March 13th: Well Educated

My mother was a very intelligent woman. She was chosen to go to teachers college and did very well. Circumstances prevented her from ever following that career path, but her education and brains never abandoned her. In fact, when she insulted someone, it wasn’t with the usual “idiot” or “moron.” She wouldn’t call you stupid or say you were a dirty pig, No, those insults weren’t my mother’s style at all. Instead, if she felt you were to be put in your place she would simply say to you “Maleducato!” and that would be the end of it.
Yes folks, her greatest insult was to call you “poorly educated.” Not a dummy, not a son of a motherless goat (an odd insult I once heard on ‘Canada’s Worst Driver…” not even a scoundrel. For my mother, to lack proper learning was something of great shame and embarrassment.
Notice that she didn’t go the “lack of intelligence” route. That wasn’t the point for her. My mother believed that with a good education pretty much anything could be accomplished by anyone. That didn’t mean having a university or college degree. It didn’t even mean being an ‘A’ student. It simply meant having a broad and healthy knowledge, and using it wisely.
When my mother was growing up, education was vital. It was not, however, universal. In the 1930’s Mussolini’s Fascist government did a great deal to advance the school system and make education available to everyone. My mother was a product of that education. It was, however, a new enough system that the risk and stigma of having no education was very much on everyone’s minds.
Today Italy, Canada and most Western nations enjoy a high degree of education. That does not necessarily mean that people are any smarter; it simply means that we at least have the chance to know what we need to know to make it in the modern world. As good as our education systems may be, they are sadly lacking in one area that could make life much better for everyone: Faith. Religion. God. Call it what you will, few schools offer a decent base in Spirituality, in knowing who and what God is about, and how to make a strong connection between creation and creator.
That’s a shame, because few of the kids that I’ve seen through Youth groups would ever receive my mother’s ultimate insult of “Maleducato!” In fact, when kids go to church regularly they do much better with the rest of their lives. They seem more grounded; they are kinder; they are, in a word, better. Learning about God in a healthy loving environment does that for folks, young or old. It’s not just about Sunday school, or public school or high school. It’s all about learning who and what God is, understanding what Jesus means to us, and then living by what we’ve learned. Nothing can beat a good education, and a good education includes God.