S/O Catholic schools

TheGriffs · January 2013

Based on the cost of kids post and the Catholic schools week post, I'm guessing that going to Catholic school is more common in some places than here. I've actually only ever met one person IRL who went to Catholic school.

Given, I live in a heavily protestant area where public school is the norm for most, I'm just wondering, did you go to Catholic school? A different private school? Is it pretty common in your area? Are you Catholic and did that play a role in that decision? I'm honestly just curious about other places and how common this is. Thanks!

eaglesfan700 · January 2013

I went to 12 years of Catholic school. Many of my siblings went to a Catholic college, the same one my dad attended.

We are Catholic, and considered Catholic schools for our kids. We moved to an area that has strong public schools and a strong Catholic community. But I just don't love the church here. It doesn't feel welcoming and has more like a "who knows who" hierarchy, which we are just not into

We continue to attend Mass at our old church periodically and this baby will probably be christened there

cactus5 · January 2013

My husband and I both went to Catholic schools kindergarten through high school. Where I grew up, it was more of the norm than it is here. There were a lot of different grade and high schools. My kids will go to Catholic school too. I do agree they are quite different (smaller/less expensive) than the other private schools in our area-at least until high school.

khill86 · January 2013

I went to Catholic school jk to grade 12. I'm in Canada, though, so they're not private schools. There's just a Public board and a Catholic board. The Catholic school board is obviously smaller, though.

My mom was a practicing Catholic at the time we started school so that's where we went. As we got older we strayed and so did my mom. I don't practice and don't consider myself Catholic even though I was baptised and confirmed. DS is not baptised, so he'll go to public schools, or a private school.

MAprincess · January 2013

I went to public school through 12th grade. DH went to Catholic school for a few years and then was moved to a secular private school.

We'd never use Catholic schools because DH was an altar boy and we don't need to go into that. Obviously we are not Catholic now. Also, there is a Catholic school in town but most people use the public schools here because it is much higher ranked than the Catholic school.

Allycat11 · January 2013

I was raised Catholic. My mom and her siblings went to Catholic school K-8, and she planned to do the same with us. When my older brother was 7 or 8 they found out he was dyslexic and the Catholic school did not have the resources he needed so we were both sent to public school instead. I had quite a few friends that went to Catholic school k-8 and even more that went to Catholic high school.

DH went to a Lutheran school k-8 and we currently go to a Lutheran church. We have discussed sending our kids to the same school he went to but I don't think we could afford 9 years of tuition per child in addition to saving for college. I think we will end up sending our kids to public school and contributing to their college education. We live in a very Christian community but private schools are not very common, possibly because this is a LCOL area.

penguingrrl · January 2013

I live in an area with a lot of Catholics and am semi-Catholic (raised Catholic but no longer practicing) but most people around here use public schools unless they're in a town with bad public schools. The Catholic schools generally have a reputation for academics that are mediocre at best, so you only use them if you can't afford to move to a town with good public schools.

LatteLady5 · January 2013

My dad coached Varsity boys basketball at the Catholic school I went to. I transferred in 9th grade because I wanted a change. It closed down in 11th grade due to low enrollment and budget restrictions. There is still an elementary school here but it's small and will probably close within the next 5 years.

WhitePicketFence · January 2013

I went to a Catholic school from Kindergarten through Grade 12. I then attended a Catholic affiliated university.

I don't know that they're more popular, but around here the Catholic schools tend be the "good" schools. They have higher test scores, better enrichment programs, better art/music/foreign language programs, etc. Plus, there's the faith based component which is very important to us as a family. The public schools here, with the exception of one elementary school and one high school, aren't that great.

chelseymat · January 2013

We are catholic and attend mass regularly. I went to public school. DH went to a private school (not catholic). DS goes to a catholic preschool mainly because I loved the school, not because it's catholic. A lot of kids from my middle school went to a catholic high school here with a good academic reputation. I however, knew those kids well enough to know what they were doing I their free time and over my dead body will my kids go to that particular school. There s a big push for DS to move to the catholic grade school from his preschool but I just can't see paying for school when we purposely moved into an excellent public school district.

roxy_jj · January 2013

I was raised Catholic, so growing up a lot of my friends went to Catholic school. Most of my cousins on my Dad's side of the family also went to Catholic school. I think my Dad would have preferred if we went to Catholic schools, but my mom didn't like the schools in my area.

Out here I know some kids who attend Catholic or other private schools. Most kids out here go to public schools, though. The Catholic high schools in our area are excellent, so we've thought about going that route.

MJL113 · January 2013

I went to Catholic school k-12 and a catholic university.

I grew up in the Philly area but I'm now in N NJ. My impression is that catholic schooling is more prevalent in the Philadelphia area. Even the responses to this post highlights it - i think 4 or 5 are in the Philly area. People (catholic and non-catholic) often even differentiate neighborhoods by catholic parish since there are 3-4 parishes per town sometimes. For the most part, the catholic schools are on par with the public schools in terms of curriculum and when I was growing up, the public schools were overpopulated and struggled to keep kids IN school (cutting was a huge problem).

Now, N NJ is very different. As PP pointed out, the curriculum is not equal, with public schools being far superior, there are fewer parishes, and in general, probably more diversity in religious beliefs/practicing. As practicing catholics, we won't consider catholic school for our kids here, but would in the Philly area. Living briefly in FL, NY, and IL, it seems generally to be similar to NNJ.

notkateanymore · January 2013

amy052006:
Around here, I wouldn't say Catholic school is necessarily the same as the private school most people imagine. Parochial school is kind of "private school light".
I went to Catholic school for grade school and a private Catholic school for high school. It was fine, but it isn't what we will do for our kids unless there is some sort of extreme circumstance. I don't want to say never for anything when it comes to their schooling, but it is like the tenth resort.

Amy, get out of my brain. Except I did not go to Catholic school. I would never send my child to a parochial school of any kind...not just Catholic. But especially not Catholic considering how different my world views are from the Catholic Church.

notkateanymore · January 2013

amy052006:
KateMW:
amy052006:
Around here, I wouldn't say Catholic school is necessarily the same as the private school most people imagine. Parochial school is kind of "private school light".
I went to Catholic school for grade school and a private Catholic school for high school. It was fine, but it isn't what we will do for our kids unless there is some sort of extreme circumstance. I don't want to say never for anything when it comes to their schooling, but it is like the tenth resort.
Amy, get out of my brain. Except I did not go to Catholic school. I would never send my child to a parochial school of any kind...not just Catholic. But especially not Catholic considering how different my world views are from the Catholic Church.

I get why my parents did it, and don't blame theme. My father's job required residence in the city, our local public school sucked, and true private school wasn't in the budget for them. I give them lots of credit for not being afraid to call out the bullshit for us though, even though we were Catholic. They were dirty liberals just like my brother and me. Also, in this day and age there is absolute no way you can justify 50 minutes a day of religion class. That is ridiculous.

I agree 100%. Good for your parents for doing what worked for y'all but not letting it change them or hide their true selves. What did your dad do?

LatteLady5 · January 2013

KateMW:
Also, in this day and age there is absolute no way you can justify 50 minutes a day of religion class. That is ridiculous.

HA Our religion class was a joke. We did the standard pick a saint stuff and learned about the basics of Catholic religion but it was essentially useless. In IA you don't (or didn't then) have to be a legit teacher to teach it. My religion teacher my junior year once had a Cosmo sticking out of her bag. One of the guys in my class grabbed it and started running around the room reading "The top ten things to make your guy's sex life awesome" (or something like that.) He got to anal sex as my teacher was chasing him around trying to get the magazine from him when she stopped. He said "Would you ever have anal sex Mrs. D" and she said I told my husband I'd do that the day he let me do the same to him with a panhandle! LOL

Really worth the extra money to send your kid to parochial school :P

ETA: I gave Kate credit for Amy's comment :P

notkateanymore · January 2013

LatteLady5:
KateMW:
Also, in this day and age there is absolute no way you can justify 50 minutes a day of religion class. That is ridiculous.
HA Our religion class was a joke. We did the standard pick a saint stuff and learned about the basics of Catholic religion but it was essentially useless. In IA you don't (or didn't then) have to be a legit teacher to teach it. My religion teacher my junior year once had a Cosmo sticking out of her bag. One of the guys in my class grabbed it and started running around the room reading "The top ten things to make your guy's sex life awesome" (or something like that.) He got to anal sex as my teacher was chasing him around trying to get the magazine from him when she stopped. He said "Would you ever have anal sex Mrs. D" and she said I told my husband I'd do that the day he let me do the same to him with a panhandle! LOL
Really worth the extra money to send your kid to parochial school :P

OK, I didn't write what you quoted as mine, but LOL

4Speedy · January 2013

I was not raised Catholic and went to public school.

DH is Catholic and went to Catholic school in St. Louis. Apparently where you went to high school is a HUGE deal in St. Louis. Every time I meet one of MIL's friends, they always ask where I went to high school. I always say, "Oh, I didn't grow up here, I'm from Michigan." People always want to know which high school I went to anyway, as if they would have any clue whether it was a good school or not.

DD goes to a Catholic school. We put her into that school for a number of reasons. It is ranked one of the 50 best schools in the US and it also happens to be the closest catholic school to us at 10 minutes away. They have a faster paced curriculum, which appealed to us. We will probably do 2-3 overseas rotations for DH's job before DD graduates from high school. The curriculum of this school more closely matches the curriculum of the international schools we would move DD in and out of throughout her education. We chose this school since it seemed like it would make for an easier transition back and forth.

Around here, there are two levels of Catholic schools. There are the schools that are operated by the local parish. Those may or may not be as good as the public school district they draw from, some are better than others. Tuition is not outrageous as long as you are a member of the parish in good standing. Then there are the "destination" Catholic schools that are non-parish schools. Those are operated by a specific order, like the Marists or the Jesuits. They usually have pretty high entrance requirements, require a "C" average or better or they dismiss the student and hey are pretty pricey.

joyfullyfound · January 2013

Private schools are pretty common here, although I didn't attend one. I would say, let's see... probably 35-40% of kids attend a private school. That said, most of them attend a massive Christian one that has k-grade 12. DH went there, along with the majority of Christians I know. There are some Catholic schools, and I've known some people who attended them, but none of them were Catholic themselves.

lisamoe · January 2013

My brothers and I all went to Catholic schools K-12.

I would love it to be an option for us, but the costs of tuition is crazy high. Grade school isn't ridiculously horrible, but high school is. Catholic high school is as much tuition as sending your child to a state college around here (some of them). i just don't see it happening.

It's about half and half as far as popularity. I had 1/2 of my friends went to public school and 1/2 catholic.

meglew · January 2013

cactus5:
My husband and I both went to Catholic schools kindergarten through high school. Where I grew up, it was more of the norm than it is here. There were a lot of different grade and high schools. My kids will go to Catholic school too. I do agree they are quite different (smaller/less expensive) than the other private schools in our area-at least until high school.

This is similar to my DH and I as well. He went K-12 and I went 6-12. I wouldn't say that it is the norm in our area, but the public schools in our state (with the exception of a few districts) are really struggling. The public school that DD is zoned for is actually quite good, but middle school is a joke and the high school is mediocre at best. We would like her (and DD#2) to go to the same Catholic high school that we went to, which is quite competitive. Having established yourself in the Catholic school system early gives an advantage to that (unless you have bags of $$$ you can through around, because apparently that can work too).

Cherryblossoms07 · January 2013

There were a few catholic schools in our area, but not close enough for my parents to consider sending us - luckily. I knew quite a few people that attended catholic high school though and they threw some crazy parties, they were wild.

I attended a catholic university but religion was not brought into the classrooms. There was an priest's office in the building in case anyone wanted to talk, but I don't think I ever saw the person around besides at orientation.

Dochas · January 2013

I went to Catholic school for 8 years. I got into a good public school for HS, if not I would have gone to Catholic HS as well. Each school is different. The one I went to was fantastic and definitely superior to the public schools in our area at the time. I think it was great to have one school for 1-8 grade. Having middle school and jr high seems silly to me. But our son will go to public school so it's what we'll have here.

TheGriffs · January 2013

It's interesting. I always just assumed that Catholic school was equally as expensive as other private schools. You guys have definitely shed some light on the topic for me. The guy that I knew that went to a Catholic hs was from San Antonio, where there is a much higher Catholic population than here, and the school districts can be sub par. He was not, however, Catholic. I think that always threw me off.

MesmrEwe · January 2013

I survived 8 years of Catholic school and swore on a Bible I'd never subject my child to that... DH attended one or two years in Catholic school before his parents moved him to the public school where he fared much better. Fast forward 20 years and we were unable to get DD into the school we wanted to get her into and DH refused to let her enroll in public school... She's now 24 on the waiting list to transfer schools because neither one of us is happy with the school...

Where I grew up, at the time, it was an even split between the Catholic School, the Lutheran School, and public school. Now the Catholic school there is barely keeping its doors open (one room of each grade above 2nd)..

Around here, the Catholic schools are pretty well attended.

Stacyc625 · January 2013

Ditto Eaglesfan exactly-

and did 12yrs of Catholic school and then I went to/started at a Catholic u- switched to a different school- and then went back to a different Catholic U for law school.

notkateanymore · January 2013

TheGriffs:
It's interesting. I always just assumed that Catholic school was equally as expensive as other private schools. You guys have definitely shed some light on the topic for me. The guy that I knew that went to a Catholic hs was from San Antonio, where there is a much higher Catholic population than here, and the school districts can be sub par. He was not, however, Catholic. I think that always threw me off.

DD's private elementary school was 12k a year, the local Catholic elementary schools are in the 6k range if you're not Catholic and in the 4k range if are as they are subsidized by the local parishes. Our choice of private HS, of which DH is an alumni is 19k and the Catholic HS is 14k.

luvmyducks · January 2013

My DH is from NE and pretty much everyone I know through him there went to Catholic school. But it could be bc most of his friends are from school Yes, he's Catholic and I'm sure that is why his parents sent him, but I'm not for sure.

There is only a couple options around here for K-8 Catholic school and only one HS. It is not as common here (we are in OR). We will be sending our kids to Catholic school. Bc we are Catholic, but also bc the school system is not great here and the Catholic school has a much better curriculum.

cactus5 · January 2013

KateMW:
TheGriffs:
It's interesting. I always just assumed that Catholic school was equally as expensive as other private schools. You guys have definitely shed some light on the topic for me. The guy that I knew that went to a Catholic hs was from San Antonio, where there is a much higher Catholic population than here, and the school districts can be sub par. He was not, however, Catholic. I think that always threw me off.
DD's private elementary school was 12k a year, the local Catholic elementary schools are in the 6k range if you're not Catholic and in the 4k range if are as they are subsidized by the local parishes. Our choice of private HS, of which DH is an alumni is 19k and the Catholic HS is 14k.

The Catholic school we are sending the kids are 8,000 a year compared to 15-20,000 for other private elementary schools in the area. The high schools are about 20,000. That is a pretty big difference.

I taught in both the Catholic and public schools here in TX. The Catholic schools were about a year ahead in academics at the grade school level. I am surprised how many of you said the public schools were superior academically.

Arnegard · January 2013

I went to a Catholic kindergarten and college, back in the day before Kindergarten was in public schools.

There are 2 Catholic PK-8 schools in town and 5 public grade schools.

notkateanymore · January 2013

cactus5:
KateMW:
TheGriffs:
It's interesting. I always just assumed that Catholic school was equally as expensive as other private schools. You guys have definitely shed some light on the topic for me. The guy that I knew that went to a Catholic hs was from San Antonio, where there is a much higher Catholic population than here, and the school districts can be sub par. He was not, however, Catholic. I think that always threw me off.
DD's private elementary school was 12k a year, the local Catholic elementary schools are in the 6k range if you're not Catholic and in the 4k range if are as they are subsidized by the local parishes. Our choice of private HS, of which DH is an alumni is 19k and the Catholic HS is 14k.
The Catholic school we are sending the kids are 8,000 a year compared to 15-20,000 for other private elementary schools in the area. The high schools are about 20,000. That is a pretty big difference.
I taught in both the Catholic and public schools here in TX. The Catholic schools were about a year ahead in academics at the grade school level. I am surprised how many of you said the public schools were superior academically.

Personally I think they're ahead of most public schools, but behind secular/college prep type private schools.

pastalady · January 2013

Here we have a public system and a catholic system. Both are free. The Catholic systems does incorporate some religion but not a lot and you do not have to be Catholic to go.

nosoup4u · January 2013

I went to public school, and only knew a few kids who went to catholic school when I was growing up, though I knew more when I went to college. DH went to catholic school K thru 12, and at least one of his sisters will be sending her kids to it as well. The area he grew up in has a ton of catholic schools, even though the district also has fantastic public schools.

The city I live in now has a decent amount of catholic school options, but we have no plans to send our kids,as DH has left the church anyway.

cactus5 · January 2013

KateMW:
cactus5:
KateMW:
TheGriffs:
It's interesting. I always just assumed that Catholic school was equally as expensive as other private schools. You guys have definitely shed some light on the topic for me. The guy that I knew that went to a Catholic hs was from San Antonio, where there is a much higher Catholic population than here, and the school districts can be sub par. He was not, however, Catholic. I think that always threw me off.
DD's private elementary school was 12k a year, the local Catholic elementary schools are in the 6k range if you're not Catholic and in the 4k range if are as they are subsidized by the local parishes. Our choice of private HS, of which DH is an alumni is 19k and the Catholic HS is 14k.
The Catholic school we are sending the kids are 8,000 a year compared to 15-20,000 for other private elementary schools in the area. The high schools are about 20,000. That is a pretty big difference.
I taught in both the Catholic and public schools here in TX. The Catholic schools were about a year ahead in academics at the grade school level. I am surprised how many of you said the public schools were superior academically.
Personally I think they're ahead of most public schools, but behind secular/college prep type private schools.

I totally agree. The private schools I know of in the area have a great academic reputation. We are Catholic though, so we will be sending the kids to Catholic schools.

RayRay007 · January 2013

Here, Catholic and public schools are probably 50/50. There are 2 or 3 private schools (not including Montessori and other private preschools). So like 1/2 the people I know went to Catholic, 1/2 to public. They are both funded by the government/property taxes and free.

ETA: just looked it up, it is about 4:5 Catholic to public. And as some pp's mentioned, about the only difference was a obligatory religion class and mass at certain assemblies. You don't need to be Catholic to go. And the Catholics I knew that went to Catholic school are about as straight and narrow as anyone I know that went to public.

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