A parishioner penned the words below to indicate his frustration with the Catholic School System that he grew up with. He also notes that the problem that he identifies is present in the schools run by the NSSPX. Despite the warnings of a bishop and priests of the old SSPX, the NSSPX continues to make this same mistake. We will let our parishioner tell the rest, but first, one quick comment: I went to the high school that he identifies, ten years before him, and can agree that the observations that he recounts are accurate.
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I keep hearing from the pulpit: “Get your children to learn a “trade” because “university” or “higher education” may make your children lose their faith”. Really?
In the old days, “Traditional Education”, including the Catholic School System, was where a young man would have a trade under his belt at 15, 16, 17, 18 years of age instead of wasting those precious years in a high school. Then, after 10 years, he would be a master tradesman like myself.
St Jerome’s High School set young men like myself up to “fail”; I’m glad I left after Grade 10 and went to a public school. I see the same thing happening in the NSSPX today. The NSSPX talks “big” about your kids learning a “trade”, but teaches them nothing of the sort. What does NSSPX know about trades? NOTHING ! They are “teachers” who have no clue and do not even know where to start to teach a trade – but I do!
As a licensed tool and die maker, and a machine builder tradesman serving an 8,000 hour apprenticeship, and who earned a 3-year Conestoga College diploma, with almost 30 years experience, I know how things work in the real world. What do the teachers of the NSSPX know about trades? Do they not realize it’s tradesmen like myself who “teach” apprentices, and not them? Where is the trade school for the 13 year olds?
Both my Catholic grandfathers in Germany learned a trade and then advanced to become pros in their fields.
My grandfather learned the blacksmithing trade from his father, as was the custom, then became a qualified Dentist with his own practice before WW2. After being injured on the front where he was an SS Officer, he then worked as a Surgeon for the remaining 4 years of WW2. He then died on the second last day of the war when the hospital he was working in was bombed – against international war regulations.
He lost his limbs and bled to death. This was a man who qualified to go to the Olympics for the decathlon before WW2 broke out, and here, he loses all his limbs – God’s Will. Note that as a doctor in Germany, you must make a discovery to become a qualified Doctor, and he did make a discovery concerning the properties of water.
My other grandfather worked for Klochner-Homblode-Deutz for 50 years, first as a machinist apprentice, a machinist tradesman, and then he became an engineer inventing something on the diesel engine that every diesel engine has to this day. These engineers, who have a trade under their belt, have over and over again proven to be the best engineers.
My father was also a tool and die maker, and a silver and gold smith. He had his trade papers at 16, and was a master at 26, and was laughed at when he told Canadian companies about his level of experience.
I have twin sisters. We were all born within one year. They also will tell you how poorly the Catholic Education System is set up – and they are both teachers.
So, if you are not “smart enough” or “interested enough” to go along with the way the NSSPX teaches kids, then what are the options available for these young men? They would do better to learn a “real trade” the “REAL TRADITIONAL WAY”, and not some pathetic, sloppy system that fails these young men.
At what age did Jesus Christ or St Joseph learn his trade? Well, it’s just like I explained:
I had shop class in Grades 7 and 8 (before they dropped shop classes). Where is the NSSPX shop class today? But then, everything just gets made by pushing a pencil, right? Someone needs to speak for these young men because I don’t see anyone else recognizing this huge problem.
No wonder so many young people leave the “Traditional Catholic Faith” when they see how they wasted so much time in a high school that was geared towards university when they could have learned a “real trade”. That is why they no longer take what is being taught in the Faith seriously, because they feel cheated. I too, was cheated, and I wonder why I still have the Faith. Maybe it’s so that I can share my understanding of how education should be “traditionally taught” and at the same time speak for the young men who have no idea, at their age, about what is going on.
The blind leading the blind. These teachers are so blind that they know nothing about trades or even where to begin. Consider what is required when building a cathedral. Do you have any idea of the level of difficulty, discipline and skill required to build a stone structure? Do you know how to combine the efforts of tradesmen such as masons, carpenters and steel workers (such as myself)? I don’t think so – it’s just for those dumb guys to figure out after they wasted all their time in high school!
Don’t ever preach to me about learning a trade unless you really know what you’re talking about, because we tradesmen listening in the pew can recognize that someone who talks like this has no idea what he is talking about – if they did, they would fully understand the protocol that they themselves do not have in place.
I had the highest marks in Industrial Arts, Sports and Religion at St. Jerome’s in Grade 9. I would like to know why the Catholic System prevented so many of us young men from learning a real trade like Jesus and Joseph did. And I would also like to know what the NSSPX intends to do about it.
The blind leading the blind!