Catholic education: Does it still make a difference?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ahimsa
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
A

Ahimsa

Guest
We report on some education and earnings differences between Hispanic and non-Hispanic Catholics in another essay… Here we take another look at those same variables, to see if Catholic education makes a difference. What we see in the data is that for non-Hispanics, having attended a Catholic elementary school is not associated with graduating from college or achieving a household income of $75,000 or more. Attending a Catholic high school is only modestly associated with these two outcomes.

Among Hispanic Catholics, though, there is a stronger association between Catholic schooling and socioeconomic success. Hispanics who attended a Catholic elementary school are twice as likely as those who did not to have a college degree and a household income of $75,000 or more. The association is even stronger for those who attended a Catholic high school. We are not suggesting that Catholic schooling causes success later in life – certainly there are many other intervening factors – but the comparisons here are worth noting. Catholic schooling does make a difference for Hispanics.
Click to expand...
 
I’m pretty sure that catholic schools weren’t built with the goal of getting the kids to make more money long term. What a silly metric to evaluate them with.:rolleyes:

I’d expect the opposite, actually. While an excellent catholic education provides kids with the moral, intellectual and spiritual tools needed to succeed financially, part of that toolbag is the recognition that money is only useful if it supports the meaningful things in life, not as an end in itself. People who recognize that sometimes become priests, nuns, social workers, teachers, etc. Such professions don’t look good on the money scale, but are often home runs on the REAL success-O-meter of catholic school effectiveness.
 
The only difference I’ve seen it make in highschoolers is to turn them incredibly self-righous or to drive them away from the church.
 
Ahimsa said:
Why do you think that is? Too much religion at too young an age?
Click to expand...
Hmmm. No, beucase children who were homechooled/catholic schooled/religious schooled for elementary school and went to public or charter schools for highschool seem to be the most balanced and they certinally got alot of religion very young.

I’d have to say it’s for alot of reasons. There’s the old-school thought that teenagers need to be forced to believe what they are taught. That not wanting to go to Mass must mean they are rejecting you, your faith, and the whole 9 yards. That you must swallow everything and never question.

It’s becuase teenagers sniff out hypocracy (or what they see as hypocracy) So if they think that a teacher is sinning they discount everything that teacher said.

I think it’s becuase they are not taught to challenge their faith in real ways but to be firm in their beliefs and never ever change their minds.
 
purplesunshine said:
Hmmm. No, beucase children who were homechooled/catholic schooled/religious schooled for elementary school and went to public or charter schools for highschool seem to be the most balanced and they certinally got alot of religion very young.

I’d have to say it’s for alot of reasons. There’s the old-school thought that teenagers need to be forced to believe what they are taught. That not wanting to go to Mass must mean they are rejecting you, your faith, and the whole 9 yards. That you must swallow everything and never question.

It’s becuase teenagers sniff out hypocracy (or what they see as hypocracy) So if they think that a teacher is sinning they discount everything that teacher said.

I think it’s becuase they are not taught to challenge their faith in real ways but to be firm in their beliefs and never ever change their minds.
Click to expand...
Do you think that the teen-agers who reject religion, were not home-schooled?
 
Ahimsa said:
Do you think that the teen-agers who reject religion, were not home-schooled?
Click to expand...
nope. I think teenagers who reject faith in their teenage years do so becuase of restriction in teenage years. I think small children (up to 12) need a good faith enviroment and should be more or less isolated. Isolated teenagers (weither catholic school or homeschool) have problems in real life. Way different outcomes.
 
It’s pretty embarrassing around here that the Catholic school kids used to go to mass every day, and now they go once a week.
 
It probably makes a person a better Catholic. I don’t know a single person at my school who goes to Mass every week.
 
purplesunshine said:
The only difference I’ve seen it make in highschoolers is to turn them incredibly self-righous or to drive them away from the church.
Click to expand...
Compare the formation received through Catholic education before 1980 (i.e., the period of the teaching sisters) and that of today. There are obvious differences, and they are to blame–not Catholic education itself.
 
LiveCatholic said:
Compare the formation received through Catholic education before 1980 (i.e., the period of the teaching sisters) and that of today. There are obvious differences, and they are to blame–not Catholic education itself.
Click to expand...
Are you saying that pre-1980 Catholic education by the teaching sisters, was worse than that of today?
 
From the article:
Does Catholic schooling make a difference in the way Catholics practice their faith and in their attitudes about the church?
Click to expand...
It all depends on the Catholic school and whether it is fit for mission. Sadly, my grandchildren’s school is not one of those. Out of 250 children, only they and another set of children from the same family attend Mass regularly. There are 60% non-Catholics, 40% Catholics (all registered in the Parish) students and three Catholic teachers in the school.
 
I don’t know if there’s any new studies on this. But in the 1980’s there was a study that found individuals who spent 4 years or more in Catholic school were more likely to be married in the Church and practice their faith on a “regular” basis.

My first parish had a school with lots of “city kids” that came from bad neighborhoods. I can certainly say they were better off in our parish school than in the public system. The simple reason being we could expel the “bad apples” and keep the school environment geared towards good behavior/morals and education. Students could see a clear correlation between working hard/following the rules and good results.

Public schools are forced to keep the bad apples who do tend to spoil the whole bunch.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top