What Is Wrong With Being A Public Schooler!?

[the171]

Ok, I have noticed a lot of people have this idea that public schoolers are SO IMMORAL, etc. I know PLENTY of public schoolers who are some of the holiest people I will ever know. I usually just laugh about it and I brush it off as a joke, but it is really ruffling my feathers... IF I HAD FEATHERS!! But I don't... But this is not the point!!

Here's the money: you DON'T have to be home-schooled or educated at Catholic schools TO BE HOLY!! My vocation has been tested in public school, yes. I have been persecuted, yes. But this is found EVEN IN PAROCHIAL AND HOME-SCHOOLING. Another fact, I have found people who support my faith and my vocation even if they don't exactly agree with them. (public schoolers!) don't write us off just because we don't go to a flipping faith-based school. God calls us, too.

(I am not saying that home-school and parochial school is bad. I am just pointing out something that has popped out at me latley. I have gone to public school all my life and I am transferring to a Catholic school for my Junior and Senior year. HS and CS are great opportunities. Just be extra thankful for what you have and don't look down on those who do not have that same opportunity.)

Possibly incoherent rant: over.

[filius_angelorum]

I don't know of many people who think public school students are immoral. I think it's worth debating whether it is entirely moral to subject a child to public school...Secular education simply is not sufficient. How can you learn about literature, for example, without being able to deal with it from a religious perspective? And to what end, if you can't discuss the [i]truth[/i] of those perspectives? How can you explore creation, without acknowledging the Creator? How can can you teach history, if you can't discuss the [i]purpose and goal[/i] of history? Seems like a waste of time to me.

[the171]

Oops, I meant something along the lines of "not being as holy." for some reason i put immoral there. I definitely agree with your statement that secular education is not sufficient. It just gets my blood boiling when people assume that just being a student at a parochial school makes them INSTANTLY holier than the next guy. I think that was what I was trying to get at. But I just screwed my words up along the way. Mea culpa...

[the171]

I am not saying that all people assume that.

[the171]

Im out for the night. Pax tecum, frater!

[Vincent Vega]

I've been in public schools for fifteen years and counting, with no end in sight, and look how well adjusted I am.

[filius_angelorum]

I think you have a point. Fact is, if we take St. Thomas' maxim "worst corruption of the best" seriously, we should expect more students from parochial schools to be complete devils as often, if not more often, than students from public schools.

[filius_angelorum]

And as a public-school alumnus myself, I'm willing to defend us as an underprivileged class of Catholics against whom many are prejudiced.

[the171]

Exactly. We are assumed to be irreverent, uncatechized (wait, that part is actually true most of the time... Lol, good old CCD), etc. etc. Urrrrrghh!!

Why did I Check on my phone after I said I was going to sleep!??? Lol!!

[Archaeology cat]

I went to public schools until college. And they were good public schools. One of my elementary teachers had prayer in the classroom. Of course, I also grew up in a very Southern Baptist area. One of my best friends was Catholic, but didn't speak much about her faith, and I got the impression she didn't know much about it, unfortunately. Was that the fault of the school? Not necessarily. I know another who went to the local Catholic schools throughout, but also wasn't properly catechised and unfortunately fell for the anti-Catholic rhetoric and is now quite anti-Catholic (please pray for her return, and for her in-laws and anti-Catholic friends to come to the Church as well). Then there's one of my cousins who was in Catholic school for a little while and then homeschooled, and has now left the Church. In England, most Catholic schools are free as they receive government funding. The trade-off is that they must use the national curriculum. So yes, a lack of faith and lack of good teaching can happen in any setting.

Most of my experiences in public school were good. However, I was also bored throughout elementary school, and in some classes in middle and high school. Having taught in public school, too, and knowing more of the politics of the school, I am more determined to homeschool. For then I can tailor the curriculum to the child (and/or follow his lead), and ensure they are receiving proper catechesis. A bonuses that they can continue going to daily Mass with me.

[Cherie]

I haven't been taking part in any debates on this, but I have no issues at all with public schoolERS. I have a problem with the current state of public schools in the US, and as a result, I will homeschool my children.

[Ice_nine]

I think there are benefits to public schools. There are also drawbacks. But it's funny I've never got the feeling that I was being looked down upon in a religious/moral sense. I thought the only "prejudice" (that's really too strong a word, but idk) towards public schools was more of a classist/socioeconomic prejudice than anything else, which is a little annoying, but whatevs.

[CatherineM]

I went to a great parochial school and a horrible public high school. I'd have loved to have gone to the catholic high school with 90% of my friends but we couldn't afford it. I got a good education because I wanted one badly enough. As to staying holy, kind of depends on your definition.

[Basilisa Marie]

Public school kid here! My parents sent us kids to public school because my mom is Catholic and my dad was Lutheran at the time. I can definitely say that my faith got tested a LOT in high school...but not because of people offering me drugs or asking me to have sex. I was in band, and most band kids were pretty clean. My faith DID get tested all the time because, especially in early high school, my teachers liked to introduce us to debating, and we would "discuss" hot topics in the news. At the time, that was abortion and gay marriage. My teachers probably should have offered us a bit more structure when it was 30 rabid pro-choice teens shoving "what about girls that are raped?" down my throat, but then I was also probably one of the few people who could handle it. At least I didn't burst into tears about it.

I also was able to do apologetics with the atheists and Mormons (with the Mormons against the atheists...yeah I know), and that was a huge learning experience for me that I'd never trade. I was a nerdy theology kid at youth group, and all the other nerdy theology kids ridiculed me all the time because I wasn't homeschooled like them and I went to the evil public school, and thus wasn't good enough. So I got dished some ridicule on both fronts...that part really sucked.

I really believe that it completely depends on where you live. I was fortunate to grow up in an area with good academic standards in the public school, and there were more extracurriculars that at the local Catholic schools. I would have had to commute an hour every day had I gone to a comparable Catholic school. In my experience, going to a Catholic school has absolutely no real bearing on whether or not you're going to take your faith seriously. It really depends on each individual school and kid. Some kids do a whole lot better being homeschooled. I would ask parents that homeschool to PLEASE not give their kids the impression that they're somehow better than the other kids that go to that "sin-filled" public school. EVERY homeschooled kid at my parish had that chip on their shoulder.

[Maggyie]

The public schools are great if there are any special needs or learning disabilities. I know one parent in particular who has a daughter with learning differences and she is insistent on home schooling her, the thing is this mom does NOT know how to teach someone with special needs!!! It is incredibly frustrating for her, and for her daughter. I think the poor kid is so turned off learning that at this point the frustration is its own obstacle. She is convinced her daughter would grow horns in the public school due to exposure to "ungodly" influences (she is Protestant).

Unfortunately the public schools reflect the world in general, so unless she plans to keep her child in the basement she is eventually going to be exposed to things like homosexuality and alcohol (this mom also thinks drinking is Bad Bad Bad, they don't watch TV specifically because of the beer commercials). So I don't see the point. To me as a kid it would be awful to be trapped in a learning environment where everybody believes the same way and that is the official line. It would make me want to rebel like crazy! As it is when I rebelled at public school I "rebelled" into the Catholic Church. I liked going against the grain.

Then again there are academic standards. There are great public schools and cruddy schools and it all depends where you live, which doesn't seem fair. So it's a carp shoot.

With home-schooling, no offense to home-schoolers. In the next 20 years the global economy is going to become ultra-competitive. There's no way to avoid this. If your child isn't being drilled on a daily basis in high-level math I can promise there will be a child, maybe five to ten children, in Asia or Southeast Asia who are, and they are the ones who will be hired. The homeschool curricula I see are so... sleepy for lack of a better word? Not dumb at all. Some are really impressive. But it doesn't have that intensity. Children now need to be trained to be quick on their feet and aggressive critical thinkers. And I mean AGGRESSIVE. If there is a problem you need to be the FIRST to come up with the solution. And it needs to work. And you have to be able to do this consistently.

For instance, I saw one homeschooling book for high schoolers that taught by focusing on the saints. It's great to learn about the saints but that doesn't drill you in problem-solving skills. If we are blessed with living children I will teach them about the saints, too, but only after they finish their math homework assigned to them by a professional at a rigorous program (hopefully a Catholic school). The latest marketplace trend is to outsource lawyers... or get a sophisticated computer to read contracts. If you are a lawyer who reads contracts you are going to be automated out of work in a decade or so. That used to only happen to blue-collar workers. Not anymore.