Nowadays, why would anyone want to send their children to a Catholic School?

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After I finished writing a book about the renaissance of Catholic Education in the United States, earlier today, I had to ask myself “what is the value of a Catholic education in these times?”

Considering the fact that I am a Catholic High School student who will be attending school again next Monday, it was a question that I just had to ask myself about. Why would a Catholic family would want to send their children to a Catholic School, despite the high costs associated with it (tuition, uniforms, books, graduation fees, etc.)?

And if so, what could make more people to send their children to a Catholic School, in times like this, when having even only one child enrolled in a school is a financial sacrifice in of itself?
 
Why? Because some things are worth the sacrifice, financial or otherwise.

The benefits are usually academic and/or spiritual, rather than financial, but again, it depends on many factors for each individual family. And some Catholic schools provide a better value than others.

Each family decides for themselves whether the sacrifices are worth the benefits, depending on their financial situation, their children, the specific Catholic school, etc. I think if families feel that the sacrifices are worth the benefits of the Catholic school, they will most likely enroll their children there. If they feel it’s not, they won’t.

For us, the local Catholic schools are good, but the sacrifices we’d make in money, time, and effort would simply be too much for us. We chose to homeschool instead, which gives us the benefits we were seeking, but with different sacrifices that we could more easily handle. However, we still believe Catholic education is important, and we support our local Catholic school via volunteering, attending events, and giving donations when we can. 🙂
 
With all the financial sacrifices we make for our kids today, there are not many more important than their schooling. This is an experience which will have a very significant influence on who they are for the rest of their lives. We’re talking about a huge majority of their formative years, in which kids are highly influenced by their teachers and peers. The public schools operate today with an agenda not just to educate children in the traditional subjects, but to educate them socially in ways that instill ideas and values that are adverse to the christian beliefs that we are working to instill in them. They will necessarily be exposed to these things later in their adult lives when they are able to view things more objectively, but as children they tend to soak up whatever is presented to them by people in authority. I believe the value and foundation of a good education in a christian environment can’t be overestimated. While we’re on the subject, I’d like to say that if my kids were in public schools now, I’d be very active in discussing what they’ve learned in class, so that they may be exposed to different ideas and viewpoints. Raising our children well is probably a parent’s primary task in life.
 
The way to ensure that your child will cease to practice his Catholic faith is to send him to a Catholic school.
 
WHY?? Because I live in California where public school education is a joke at it’s best and an insult to my faith and values at it’s worst. When you leave your Catholic high school and go on to a secular college, you will be amazed at the wonderful education you got and be more grateful to the parents who sacrificed for so many years to give it to you. :cool:
 
CatholicRaven said:
Why? Because some things are worth the sacrifice, financial or otherwise.

The benefits are usually academic and/or spiritual, rather than financial, but again, it depends on many factors for each individual family. And some Catholic schools provide a better value than others.

Each family decides for themselves whether the sacrifices are worth the benefits, depending on their financial situation, their children, the specific Catholic school, etc. I think if families feel that the sacrifices are worth the benefits of the Catholic school, they will most likely enroll their children there. If they feel it’s not, they won’t.

For us, the local Catholic schools are good, but the sacrifices we’d make in money, time, and effort would simply be too much for us. We chose to homeschool instead, which gives us the benefits we were seeking, but with different sacrifices that we could more easily handle. However, we still believe Catholic education is important, and we support our local Catholic school via volunteering, attending events, and giving donations when we can. 🙂
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True, but you have to remember, that there was in fact a time when there were actual Catholic Schools in this country, which did not charge the families of the students monthly tuition payments. Nowadays it’s not the case, thanks to the lack of sisters, and what have you.

Not only that, there are also other people who simply cannot send their children to schools such as the one that I have attended. I’ve met people around my age who really wanted to go to a Catholic School, but couldn’t because their families couldn’t make the expenses meet. And no, these aren’t people who cannot homeschool their children, due to the fact that both parents have jobs to do.
 
Lek said:
With all the financial sacrifices we make for our kids today, there are not many more important than their schooling. This is an experience which will have a very significant influence on who they are for the rest of their lives. We’re talking about a huge majority of their formative years, in which kids are highly influenced by their teachers and peers. The public schools operate today with an agenda not just to educate children in the traditional subjects, but to educate them socially in ways that instill ideas and values that are adverse to the christian beliefs that we are working to instill in them. They will necessarily be exposed to these things later in their adult lives when they are able to view things more objectively, but as children they tend to soak up whatever is presented to them by people in authority. I believe the value and foundation of a good education in a christian environment can’t be overestimated. While we’re on the subject, I’d like to say that if my kids were in public schools now, I’d be very active in discussing what they’ve learned in class, so that they may be exposed to different ideas and viewpoints. Raising our children well is probably a parent’s primary task in life.
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Indeed it is. But I also think that attempts should be made on actually *improving *the state of Catholic Education in the state that it is now, rather than letting it stagnate.
 
Catholic1954 said:
WHY?? Because I live in California where public school education is a joke at it’s best and an insult to my faith and values at it’s worst. When you leave your Catholic high school and go on to a secular college, you will be amazed at the wonderful education you got and be more grateful to the parents who sacrificed for so many years to give it to you. :cool:
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I’m not disagreeing with you or anything, I’m just saying that are some people my age who cannot go to a Catholic High School, and I have to settle in on a Public High School. I think it’s not a good idea to leave those people behind, especially those who are most interested in learning about the faith.
 
Discerning13 said:
The way to ensure that your child will cease to practice his Catholic faith is to send him to a Catholic school.
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:doh2:

Riiiiiiight. :rolleyes: I’m thinking that, if you go to just about any parish, and look at the folks who are active in that parish, you’re going to find quite a few who are the beneficiaries of a Catholic school education.

Nice try, though.

Oh… and my condolences that your Catholic school education wasn’t all you might have hoped it would be. (That doesn’t mean that it extrapolates to everyone, though.) 🤷
 
Gorgias said:
:doh2:

Riiiiiiight. :rolleyes: I’m thinking that, if you go to just about any parish, and look at the folks who are active in that parish, you’re going to find quite a few who are the beneficiaries of a Catholic school education.

Nice try, though.

Oh… and my condolences that your Catholic school education wasn’t all you might have hoped it would be. (That doesn’t mean that it extrapolates to everyone, though.) 🤷
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If the latter was for me, thanks, but no thanks. I was actually more along the lines of talking about how Catholic Education can be improved for the better.
 
Discerning13 said:
The way to ensure that your child will cease to practice his Catholic faith is to send him to a Catholic school.
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Thank you for proving, yet again, that all generalities are false, especially this one.

My DD and an amazing number of her friends from her Catholic HS are good practicing Catholics. They’re the ones you’ll find cantoring, teaching CCD, volunteering, and bring their children up in the faith.

Fifteen years of Catholic education was the best investment we ever made and well worth the sacrifices.
 
Discerning13 said:
The way to ensure that your child will cease to practice his Catholic faith is to send him to a Catholic school.
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I couldn’t disagree with this more. I, along with many other friends of mine, come from a Catholic education. It did not push us away. Our teachers were magnificent, our learning was highly valued, and our Faith is more robust because of it.
 
Discerning13 said:
The way to ensure that your child will cease to practice his Catholic faith is to send him to a Catholic school.
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I can see your point. I probably know more non-practicing than practicing Catholics who went to Catholic schools. On the other hand, they may just be the more vocal of the two groups.

To get to the OP, I think it really depends on the overall quality of the education in your area. For many people, available public education is so poor that Catholic schools are seen as a step up, regardless of the faith. I would bet that in many urban centers a whole lot of Catholic school students don’t come from Catholic families, but from families who value education in general and have the means to afford it.

We gave our daughter the option of enrolling in a Catholic high school. She was ambivalent even after shadowing for a day, (her words, “It was no different from regular school.”) , it is expensive, and the school offered us $0.00 in financial aid. So dropped the idea.
 
on_the_hill said:
I can see your point. I probably know more non-practicing than practicing Catholics who went to Catholic schools. On the other hand, they may just be the more vocal of the two groups.

To get to the OP, I think it really depends on the overall quality of the education in your area. For many people, available public education is so poor that Catholic schools are seen as a step up, regardless of the faith. I would bet that in many urban centers a whole lot of Catholic school students don’t come from Catholic families, but from families who value education in general and have the means to afford it.

We gave our daughter the option of enrolling in a Catholic high school. She was ambivalent even after shadowing for a day, (her words, “It was no different from regular school.”) , it is expensive, and the school offered us $0.00 in financial aid. So dropped the idea.
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I’m sorry to hear that. Wished that it wasn’t the case.
 
I’m 17 and will be returning to a Catholic school on Tuesday as a senior, if I have kids, I would probably prefer for my kids to be home schooled rather than go to a Catholic High School. Unless the the Catholic High School is really faith oriented and emphasizes the teachings of the church.
 
johnnyt3000 said:
I’m 17 and will be returning to a Catholic school on Tuesday as a senior, if I have kids, I would probably prefer for my kids to be home schooled rather than go to a Catholic High School. Unless the the Catholic High School is really faith oriented and emphasizes the teachings of the church.
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I agree with you one 100%, Johnny. I think it’s a shame that there aren’t that many Catholic Schools left in America that have a strong influence of Catholic identity as its backbone.
 
Discerning13 said:
The way to ensure that your child will cease to practice his Catholic faith is to send him to a Catholic school.
Click to expand...
This has been the case with my experience. I am a senior at a Catholic school and they have the most watered-down religion courses. Basically, my school only emphasizes the social justice aspect of Catholicism. But any school can teach students that they ought to help the poor or that racism is wrong, but it takes a Catholic school to teach personal morality, about respecting the body and human life. But I never hear any of that. My religion teacher even once said that the original sin of humanity is excluding other people. And on top of that, since it is an all-girls school, I see a lot of the ugly side of feminism.

But it is not just the feminism. The local co-ed Catholic high school in my area has recently started administering breathalyzer tests on campus. I can only imagine what must go on with the students to get to that point.

To the OP, one reason that no one has mentioned yet is safety. I also live in an area where public education is also a joke, but another reason why parents might send their kid to a Catholic school is because a lot of the public schools in the area are full of gang members. And, perhaps another reason is to cut off access to drugs. I know there is a small, traditional all-girls Catholic school in my area that a family friend went to. She knew one girl who transferred there who was a recovering cocaine addict.

A lot of Catholic schools give financial aide and scholarships, but I think parishes should provide religious education programs for high schoolers, both for those who cannot afford Catholic schooling and for those whose religion classes are terrible.
 
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