ones that are extremely active in the community," said Sikkink.
Sikkink said that this attitude is due to differences in the outlooks on society by various churches. He said the tradition of Catholic social teaching and a universal focus, however, promotes more activism among parents of children in Catholic schools. Sikkink said the parish structure of the Catholic Church is also effective for creating a community-based commitment to participation. He contrasted the parish structure with the more organizational structure of other groups within communities, religious or political. The parish structure "creates avenues for Catholic parents to mobilize beyond their school and into the community," said Sikkink.
"They generate a lot of parental involvement," said Sikkink.
Some parochial schools, however, do not promote community involvement. From research of different types of public and private schools, Sikkink found that while Catholic schools set up a model for community involvement, many Fundamentalist schools have a more isolationist mindset.
"They are more likely to wrap their school and church and families in a bundle and to be somewhat suspicious of the world," said Sikkink.
While Sikkink's most recent research focuses on the effects of schools on parents' involvement, he said he is conducting another study on the correlation between schools and student involvement in the community. So far, he said he has found the same theory that students in Catholic schools are more active.
`This is institutionalized in the Catholic schools," said Sikkinnk.
Sikkink said that the Notre Dame student body provides a strong example based on the number of students who are active around the community or politically involved.
"I think they are much more service-oriented here," he said.
Sikkink conducted this study as part of his dissertation after he began to notice trends among parental activism and the schools their children attended.
"I've always been interested in issues of religion, politics and education," said Sikkink, also a fellow in Notre Dame's Program on the Social Organization of Schools.
Saturday, he will discuss his studies in a lecture titled "Are Private Schools Privatizing? Schooling Organization and Civic Participation" in the Hesburgh Center auditorium. The lecture is part of the fourth annual Notre Dame Institute for Educational Initiatives conference.
All News Stories for Wednesday, November 1, 2000
