Get your kids out of government schools

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As a proud teacher in a “government school”, I testify that practically everything in this OP-ed is complete BS and fear mongering.

No school in any district in my vicinity has any sort of program of “gender ideology”. No child is taught that they must believe that boys are girls or “women have penises too.” The “Gender Unicorn” book is not in any of our elementary classroom curriculums or libraries. If some psycho, somewhere has attempted to use it, that was done on their own agenda and they should be disciplined. (and probably were.) No children in any grade are encouraged to consider that certain hobbies they enjoy define their gender. The opposite, in fact, is true. Students are frequently reminded that boys can love music and poetry and girls can be great at sports and science. In our school, the kids in 4th and 5th grade see the same puberty video that their parents watched and probably their grandparents as well. (on filmstrip, of course.) The only education students get regarding homosexuality is that all students in the school have a right to be there and bullying won’t be tolerated. Students who believe homosexual activity is sinful are well within their rights to say so as long as they follow the code of conduct. (No name calling, threats, personal attacks, harassment.) As far as I can tell, this is all in line with authentic Catholic teaching. Meanwhile, in a local Catholic girl’s school, a girl was “strongly encouraged” to change her hairstyle after she was bullied because having too short hair was an “occasion of sin” for the bullies. Now, of course I’m not saying that all Catholic schools are like this, but a long as we’re painting the entire nation’s public schools with the brush of what some crazy teacher in Wisconsin once did…
 
The alleged “attack on Christianity” is also a myth. Nearly all of our local district have a spiritual advisory board of local ministers, pastors, rabbis, and other religious leaders, specifically designed to protect the religious rights of students and families and encourage sensitivity and inclusiveness. State law protects the rights of both teachers and students to practice their faith. They simply aren’t allowed to teach their faith as the only faith to the students. All students are allowed by state law to profess their faith in classroom discussions, school work, reading choices, and artwork. They are NOT allowed to bully or harass those of other faiths or no faith and the door swings both ways. All districts in our state must have written policies that protect the rights of students to practice and express their faith without fear of punishment or reprimand. Failures to follow those policies often result in court cases and mediation and our state has a very good record of upholding the rights of students, so much districts correct any deviation from policy immediately. Meanwhile, in Catholic schools, we see all the same immorality found in every other school, but presented as an example of the faith. Racism and social elitism abound as does bad catechism. Catholic schools are terrified to spend significant time on “sensitive issues” such as divorce and sexual morality to the extent that we are currently working on the third generation of Catholics who honestly believe that those are old-fashioned ideas that the Church doesn’t teach anymore. The author of this piece concludes his paragraph on the “attack on Christianity” with the idea that public school is a “one way ticket out of the Church”, but in actuality, if you compare the statistics of the number of practicing Catholic students who remain in the faith after public school to the number of allegedly practicing Catholic school students who remain in the faith after graduating, it’s pretty depressing. Public schools don’t teach the faith. They don’t pretend to. That isn’t their purpose. But Catholic school claim that is their sole purpose and they do nothing but produce droves of non-practicing Catholics and worse yet, anti-Catholics who go around spreading calumny about Church teaching under the authority of “I spend 13 years in Catholic school and I know!”
 
As far as the “Anti-American” nonsense, it’s just that. It relies on the presupposition that any acknowledgement that American policies, government or court actions have ever been unjust to Native Americans, Blacks, Jews, immigrants, women, children, or yes, even Catholics, is the same thing as spitting on the flag, flipping off war veterans, and stomping bald eagle chicks to death. At the middle school and high school level, public schools strive to provide an accurate presentation of historical events and facts, while discussing all sides of different issues. If that’s what we’re calling “anti-American”, well whatever. And the “smelly book” referred to is actually not a book at all, but an online directory of children’s books that touch on issues relating to social justice. If a class is covering material that deals with issues such as racism, discrimination, immigration, bullying, the issues of being a minority or disabled, or other related subjects, the list is a resource the teacher can use along with her own discretion to select books that might be helpful to her instruction. Are there books on there that are a little suspect or might only be appropriate for use by the school counselor for students coping with the stress of less common home life issues? Yes. But the list is hardly a binding curriculum. It’s just a resource to help teachers find helpful books. Most elementary kids, however, aren’t delving deeply into social justice issues, but are spending their social studies time learning their states and capitals, the branches of government, how many stars on the flag, memorizing the preamble of the constitution, basic global geography, and yes, (per state law) we still say the pledge of allegiance every day. I’m going to go ahead and assume that Catholic schools are not trying to whitewash history as this author seems to prefer. I’m pretty sure that in this day and age, one has to homeschool if they want their children to believe that their government can do no wrong. While racism is often a social issue for Catholic schools, it isn’t usually part of curriculum. They still teach that slavery, racism, discrimination, and genocide are wrong and (gasp!) might even pull out one or two of the books on that naughty list for African American History month.
 
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Certainly, I would anticipate some variety of experience and (with a few exceptions) I tend to hear this argument in relation to a generation or generations past.
I think we know a bit more about special needs and this can empower us to make adjustments to better support children.
Still, my elderly parents remember a sister staying after school every night to help a boy who was ‘slow’ in their class get through his lessons. They consider his graduation a tremendous achievement, both on his part and on the part of the sister who patiently supported him.
Let’s keep praying for our Nashville Dominicans. One factor which can help to make Catholic education and quality formation available to more students is increased vocations in teaching orders. Cost is certainly a factor in the degree to which a Catholic education is accessible to those who desire it for their children.
We do have several schools in my area which have vowed to never turn away a child from their parish due to inability to pay and some of our inner city schools have made enormous efforts to build endowments to subsidize tuition for their families in poverty. Someday, I pray, we can be another of the Dioceses which underwrites education for all of our children. At present, we are working on it, but have a long way, yet, to travel.
May God bless all who visit our thread.
Amen.
 
Allegra, you bring up a good point. So much is district and local culture dependent. Our schools have mixed-sex bathrooms, and Planned Parenthood teaches sex ed and is the biggest sponsor of the high school paper. 🤷
 
Not exactly .
Catholic school used to be free back when they had nuns who worked for free, and didn’t need a living wage to support houses and spouses and children of their own.
When the pool of nuns got smaller and they started to hire lay people, it was usually women who either lived at home with parents or married ladies who’s husband’s jobs made the living wage.

Nowadays folks actually want stuff like health benefits and a decent wage before they agree to take on a teaching position.

Cost gets passed on to the consumer
 
And that is something that is allowed by the people who live in that district. School districts have to follow a fairly small number of federal laws and regulations. Most of the “rules” on school districts are imposed by their own school board. You don’t have to have children to attend and speak at a school board meeting, or to run for the school board.
 
Allegra said:
Catholic schools are terrified to spend significant time on “sensitive issues” such as divorce and sexual morality to the extent that we are currently working on the third generation of Catholics who honestly believe that those are old-fashioned ideas that the Church doesn’t teach anymore.
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Allegra,
I share your concern in this area and appreciate your critique. I think it would be a mistake to claim that Catholic schools in my area are providing especially strong catechesis in this area and I think your argument as to why this has been the case is credible. Catechesis has slipped badly since the days in which my parents were taught by Franciscan sisters and correcting errors which have since occurred is a long-term project. Teacher by teacher, school by school, and, on the home front, where many poorly catechized parents are not yet able to discern sound teaching from the errors they inherited, a parent by parent, we must work to strengthen our understandings and grow in faith and love.
In my diocese, this problem has been recognized and a move to reclaim our Catholic identity is underway. While we have a lot of paddling ahead, the boat is beginning to turn. Thanks be to God!
May God bless you and your students.
Amen.
 
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We used to have our district’s autism specialist room and our two teachers were actually PSR teachers at the local parish. They started because a parent offered to pay them if they would accompany their son to PSR because the parish wouldn’t let him in the class if he didn’t have a special teacher. They now teach a special needs PSR class so kids of all abilities can receive their sacraments!
 
That’s the opposite of our district. Our parents are screaming “Quit giving our kids video games!” finally, after years of the district buying every last gadget, technology, and program that was presented to them! The administration severely mis-predicted the community reaction to the 1 on 1 technology program. It was good for high school and middle school to some extent, but the elementary kids need to learn to use their hands, write, build, and all that. The next large sum of tech money is going to purchase STEM kits instead of tablets.
 
I did not mean to imply there is anything wrong with remedial classes. The only potential problem is that the institution of such classes may result in a stretch of economic resources for a particular private (or public) school. This in turn may have an effect on the salary increases of faculty as well as the tuition levels for students and their families.
 
That’s great!

The tech stuff really, really drives me nuts. It’s so flashy and marketed so well. Our district is very concerned about keeping up with trends and “top of the line” everything, so they will plunk down for anything. I really think low tech options are best when it comes to instruction. I really dislike “gamifying” learning.
 
Don’t you want children to learn that all of life is a game so that they enter college and grad school and then the job market with the right attitude?
 
😳

I honestly can’t tell if you’re joking or not, but I hope you are. 😫
 
Yes, I am. I would add though that there is nothing wrong with having fun during childhood (even during adulthood!). At the same time, I think children should learn that sometimes good old-fashioned work is beneficial and there is a time for this as well as play.
 
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On top of every thing else, there is way too much homework. I don’t remember having significant homework until junior high. And it was generally less than what your second grader has now.
 
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