Michael O'Donoghue
Holy Child Academy
Old Westbury, NY

The Oracle of Delphi was the most important shrine in ancient Greece, built around a sacred spring considered to be the center of the world. People from around the then known world came seeking answers from the high priestess – note it was a woman! – who was thought to be in communion with the Spiritual world. Her sageness was illustrated by her response to the question, "Who is the wisest man in all of Greece?"

"For it is Socrates as he knows how much he does not know!"

As I complete the 42 year path I have taken as an educational traveler, I, emboldened by the high priestess, stake a claim as among the most wise. I have grown in the realization that I have more questions than answers and that there is so much that has not been revealed to me.

I do not mean to suggest that I’ve learned nothing over that great passage of time. In fact, I felt a great challenge to put pen to paper myself recently, when I stumbled upon a charming little book by Oprah called, "What I Know For Sure."

So what am I certain about? Herein, I share a few of these things:
  1. The greatest and most important part of teaching is to help children keep their eyes and hearts open to God. In doing so, we grant them, truly, a life of joy, hope, and light in an otherwise unbelieving world.
  2. The second most important thing we teach children is the love of reading. It is the foundation of growth.
  3. Children unfold according to developmental laws. We ignore this great truth at great risk. Our society is largely blind to this reality.
  4. The "science" of teaching should take second place to the "art" of teaching. What a child or class needs at a particular moment in time to learn, cannot be dictated by methods.
  5. Lincoln wrote, “We are as happy as we make up our minds to be.” Children need to be surrounded by joy as it is like sunshine to them. Those who teach children must throw off their troubles.

The above mentioned points might be obvious to Holy Child educators, but they were not always obvious to me. I am blessed that for the past seventeen years I have worked in a Holy Child school, a place where we are free to guide children in accordance with great principles. The education of the children is filled with mysteries and curiosities, as Cornelia Connelly knew, defying exactness or definition. Yet, these things I know for sure!