SISTER JEANNE: TEACHING THE `THREE Rs,' PLUS ONE

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- A plaque on the wall in Sister Jeanne's office at St. Mary's Cathedral School pretty well sums up the four "Rs" of a parochial school: readin', writin', 'rithmetic and religion.

It says: "Education Means - Enabling persons to reach the fullness of their potential as individuals, created in God's image, and assisting them to direct their gifts toward building the Earth."

The statement is from the Sisters of Notre Dame, an order of Catholic sisters devoted to education of the mind and caring for the soul.

The order was founded in Germany in the 1830s by sisters who saw a need to educate women if society was going to survive.

Said Sister Jeanne, the principal at St. Mary's, "The sisters went into the small towns and villages of Germany to educate the women because they realized women are the backbone of the family."

She views her work as much more than teaching.

"It's a ministry rather than a career or a profession," Sister Jeanne said. "We give our students an education, but we also feed their soul. Long before the public schools realized the value of self-esteem and self-worth programs to attack the drug-abuse problem, we were teaching those programs in our schools.

"We taught our students that `I can say no' that instant; self-gratification is not always necessary right away."

Sister Jeanne is one of thousands of the Sisters of Notre Dame who have devoted their lives to teaching or administration at Catholic elementary and high schools.

She grew up in St. Louis as he youngest of five children. After her graduation from Catholic elementary and high schools, Sister Jeanne entered the Sisters of Notre Dame Mother House in St. Louis, where she obtained her education degree from Notre Dame College four years later.

Her first teaching assignment was in San Diego, where she taught in a predominantly-black Catholic elementary school in the inner-city.

"It was a good experience for me," she said. "The world was there ... all kinds of nationalities."

From California, Sister Jeanne went to Fort Madison, Iowa, to teach in an inner-city school for a year. Because she wanted to continue teaching in inner-city schools, Sister Jeanne left Fort Madison and returned to St. Louis for six years, where she was an elementary and intermediate teacher at a Catholic school on North Grand.

She returned to California to become a principal at a school in Indio. After learning of the opening at St. Mary's, Sister Jeanne came to Cape Girardeau four years ago, where she is now responsible for the education and training of 228 students in kindergarten through eighth grades.

As a parochial school principal, Sister Jeanne's duties are much more than that of her public-school equivalent.

"Our diocese school superintendent sits in Springfield, in a more administrative type of operation," she said. "Local control and operation of the individual schools are pretty well left up to the local school boards and principals," she explained.

Until several years ago most Catholic schools were administered by the parish priest. Sister Jeanne said that was changed and the local parish lay people were given more responsibility and a voice in the education of their children.

"I arrived at St. Mary's just as the local school board was being elected and organized for the first time," Sister Jeanne said.

As principal, Sister Jeanne is responsible for the education of students, administration of the school, curriculum, purchasing books, hiring faculty, enrollment, and public relations. "It can really be a challenge at times," she said.

Sister Jeanne said more parents many of them non-Catholic are realizing the value of a parochial school education for their children.

She said at the St. Louis inner-city Catholic school where she taught, at least 80 percent of the students were not Catholics.

She said: "The parents realized the Catholic schools were doing a better job of educating their children than the public schools. Most of those parents had to scrape and save every penny they earned for the tuition to send their children to our school. I don't know how they did it."

Sister Jeanne said she believes one reason more parents are turning to parochial schools is because of values they can teach their children. Some of those values are banned by court orders in public schools, she said.

"We have shut God out of education in the public schools," she said. She pointed out that up until 1962 the Ten Commandments were posted in nearly all public schools in the country. A Supreme Court decision disallowed them in the schoolroom.

"Our curriculum and all of our programs at St. Mary's are multi-dimensional. They are designed to reach the body and the soul. No matter what we do in the classroom, in athletics, or in other school activities, it all focuses on the gospel, school, and family."

A part of that education and training is discipline that is administered in a firm but loving and caring atmosphere, she said. Sister Jeanne said she strongly believes this type of discipline is an important part of the educational process and the development of the child.

She said discipline in the school room today is much different than in the past. "You hear all the horror stories about the discipline from the sisters in the old days, but keep in mind they often had a classroom of 50 to 60 kids and discipline was the only way to maintain order and educate."

As a parochial school principal, Sister Jeanne and the faculty work closely with parents as partners in the education process. she said that is important.

"Who has the final responsibility for the child and his or her education and training?" she asked. "Not the state or the school. The parents and the family have that final responsibility."