But parents have to want to do something besides warehouse their children.
I think some parents are sticking their fingers in their ears and chanting, "La la la I can't hear you" because they don't want to make the hard choices that ensue when you get out of the 'free' public schools (but have to continue paying for them). But that's what parents are supposed to do.
“I think some parents are sticking their fingers in their ears and chanting, ‘La la la I can't hear you’ because they don't want to make the hard choices that ensue when you get out of the ‘free’ public schools (but have to continue paying for them). But that's what parents are supposed to do.”
I agree that many are sticking their fingers in their ears, but in some cases, it isn't that they don't want to make the hard choices, but they can't see their way to any choices, hard or otherwise, other than the local public school.
I know many parents in my parish who would love an alternative to the local public schools. But around here, the alternatives are: expensive parochial schools; very expensive private schools; and homeschooling.
Part of the problem is that many folks in my parish have been generous with life, and have had four, five, six, eight, nine or more kids. Some of these folks choose homeschooling, but others can't afford to miss the second (or third) income. With a half-dozen or more children, in a high cost-of-living area, it isn't surprising that these families absolutely can't forgo the wife working.
I'd been thinking today of one family that I know. They sent their older kids to the local Catholic school. But now that they have eight or nine (I lost count a baby or two ago), it just doesn't work. He works two jobs, she works one job. So, public schools it is.
Years ago, when I was a kid, the local Catholic school charged full tuition for the first child, half for the second, and either one-quarter or nothing for the third, and if you were fortunate enough to have four or more in the local Catholic school all at once, numbers 4 through n went for free. And tuitions were low. My last year of high school cost my parents a couple of percent of their middle-class household income. My son's first year next year at the same high school will be about 15% of median household income. And it's one of the less-expensive high schools in the archdiocese.
Others have said it, I won't be the first. The Church asks us to procreate them, but no longer wishes to help educate them.
It's true that some folks just don't want to make much of a sacrifice to do what's really needed. But other folks just can't.
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