Semper Fi, Kelly
ping
If the children were being led to chant prayers to Allah they would be receiving taxpayer funding.
I was educated by the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, the Notre Dame nuns. Highly educated, very motivated ladies, and sadly, very few left. My advice to any trying to have an intellectual argument with any of the good sisters is that they better know their facts.
“Taking taxpayer money means sacrificing the core element of Catholic schools: their faith. The schools won’t be able to have prayers, and will have to strip religion from the curriculum. That has prompted petitions from parents who want the schools to stay as they are.”
What’s the problem with forming private religious schools? No money in it? It won’t serve the poor? Isn’t this another example of letting market forces work and keeping government (tax dollars) out of the way?
I attended a private Lutheran School as part of my education as a kid. I had a full scholarship to a private Lutheran college. What’s the scoop? Are Lutheran schools failing at the same rate? Is the failure of these Catholic schools a result from all of the money bilked from the Catholics over bogus “repressed memory” sex abuse lawsuits?
Just askin’...
This will only embolden the NEA and their minions to keep vouchers off the table. And why not? Their strategerie seems to be working. Sadly.
Here in Djakarta, the Catholic schools are bursting. First tier schools like Santa Ursula, Santa Teresia, and Tarakanita, which my daughters attended, are very difficult to qualify for.
In many of the second tier Catholic schools, a large percentage of the students are RIPpers, as their parents recognise the superiority of these schools. They go through the motions of Catholic religious courses, but the schools wisely make the muzzie parents pay through the nose ........
“”We lose the kids. They can’t afford it. And then as the school gets smaller, you have to raise the tuition to pay the costs and it’s a vicious cycle,” said Sister Dale McDonald, the association’s director of public policy and education research.”
That’s part of the problem.
Another big problem was switching from staffs consisting of teaching nuns, volunteers, or laypeople willing to work for less - to certified teachers with competitive salaries and benefits.
In our area I found the tension between the “social justice/working wage” folks and the realities of skyrocketing costs to catholic schools very interesting.
If there was an offender to the principle of the “working wage” - it was the catholic school system paying low salaries.
They raised salaries and benefits - which made catholic education a luxury for the wealthy.
I had a similar 12 year experience with Sisters of the Holy Ghost for elementary school and Dominican sisters and priests in high school. The academics were outstanding, but it was equally about building character and people skills such as learning obedience to rules, honesty and integrity, self discipline, delayed gratification, respect for others, empathy, etc. Of course all of this was reinforced at home. All in all it’s a type of education we don’t see a lot of anymore.
My guess is there’s more to this than the economy. The economy was horrible in the 70’s, they didn’t close then.
Also, I know lots of kids who aren’t Catholic who actually go to Catholic school. Inner city kids whose parents have money problems won’t send them to the P.S’s, and they can’t afford an expensive private school. Voila, lots of minority non Catholics in Catholic school.
My guess is, it’s the rise of school alternatives. You can homeschool, and there are charter schools, online, etc. Florida has some nice online virtual schools. The neighborhood catholic school is no longer the last bastion of people who won’t PS.
A brand new “state of the art” Catholic High School is being built in my neighborhood; I may send all my children there if it is built in time. (Right now they attend a K-8 Lutheran school.)
There is great demand for Catholic schools in the suburbs, where most children live these days. There are fewer children in the cities, where these schools are now closing.
I attended Catholic school in the 1980s, switched to a public high school, and high school was so much easier! The Catholic education was definitely more challenging and just better.
Cradle Catholic here too
St. Joseph Nuns for us
Memories of Catholic school will remain in our hearts forever. It was the BEST!!!
We managed to get an excellent education, and there were very few disciplinary problems. I also got a strong grounding in the Catholic faith which has stayed with me to this day.
Where did all those good sisters go?
Cradle Catholic here too
St. Joseph Nuns for us
Memories of Catholic school will remain in our hearts forever. It was the BEST!!!
The left is happy.
School Sisters of Notre Dame.