LONDON, NOV. 2, 2003 (Zenit) - Divisions over the role of private education have surfaced once more in England. In mid-October a Conservative Party Member of Parliament, Oliver Letwin, said he would rather beg on the streets rather than send his daughter to the local state-run school. This led to strong criticism of Letwin from the governing Labor Party.

This week the shoe was on the other foot. The London daily Telegraph on Tuesday reported that Labor Party MP Diane Abbott, described as left-wing, received support from her party after it was revealed she had decided to educate her son in a 10,000-pound-a-year ($17,000) private school. The Telegraph noted that in the past Abbott had criticized Prime Minister Tony Blair and Solicitor General Harriet Harman for sending their children to private schools, instead of selecting the local state-run institutions.

Splits over the public or private question become more acute when the religious factor comes into play. An Oct. 14 commentary by Francis Beckett in the British daily Guardian claimed that faith-based schools foster intolerance and violence.

Beckett particularly criticized Muslim schools, alleging that they help foment a culture that condones violence. He also condemned Jewish schools, accusing one of them of being a breeding ground of racist jokes. Christian institutions did not escape his ire. He accused the 5,000 Church of England and the 2,000 Catholic schools of fomenting intolerance. "The religious zealotry that fuels conflicts all over the world, from Northern Ireland to the Middle East, is nurtured in faith schools, even though their teachers often try hard to inculcate tolerance" he argued.

On Oct. 28 the Anglican bishop of Portsmouth, Kenneth Stevenson, replied in the Guardian to Beckett's commentary, arguing that it was "full of innuendo and extrapolation, and therefore highly misleading." Stevenson also observed that local authorities control half the Anglican schools and that pupils are admitted regardless of their religion.

Christian values

Earlier this year, debate flared in the United States after Education Secretary Roderick Paige stated that he believes schools should teach Christian values. Paige made his comments to the Baptist Press, the Washington Post reported April 9.

A long-standing critic of religion in public life, Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, called upon Paige to either correct his comments or to resign. But Paige's press secretary Dan Lengan rejected the call, commenting: "Secretary Paige's deep faith has helped him to overcome adversity, to find clarity and has sustained him throughout his life."

William Bennett, U.S. secretary of education from 1985 to 1988, wrote an article in the April 13 Washington Post defending Paige. "[V]alues that were born of or nurtured by the Christian faith -- form a strong basis for good citizenship in school and beyond," he said.

Vatican II guidelines

Conflicts over whether education should be public or private, lay or religious, have been around for a long time. The Second Vatican Council declaration on Christian education, "Gravissimum Educationis," laid out a number of principles to guide Christian education. Among the guidelines adopted by Vatican II are the following points:

-- Everyone has an inalienable right to an education. A true education aims at the formation of the human person in the pursuit of his ultimate end and of the good of the societies.

-- All Christians have a right to a Christian education. This does not merely strive for the maturing of a human person but has the goal of enabling the baptized to become more aware of the gift of faith they have received, and that they learn in addition how to worship God and be conformed in their personal lives according to the new man created in justice and holiness of truth.

-- Parents are bound by the most serious obligation to educate their offspring and therefore must be recognized as the primary and principal educators.

-- Among all educational instruments the school has a special importance. It is designed not only to develop with special care the intellectual faculties but also to form the ability to judge rightly, to hand on the cultural legacy of previous generations, to foster a sense of values, to prepare for professional life.

-- Parents have the primary and inalienable right and duty to educate their children and must enjoy true liberty in their choice of schools. Consequently, the public power, which has the obligation to protect and defend the rights of citizens, must see to it, in its concern for distributive justice, that public subsidies are paid out in such a way that parents are truly free to choose according to their conscience the schools they want for their ...