Catholic school application process

[cloistered]

You seem to show what I was saying…that results track with the SES of the schools populations. If you look at Christo Rey (low SES Catholic HS), their pass rate is 7%.

Carmel Clay is a high SES school. No surprises here.

 

[Jen95]

Compare the Catholic and Lutheran high schools to the public high schools. How can you say the results are the same?

Your point might have some validity if you could prove that zero students from Indy Public schools go to Catholic high school.
But a family is comparing an Indianapolis Public high school to most of the Catholic high schools, there is a huge difference. Obviously the family’s goal is to get from a low-performing public school into a higher-performing school of some kind (so most parents wouldn’t choose Christo Rey).

 

[cloistered]

The results aren’t the same, because they don’t have the same student populations.

 

[JanetF]

I’m in trouble, then. Most of the time, I forget my envelope.

This is why I love that my parish has electronic means of giving. It’s so much easier and I am set up to give monthly which is easier since I get paid monthly.

 

[cloistered]

If you theory is that Catholic Schools are somehow “better” and kids just magically do better in them, why not go to Christo Rey?

You seem to be saying you want you kid to go to Catholic school so your kid wouldn’t be around poor kids. Not saying that is what you are saying, just what it sounds like to me, and that is why I say Catholic schools are often unchristian.

 

[Jen95]

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So if a child were to go to Chatard High, rather than an Indy public high school, it would be a waste of money?
How do you figure? If your local high school has a passing rate of, let’s say 22%, you don’t think it would be beneficial for the child to be in a school where the passing rate is 52%?

 

[cloistered]

Because that doesn’t mean YOUR child would do better.

 

[Jen95]

If you theory is that Catholic Schools are somehow “better” and kids just magically do better in them, why not go to Christo Rey?

You seem to be saying you want you kid to go to Catholic school so your kid wouldn’t be around poor kids. Not saying that is what you are saying, just what it sounds like to me, and that is why I say Catholic schools are often unchristian.

I guess Christian parents should sacrifice their children’s futures on the altar of public education.

Some public schools are high quality, and sometimes they are not. For sure, levels of quality equate with socio-economic status.

 

[cloistered]

There are several studies. Google “voucher studies”. There are a lot and you can read through them.

 

[Jen95]

So, curious where you send (or are planning) to send your children. Will they go to a high SES school? A low SES school? Parochial, private, or homeschool?
If you send your kids anywhere other than a low SES school (which you have declared to be the most Christian!), then we will have some questions for you…

 

[whatistrue]

I guess Christian parents should sacrifice their children’s futures on the altar of public education.

I am a graduate of public schools. I make a six figure salary in a highly technical field. No sacrifice here. By the way, when I went to High School, there was only one in the entire county, and the county was rather rural and not especially wealthy. It’s not entirely the school, it’s more the student and the family. And my daughter went to public schools her entire time and is about to graduate from GMU. No sacrifice there either. My son has been in public school all the way as well and is about to graduate from HS this year. He is in a Special Ed program and has been since about the 3d grade. How many private or parochial schools even accept students with special needs?

 

[blackforest]

I am a graduate of public schools. I make a six figure salary in a highly technical field. No sacrifice here.

Congratulations on your personal successes. As you know, public schools are funded by property taxes, making where one lives the unofficial “tuition” for a better funded and high-performing school. For this reason, I’m more inclined to support either the politically progressive solution, school-funding equity, or the conservative one, private school vouchers and more innovative charter school options. The former option will cover more students, but the latter will at least provide hope for some. The current system is grossly inequitable for a lot of children.

 

[whatistrue]

As you know, public schools are funded by property taxes, making where one lives the unofficial “tuition” for a better funded and high-performing school

Better funded and higher performing are not 100% the same. There is a correlation, yes, but it is not absolute. And scores on standardized tests are not the be-all and end-all of quality. And my main point was that the student and family are more important than the school anyway.

 

[blackforest]

Better funded and higher performing are not 100% the same.

If funding doesn’t make the difference, then I’m sure these wealthier schools wouldn’t mind if we dip into their coffers to funded the poorer ones, right? After all, if funding doesn’t make the difference, it should be inconsequential, right? Alas, if you try that, you’ll hear them howl in protest.

And my main point was that the student and family are more important than the school anyway.

Agreed.

 

[Jen95]

I am a graduate of public schools also, but that was another era. A different era than we are in now.
Did your kids go to a high SES school? Or a lower SES school?

 

[whatistrue]

If funding doesn’t make the difference

There is a difference between “making a difference” and “being the determining factor”. The HS I went to, even given the relatively poor population, sent a large percentage of students to top tier colleges and into highly technical military specialties. Money does not automatically yield quality.

 

[Jen95]

Student and family are more important in general, but a crummy peer group can help derail a kid pretty fast. Especially in high school, where we’re talking about drugs, drinking, gangs, violence, and low SAT scores…

 

[Jen95]

blackforest:

If funding doesn’t make the difference

There is a difference between “making a difference” and “being the determining factor”. The HS I went to, even given the relatively poor population, sent a large percentage of students to top tier colleges and into highly technical military specialties. Money does not automatically yield quality.

That is your perception. What decade of public schools was that? I postulate that most public schools are vastly different than they were in the 1970s and 1980s.

 

[whatistrue]

Did your kids go to a high SES school? Or a lower SES school?

Both, depending on where we happened to live at the time and where they were in the process, except that my daughter went to a different school than our address would have dictated because she (entirely on her own initiative and with her own effort) was accepted into a magnet program for Fine and Performing Arts run by the county.

 

[Jen95]

Oh, magnet schools. Where the school district draws white kids to fix the racial quotas, but doesn’t actually fix all the other poor schools.