Private school or Public school?

edited March 2011 in Parenting
I grew up going to catholic school and absolutely loved it! Now I am not a practicing catholic and have different views on God and such, but I'm still sending my children to catholic school. I appreciate the one on one attention and high test scores for state testing my children get at catholic school. I also feel at least while their young the teachings of the bible are good life lessons that teach children how to be good to others. Don't get me wrong I teach them these things, minus the religion, at home, but I like how its being reinforced at school. I'm not looking for a debate here just was curious to know what my pregly friends do with their children or are planning to do....

Comments

  • Public schools have lost so much funding in my area,there are now 60students per classroom, in a minute they will be sharing books.
  • that's sad to hear...
  • I just don't think the government is thinking about how our young people are our future....
  • I am catholic and also went to catholic schools. You are right about those schools and their teaching practice. I am still a practising catholic and intend on introducing my child to the faith and also attend a catholic school.
  • I don't agreewith the cuts, but understand. Except for when it comesto giving the city a facelift. Waste, I think when there are other more important things like education and civil services.
  • I plan on sending my children to Catholic school or possibly home schooling. My oldest is only 14 months so I still have some time think about it. Definitely not public school. My moral views are different then public schools moral teachings.
  • My step-son goes to public school. In my area it's decent for now, but there will most likely be cuts that will be detrimental in the next few years. My children will go to the same school as my step-son, but at the moment they're in a private preschool. My husband went to catholic school and absolutely hated it; even if we could afford it he wouldn't be willing to send them. He feels that their education is too skewed toward religion, and he doesn't want that for our kids. If there were a private secular school in our area we'd probably consider that.
  • edited March 2011
    Born and raised in private christian schools and so will my children. I want the school to reinforce the morals and values that my husband and i instill in our child at home. can't get that from public school.
  • Sorry to hear that. I get financial aid to help pay for the schooling. The catholic school I went to only had one religion class and church once a week. They did not in any way shove religion down our throats and there were even students who were not religious or catholic all through the school. But every school is different....
  • @ghettobetty I think his school was pretty much the same, but there were certain aspects of the education itself that he didn't like (I think they centered around science and history). My husband and I are atheists, and though I want my kids to know about multilpe religions so they understand why people do the things they do or think the things they think, neither one of us is comfortable allowing any one religion to be the focus of their learning. For example, my family is comprised of born again christians and catholics, and my kids go to a jewish preschool. I'm open to religious education as long as it's not exclusive, but that's hard to find outside of a college classroom.
  • I attended public skool all my life but my kids will b attendn private skool.
  • Well I assure you at my school we were taught all aspects of science and history not just religious ones. Were were taught how God created earth along with how we came from organisms. my school was not at all biased which is what i respect the most about it. in History we learned normal things not religious based history..... I really think all the schools are different in the way they teach the children. they honestly didn't even cross religion in the other school subjects. we only learned religion when it was time for religion class. What we did do extra that public schools do not is extra community service.... which is required by every class to do so many hours of it. I know there are some catholic schools out there who probably do make religion the focus of all learning but not all of the school are like that.
  • I remember hating uniforms.... that's about all I hated.... I didn't even go through with all the sacraments because I didn't want to be a part of the catholic church anymore when I hit middle school. Never did anyone make me feel bad or out of place for choosing to do so. I consider myself to be free spirited now.
  • That's fantastic that you went to such a great school. There are definitely strong arguments for private schools, all of which are very valid. The aspects of private school that I wish I could replicate in the school my kids will attend is the small class size, individual attention and the community service (though that's something we can do from home). My husband hated the uniforms, too (ties and suit coats over the warm months! Yuck!), but I would have been grateful for them-I was a roll out of bed, race through the shower and run to school kind of kid, so trying to figure out what matched was something I didn't really want to have to do. Basically, I was lazy, lol. :)
  • I'm a firm believer that what happens And is taught at home is what will be carried else were yes some stuff will be learned in public school that might not be at another school moraly but I think if your truly in your kids life it won't effect what they hear from kids/teachers because you can explain to them what you think and why they might be wrong and as for test scores I think you have to help out at home to for a good education.
  • LOL sounds like your husband went to a strict school.... My kids can wear shorts and polo shirts short sleeve. NO TIES! and no suit coats! i couldn't even imagine having to put my son in all that. all they have to wear is blue pants or shorts and white polo shirts or blouses. My daughter can wear a jumper all year around which she loves!
  • Private...but check it out real good my kids went to a private school and it seemed like a huge percent of the students were kids that got kicked out of the public schools ,massive behavior problems!!!! I agree though about how sad it is about public school funding. I guess it depends where you live.....check out greatschools.com they give.reviews and compare schools in your area.
  • I agree with @angieface not all private schools are great. Just so happens in my area our catholic school is the best. If there was a public school with better test scores and better teachers I would definitely switch them!
  • I'm pulling for private... but husband thinks that everyone who goes to catholic ends up hating religion. I'm agnostic. His friend and my brother are atheists. We will have to see :) I like the small community aspect of catholic school. Fairs, dinners, volunteering..
  • Im sending mine to private school as well. Public schools here suck and cant get funding.
  • @palomita the community aspect is also my favorite part of Catholic school.
  • I went to private school and absolutely hated it and got transferred to public whn I moved up here. My kids will b goin to public schools
  • Public. We've got some great ones. Plus I don't want others teaching my kids morals. That's going to come from me and it certainly won't be coming from a Bible
  • I attended private school my whole life. As much as I hated the uniforms when I was little, I really appreciate the morals and values that were instilled in me. One of the best things about it was that my high school consisted of 1,200 students total. As apposed to the 4,000 students at my lil sisters public school. I was able to get the one-on-one help if I ever needed. My kids are definitely going to private school. Plus I love the fact that it was so family oriented. I graduated in 04 n still see tons of alumni at the football games.
  • @bex that's how I feel too. Parents should b teaching morals not teachers
    And I don't believe in any religion so the Bible won't b used in my kids upbringing either
  • Private for at least the crucial first 6-8 grades. I specifically will look for a school that teaches phonetics and christian morals. I went to a private school with both these, and can completely see the difference between me and most other people. When I see a word I can sound it out and know mostly what it means almost immediately, my sister wasn't taught that way and has a very hard time with reading. She wasn't taught math the way I was either, like multiplication tables etc, and has a very hard time with it.
    Christian (imo its more lenient than catholic or seventh-day adventist) morals teach politeness and life lessons. Along with that I specifically remember the school itself being very strict on playground rules. In the off chance my child is bullied or becomes one, I want to be ensured this will be taken care of respectfully. I also love the smaller classes; I'm still in touch with my same class of 30 I had growing up. I also learned about sex very late in life and want my child to have the same.

    Contrary, I believe public high school gives a teenager more freedom to find out who the want to be, so at that point I will probably let them (if they chose) to go to public. I'm working on getting in and out of school to get a degree so I can afford this kind of care.
  • edited March 2011
    In my school I learned about sex. In 6th grade and that's Catholic. Sex is a topic I don't believe the Catholic schools well any school inn my area talk enough about. This is a completely different subject but as a teen mother I. Feel parents need to discuss sex early and often. Abstanince will be number one but children also need to know about birthcontrol and protection ting themselves if they chose not to abstain. This is something my school and parents failed in doing when it came to me.
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