Question about Opus Dei Schools?

[humilis_viator]

Hey All,

This is quite a turn from my recent serious of questions.

My parents are looking into the possibility of sending my brother to a new school affiliated with Opus Dei and somehow I eventually ended up “volunteering” to do some research for them.

I’ve found plenty about what the organization teaches as well as being fielded with many of the err controversies shall we say surrounding the organization.

What I really would like, however, is honest opinions about what a school day at an Opus Dei - affiliated school is like.

What makes these schools different?
What are the academics like?
How does the school try to instill its teachings into its students?
etc.

Any information you can provide will be appreciated.

Peace,
Humilis Viator

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam

 

[mjs1987]

I graduated from an Opus Dei school in Potomac, MD in 2005. Typical day started at 8:20AM and ended at 3PM. We had 7 periods every day. It was a very free school in terms of letting students exercise and roam about campus and the surrounding area as well as in terms of what we were allowed to do. People had freedom to run around and go wherever they wanted on their breaks. If you had a car you could go off campus to get food. Since it was all boys we had a lot of freedom to do guy things and to play sports. Sometimes class would be canceled for sports games and to watch movies like Lord of the Rings and Star Wars. Teachers had a lot of freedom to make the syllabus in the classes and many frequently deviated from it. It was a lot like college class wise but with a lot more time to get things done. Every day there was mass at 10AM and we could either go to mass or have 45 minutes of study hall. Depending on the teacher the study hall turned into a time for talking and relaxing and not studying. The school emphasized building virtues through extra curricular activities and had camping trips and field trips every year. There was a whole week called Crescite Week dedicated to this sort of thing. The school of course taught religion classes. Freshman year was scripture, church history sophomore, moral theology in junior and apologetics in senior taught by the headmaster himself. The school cared far more about the overall person than about the academic performance of the student. The school believed that academics can be taught easily and with a little hard work anyone could succeed but it was very concerned with making us good all around people and encouraged us to explore things we liked to do and to interact with the other people in the school. It was a great school. I went there from grade 3-12. There were only 4 out of the 40 graduating in 2005 that were there from grade 3-12.