How did you decide between Catholic or Public school?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Miraluna
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Miraluna said:
My sons is going into 6th grade. There are advantages to his public school and disadvantages. One of the biggies is that he loves orchestra and plays the cello. If we opt for the Catholic school, he will not be able to continue with orchestra. He could take private lessons, but it is not the same. Naturally, if the Catholic school really makes a difference in helping him grow in holiness, then that offsets any disadvantage. However, in general, I do not sense that most schools are very orthodox. Some people that I have spoken with about this (not necessarily for the school in the area) feel that religious education in schools can be watered –down and seem more like “good citizen” classes. I would think that a Catholic school would shelter him from being bombarded with secular messages and a negative environment. Can you share with me what helped you decide between private or public?
Click to expand...
I went most of my life to Catholic schools, because my parent’s didn’t want their children to grow corrupt…Well uhm, they felt that the Catholic school was going to teach us everything about everything…Then high school came along and they could no longer afford Catholic education for myself, and well things went haywire… As soon as my sister went into hs, when she was 16-17 she was pg and had to be wed… My brother got told by a Catholic teacher he was “A nothing, retarded, sorry excuse for a child!” My mother took him out of private school when he was in 5th grade and started losing all faith in the Catholic schools…She felt they were just interested in the money than in the teaching of the children, and without another Catholic school nearby, well we all stuck around public schools…

My sister sent her children to Catholic school, it was very expensive but she made the sacrifice because she thought her children were going to be taught properly, you know with things changing and maybe now the new Catholic school she found was going to be great for the kids. They moved to another city…Well this year the children went to public school…She told me that it was great for the kids to be listening about GOD but that the Catholic school wasn’t willing to help them out with financials, and they were coming abit tight in their budget so no more Catholic school. She tells me the education was similar in strength to the public school they are attending now, so she just makes sure they are involved in more church activities to make up for the lack of Catholic school…

As for myself, I wished I could afford it but I can’t so I just have to read the Bible more to my children and try and teach them the best I can… Good luck!
 
One word:money.😉
Seriously, Catholic schools are expensive. At one point we were spending 50% of our meager income on tuition.And that was with financial help from the school.
Our public school system has charter schools which offer good programs & are free.The downside is they are secular & do not reinforce Catholic values.But occasionally some Catholic schools can fail in that regard, too.
I’ve been taking it day by day, year by year with my kids education.So far my favorite form of education would be homeschooling with some classes in a Catholic home school co-op once a week.
We are considering moving to another state & will have to go through the whole discerning process again.😦
 
I just wanted to say that even though my parent’s didn’t have such great luck with Catholic school, the years that I spent there I loved more than anything…I will never regret going to Catholic school. Our school was more of a “good citizenship” type that showed you how to love thy neighbor as thyself…But not like the other important aspects of the Bible and God…I know this is one of the most important rules out there but believe me I would have had more respect towards GOD during my teen years than what I did if I would have had a deeper growing up foundation about GOD’s love, mercy and justice…

And I know my sister loved her Catholic teaching as well, even though hs wasn’t all that you know Catholic, our childhood growing up in Catholic school was great…
 
Having taught in both Catholic and public schools, I have to agree with the previous posters about today’s public schools being morally corrupt. It’s not as obvious in the lower elementary grades, but by the time you hit upper elementary, middle, and high schools in the public schools, you need to have a child with an extra-strong conscience and family life (and probably some like-minded friends, possibly few and far-between) to remain faithful to Catholic teaching. Kids are so impressionable by their friends in these years, it’s so easy to throw it all away if you don’t have super-reinforcements constantly at the ready if your child is attending public school.

Kids in public schools are being taught by the adults they care about that homosexuality is okay, contraception and abortion is ok, and so many other things that are not really “ok” in our moral conscience. Because morals of daily living are so intertwined with our Catholic faith, I found it much easier to have a connection to my students at the Catholic schools. We could talk about those things (in a middle-school classroom), take my students to the March for Life, and I just felt they were better-formed spiritually and more well-rounded than the public-school kids I couldn’t discuss those things with. I eventually quit teaching in the public schools because I couldn’t deal with kids attempting sex in empty classrooms, the immodest clothing, and the poor attitudes that resulted from having little parental involvement.

My advice–find yourself an orthodox parish with a school that has lots of parental involvement. There you will find the type of school you want to put your son in. He can start with the private orchestra lessons, and who knows? Maybe he’ll be the one to start an orchestra club at the Catholic school, eventually building into an actual course. It’s been done before, and kids and parents really help to make things happen at Catholic schools.
 
pamnbam said:
Having taught in both Catholic and public schools, I have to agree with the previous posters about today’s public schools being morally corrupt. It’s not as obvious in the lower elementary grades, but by the time you hit upper elementary, middle, and high schools in the public schools, you need to have a child with an extra-strong conscience and family life (and probably some like-minded friends, possibly few and far-between) to remain faithful to Catholic teaching. Kids are so impressionable by their friends in these years, it’s so easy to throw it all away if you don’t have super-reinforcements constantly at the ready if your child is attending public school.

Kids in public schools are being taught by the adults they care about that homosexuality is okay, contraception and abortion is ok, and so many other things that are not really “ok” in our moral conscience. Because morals of daily living are so intertwined with our Catholic faith, I found it much easier to have a connection to my students at the Catholic schools. We could talk about those things (in a middle-school classroom), take my students to the March for Life, and I just felt they were better-formed spiritually and more well-rounded than the public-school kids I couldn’t discuss those things with. I eventually quit teaching in the public schools because I couldn’t deal with kids attempting sex in empty classrooms, the immodest clothing, and the poor attitudes that resulted from having little parental involvement.

My advice–find yourself an orthodox parish with a school that has lots of parental involvement. There you will find the type of school you want to put your son in. He can start with the private orchestra lessons, and who knows? Maybe he’ll be the one to start an orchestra club at the Catholic school, eventually building into an actual course. It’s been done before, and kids and parents really help to make things happen at Catholic schools.
Click to expand...
Oh yeah I hear you…I mean in 5th grade public schools without parental permission are giving kids “the talk” they did that to my 5th grader, I was devastated…Not only that but the fact that they don’t care the kind of bullying that goes around nor care to help kids learn to respect each other-I know it’s our responsibility but let me tell you it does help- And I have heard horrors of the drugs being allowed to and found in the school grounds…One of my friend’s dropped out of hs because he couldn’t stand knowing what he was getting away with then he just said forget it why even bother…

Unfortunately the higher schools are more difficult to deal with…My daughter in less than 2 years will be going to jr high and all ready the fights in school are starting…I am very nervous for her…
 
I would definitely choose the Catholic school. No question there. My husband and I have only been Catholic for a few years so this wasn’t a factor when our son was small and attending school. He went to public schools. I went to public schools. I frankly wouldn’t recommend them to anyone who wants their children to grow up with Catholic values.

I drove a school bus for a year and I can tell you that the behavior and attitude of the public school children and the Catholic school children was night and day. The Catholic school children were well-behaved, pleasant, respectful and just much more mature than the public school children. They were helpful and just genuinely sweet kids. The public school kids would get on the bus and it was just like a free for all. The difference was amazing.

Plus I just think it is much better for Catholic children to grow up in an atmosphere that supports their value and lifestyle. Public schools would expose a child to many things I would prefer they didn’t have to deal with until they are much older.

Amie
 
It is crucially important to discern the culture at a catholic school. Just because the name starts with “Saint” Somebody is, sadly, no guarantee of what goes on there.

IMO, this is the hierarchy of school desireability:
  1. Catholic school with fully integrated catholic curriculum and devotional practices.
  2. Public school
  3. Nominal Catholic school with minimal devotional practices and no religious curriculum content outside formal religion class.
Group#3 schools sadly outnumber group #1 schools in my perception. A school will quickly lose its catholic identity if one of two groups become large in the parent body:
  1. The athletic excellence parents (we came here because of the football team…)
  2. The private school snob parents (our darling Buffy is far too good for schooling with commoners…)
If either of these two groups (or the sum of the two) become the majority, RUN. That school will send a horrible message to your kids. It will teach them that catholicism makes no difference in ones character and virtue and winds up innoculating them against the faith. At least in a public school you can prepare your kids with the expectation that their faith will be challenged. That’s an awfully hard explanation to make when you send them to a “catholic” school.

Group #1 schools are a treasure far beyond gold and worth whatever you need to sell, mortgage or borrow to pay for - if you can find one.

I’d be a lot more sympathetic to the claims of public school teachers that they are more often than not christians or at least morally upright citizens if their teachers union election results at least occasionally suggested this to be true…😦 Instead their unions CONSTANTLY work towards outright evil goals. Get out there and VOTE, good ones!
 
rpp said:
Public schools afre morally bankrupt. They all promote acceptance of homosexual activity and heterosexual acts outside of marriage. they promote artificial contraception and enable thosde who seek abortions. Public schools in hte USA are moral cesspools. Suggestions that they are morally acceptable are founded on lies.

.
Click to expand...
I agree with your sentiment. In schools in MD, HI, AZ, the majority dress and act like thugs and whores. and yes, it is the majority. its a minorityof teachers who do thier best to instill any sort of right/wrong standards, my experience has shown that most just go with the flow. harsh? probly, but the government schools in this country have proven un-safe, both physically and mentally, and we have been homeschooling for many years. Case in point, first time I visited my oldest school in MD, there were 2 local police cars there. When I commented, the receptionist indicated this is a a near daily happening. Same school punishes both the bully and the victim of the bully equally, regardless of circumstances and other factors.

Are there bright spots in the government schools? law of averages says yes. but we’re not playing the umbers game anymore.
 
Hello All! First time posting, let’s see how I do.

Now I probably don’t know much about the Catholic Schools in your area, but this is a topic I feel I have something to offer on. I too was involved in music ensembles and band was honestly one of the only reasons I liked going to school, epecially middle and high school. I attended public schools and found that the kids who did well (went to college, stayed on a good moral path) came from good homes where their parents were actively involved in their education and faith formation.

Also, I will be beginning my studies in a seminary in a few short months 😃 and having the opportunity to get to know people of disparate socioeconomical backgrounds in public schools was instrumental in fostering an understanding of humanity that I believe is necessary to being a good priest and good Catholic in general.

I should tell you, that I went to a Catholic college after that and would definitely recommend the experience as a follow up to public schools. REMEMBER it is your child that ultimately is going to the school – where are his/her friends going? I don’t think I would have liked any school I didn’t have friends at!!
 
My four girls all attended Catholic schools from K-12, from 1985-2006. The government schools in Scranton are pathetic, lacking discipline and tough academic standards, with resultant low SAT averages and far more strife than the media report. Sadly, the parochial shools have been on the decline her as well. My girls did receive a better education, not saying much, but all fell away from the faith to varying degrees during their H.S. years. One religion teacher, a PRIEST, included Angels and Demons for class reading assignments. C.S. WHO??? In short, it no longer seems a prerequisite for a hired teacher to be Christain anymore, let alone a faithful Catholic. Thus, parents’ faith is not buttressed any longer by a “Catholic” educational experience. If I had to decide today, I’d probably go with the government schools, and not shell out money just to have my values subverted. 😦 Rob
 
I have attended a Catholic school since 1st grade (unfortunately no kindergarten was available at that time, so that year was spent at public school. Two of my three younger brothers got to attend kindergarten at a Catholic school, though).

This upcoming fall, I will be a senior in high school. While my Catholic school is not perfect, I would still prefer it over any other school in my area. Of course, being in rural Nebraska, it’s not like we have tons of options anyway. My school is small (barely 100 kids total in grades 7-12), and ten miles away. The next nearest Catholic school is 50 miles away. But if my current school ever closed, rather than attend a public school, I would drive those 50 miles every day if it meant attending a Catholic school. The people who go to public schools around my area are not the kind of people I want to associate with (not all of them are like that, of course…just the majority).

As for Catholic teachers…that’s a sad subject for my school. It’s harder to find Catholic teachers, so a few of our current teachers are Christian (but most of them are Catholic). They never try to impose their beliefs on us, however, and are very respectful of ours. They are good people…and hard to come by.

Anyways…that’s just my experience in a Catholic school. 😃
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top