I'd consider it, but would encourage my child/children to think critically over whether or not the Catholic Faith is something they want to practice in their lives - if they didn't, and didn't want to attend the Catholic School, I'd respect that and enroll them in a public school. One of the strengths about catholic schools (or at least the one I was at recently) is the family and community orientation that's encouraged and role modeled by teachers for the students. I also like the smaller classrooms and more one on one time between staff and students.
I went to a Catholic school all the way up until university. I don't identify as Catholic anymore (since I was about 13, after Confirmation ironically) nor do I feel like the quality of my education was spectacular. However, I do think going to Catholic school was a good thing. A lot of the values I learned in my religion classes were about common-sense things like "the golden rule" and general respect-for-others ideals that the Bible and Catholicism teach. Of course, it was presented in a Catholic context, but the development of my morals is still the same. I'm sure public/non-Catholic schools also have courses to help develop your morals, but I don't think what I learned was in any way bad. We also had a class on world religions, teaching us about ones other than Catholicism - it was a nice refresher to see that a lot of religions do share similar ideals. Admittedly, if I didn't go to a Catholic school and religion wasn't a mandatory course for 4 years, I probably wouldn't have taken it, and I certainly learned some valuable lessons from those courses (as annoying as they were).
I'm not much for homeschooling, but I've got to say that I'd stand behind that. From having a teacher who went to a Catholic school (And the stories he told, granted they may have been similar in any region; Poor ethnic centered neighborhoods have issues) to the religious weight that must be forced on them. I just couldn't send a kid to that kind of environment. Not to mention that I'm not religious and I really couldn't offer support in religious matters if my child were to go to a catholic school; it wouldn't seem right to push something on them that I wouldn't have wanted pushed on myself.
That's pretty true. An eighth of my friends are catholic and they are rather accepting of me being gay. Plus, Catholicism is often deeply rooted in Latinos and most Latinos are supportive of gay rights.
I went to a Catholic school and it was fine. Nothing out of the ordinaty apart from singing hymns in assemblies and extra RE lessons. I want to stay Catholic, as well. I don't let the Bible bother me at all, I just go with the flow, really. I go to a Non - Catholic school now anyways, so I don't care where my kid would go, so, yeah. I am, and I would, but I'm not saying I will.
One might also wonder how socioeconomic factors play a role. Catholic education is usually expensive and, as such, only those who can afford to pay or are academically able to earn scholarships can attend. As such, you basically get the two groups who are bound to excel academically: the gifted (be it by money, intelligence, or both). You could probably have a poorly-performing public school with the same teachers and replace all of the students with newly matriculated Catholic school students, and I'd bet my bottom dollar that the scores of that school would rise dramatically. When you don't have basic factors holding down students, like where their next meal is going to come from or if they're going to get shot walking home (I'm being a bit hyperbolic, so please indulge me), students will perform better. Plus, students whose parents are in the higher economic strata are able to get more opportunities to learn and explore the world than other students who may have never left their own city. But to answer the question, no, I wouldn't really send my students to Catholic school (unless it was that or a very poor-performing, hazardous public school). I would rather send them to a charter school or a good public school. (Also, no one in my family is Catholic, so that also might influence my answer.)
I voted Not Sure/Other. I went to several (that's right I said several) Catholic schools and I've never been Catholic, because my family isn't. So i guess if the school is Catholic or not isn't the problem. The problem is how are you raised by your family. Mine never taught me a thing about religion, and thus, I've had to search on my own, which has given me a great opportunity to mature in the religious sense. So my answer is, if the school is Catholic or not wouldn't be important when I decide my son's school.
Absolutely not. I went to two and while most classes weren't religious at all, the teachers and administration had zero respect for students most of the time and it's a very humiliation based culture. The treatment of gender non-conformity in those schools is pretty appalling too.
For the most part no. If I had kids who wanted to go to a Catholic school, assuming the school wasn't too radical, I wouldn't stop them. My sister went to a Catholic high school and she turned out just fine, but really any Catholic school, no matter how mild, progressive, open-minded they are, etc. just makes me uncomfortable.
I went to a Catholic Private Faith School in the UK and I am gay. There wasn't really anything that "Catholic" about it apart from mass every week, apart from that I was taught alright, we weren't taught creationism of anything retarded like that! To be fair I liked it, I did get bullied alot but that would have happened anywhere but the staff were kinda good at dealing with it. I did come out somewhat more religious that the rest of my family though
As a non-catholic, and a graduate of a catholic high school my feelings are neutral. One thing that the catholic system provides is academic discipline and rigour, each action is a practice. The emphasis placed on diligence by each student and teacher at my highschool was really beneficial to me! I learned to differentiate between religion and spirituality, and to respect and enjoy many different religious traditions (although I am personally not a practitioner of any) As a bonus- If I had not attended catholic school, I would not have the skills to analytically criticize attacks by(or mistakes of) the religious right. I felt alienated by my sexuality very rarely; although the catholic church does not condone homosexual relationships, many catholic educators and families were either supportive or tolerant (or at least not abrasive). Typically, it was just something that wasn't discussed. Ultimately, I would probably enroll my (potential) kids in the IB program before a catholic school, those places are pricey and could be smothering to more sensitive people.
I really don't think we should be using retarded as an insult or belittling other people's religious beliefs. I understand that you were only trying to insult people that believe in creationism (which I also think is inappropriate especially on a support site) but you are also insulting people with disabilities. Back on topic, the only way I would even consider sending my future children to Catholic school is if it was the only place my children could get a decent education within a 30 mile radius of my house
I was raised Catholic and spent 17 years in Catholic schools. I am an atheist now, and I'm not sure if I want to ever have kids.... but I guess my answer to this question would depend on the circumstances. Assuming I'm still living in NYC, it would definitely still be an option. I have heard a lot of horror stories about how bad conditions are in NYC public schools. I was a very shy and weird kid growing up, so I consider myself fortunate that bullying in Catholic school, while present, never got to the sort of level that's been driving kids to suicide these days. Now the last eight years of my Catholic education (high school and college) were in Jesuit-schools, and Jesuits are known for being more liberal and not so attached to orthodoxy. My Jesuit high school was in Manhattan, located basically on the border between Chelsea and Greenwich Village, and it was attached to a rather large old church, which was used for high school Masses and some ceremonies but also was the community's Catholic Church, and I know for a fact that they had LGBT Masses complete with rainbow flags and also hosted an outreach group for gay Catholics. (Right now the church's website actually has a rainbow flag on the main page accompanying a statement condemning the recent hate crimes in the NYC) The church and the school in that kind of neighborhood would probably have empty pews if it toed the line and preached death to gays. My Jesuit college in Massachusetts was also fairly liberal and we had a student organization for LGBTQ students and observed 'Day of Silence' and all that. But college is different anyway in that generally students aren't forced to ever attend a Mass or take a certain religion course. (I satisfied my Religion requirement by taking a Latin course translating St. Augustine's Confessions). So Jesuit schools in the liberal Northeast are probably not going to be typical of Catholic schools elsewhere. There are some notoriously conservative and anti-gay Catholic institutions out there, like Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio. Avoid them for sure. But at the elementary school level, I really don't think topics like sexuality are ever going to be brought up.
After reading some comments I feel kind of hurt about how some people are talking about Catholic schools. The only religious activities the Catholic schools I attended did were the sacraments and one class based on religious studies. No, these classes didn't brainwash me or feed stupid ideas to me, they actually talked about morals, some philosophical topics and even sex. Also in my science class I learned about various things about the natural world and basic biology. No Creationism was taught here and funny enough in high school Creationism was one of the things we disscussed in one of our philosophy classes. Also we were never taught about hate or any of that nasty stuff those old men spout out at the top. You were allowed to have an opinion and to question anything you felt needed be. Most teachers had their own views on faith and for the most part faith wasn't talked that much outside of religious based classes. God, it's threads like these that make it so fucking hard to have my beliefs coincide with my sexuality. But no, I am an idiot for believing in a higher power, for having an education that had a base in religion, or that I am a abomination for what I believe. It's one thing to have an opinion on religion, it's another thing to constantly berate it for every single wrong thing in the world and say anyone who has faith in it is a complete moron. *sigh* I forgot to mention my stance on whether or not I would send a child of mine to a Catholic school. I would want to discuss to my spouse first or if I lack one for whatever reason I would want to choose a school where my child will learn and be able to grow as a person. Public or Catholic whichever I think is right but I would want my child to go to public as I want my child to develop their beliefs or ideas and find what path they want to take.
My mother was raised Catholic and attended a Catholic school. It messed up her perception of the world, and even though she is now agnostic, she is a social Catholic. I have good friends who attend Catholic schools, and they are awesome people, and are agnostic. I think it's just down to how impressionable the child is. I would say that even though the teachers are very repressed and the curriculum weird (my friend and I laugh over her religion classes all the time), the students are often very open and nice and accepting.
I was raised Catholic, went to Catholic school from K through 6, sibs went through 12. First, Catholic School is not necessarily the best education at all. I shifted to public school because I wasn't being properly challenged at the Catholic school, and it was at the suggestion of the Catholic school. The Catholic school where I live now is definitely not as good as the public schools. So it really depends on where you are, and in general I'd say that is definitely not true. Second, when I was in elementary school in the late 60s we did not have a focus on sexuality at all, I remember nothing being said about gays, abortion etc. Now however that seems to be the main focus. So there is no way I'd send my kids to Catholic school now -- not that they would have let me do that anyway. Unless it's a school where some of the more progressive brothers teach (but even then...) Catholic school can be provincial, small minded and will not serve kids well if they want to do well in the wider world and be competitive.
Nope! I have considered a private school that teaches a world view of Christianity, but have decided no on that as well. I am going to homeschool my kid this next year. Living in Texas, even public schools teach stuff that I don't agree with. Plus, there is this attitude. My son took his Bible to school. He likes that his name is in the Bible and wanted to show his teacher. I was hailed as some type of hero. It was weird.