Time & Perspective Quote by David Vitter

“Developing their mind, yes” is doing a lot of quiet work here: it concedes the secular benchmark (academic rigor) before pivoting to the real pitch, which is moral authority. David Vitter’s line is less an education policy statement than a framing device meant to elevate Catholic schools above the usual test-score arms race. By stacking “body and their soul and spirit,” he reaches for a full-spectrum vision of formation: disciplined habits, character, and a metaphysical compass. The redundancy of “soul and spirit” isn’t sloppy so much as strategic, widening the tent to believers who hear those words differently while insisting there’s something schools should nurture that public institutions, by design, cannot.

The intent is political in the most American way: argue for public recognition (and often public funding mechanisms like vouchers or tax credits) without saying “vouchers” out loud. The phrase “meet the challenges of their future” borrows the language of workforce readiness, then redefines readiness as virtue plus faith, not just skills. That’s an argument aimed at parents anxious about social volatility as much as employment prospects.

The subtext is a critique of modern schooling’s perceived emptiness: that education stripped of religion produces smart kids without ballast. Coming from Vitter, a culture-war-era conservative, it also signals alliance with Catholic institutions as civic stabilizers. It’s a promise of wholeness packaged in policy-friendly language, implying that values formation is not ancillary to education but its corrective.