Vanity: Should I Send My Jewish Child to a Catholic School?

self

[Yaelle]

My 6th grade homeschooled son wants to go to school. At first, I was a little hurt by it, but upon serious thought, I realized it would be good for us both. I am so busy with the new baby that it makes homeschooling difficult. And he is of the age when he wishes to contradict everything I say! But we need a safe, conservative place for him.

The local middle school appears horrible. There are hundreds of kids in each grade, and there is the gang element, and I am sure drugs as well. I just cannot throw my child to the wolves.

We are a financially struggling family, trying to make it on one salary, with three kids. We cannot afford the one local nonreligious private school: only the children of the wealthy go there. There is no Jewish school near us, and even the one far away wouldn't work (Chabad, and they don't accept my Conservative conversion), if we could afford it, but we can't. The only school we could afford (barely) is the Catholic school.

They teach Catholicism and all the kids go to Mass. As well they should! They have a good academic curriculum, and the school encourages good values. A lot of the parents are conservative. My son is secure in his Judaism and will become bar Mitzvah next year.

I have visited the school and spoken with the principal. Everyone is very nice there. My son would obviously be expected to do all the curriculum like everyone else, religion included. I simply cannot make up my mind. It doesn't seem right to send a Jewish boy to Catholic school. I wish we Jews had a good educational system like the Catholics do, but we do not. I would like my child to attend a religious-based school, at a reasonable cost.

If I were to decide to send my son to Catholic school, what about his little brothers? One will need a school next year and if I sent him at his young age, wouldn't he be Catholic within a month, just to be like his teacher and friends?

I am going in circles here trying to decide. I don't want to set my son up for failure in a school where I should have known from the outset that he might not fit in. Neither do I want to deny him a good experience in a small religious school if that would be what happens.

I am grateful for all thoughts. Go ahead and be blunt. Thanks.

[Yaelle]

pinging

[Fzob]

How about continuing his homeschooling and get outside help for taking caring of the baby?

[Yaelle]

ping

[T Minus Four]

If you weren't so serious, I'd half-jokingly suggest you move out of California :-)

I wish I had some advice. We're Catholic, and I know your son would be very welcome at the Catholic school my daughter attends, but I understand your worries. Could you try it for a year, then consider going back to homeschooling when the baby is older? I see how you may worry about the younger boy, kids want so much to fit in and if you send him, his beliefs might get confused.


How about other Jewish families in your area? Could you homeschool co-op?

[netmilsmom]

CA is the place where DR. Laura said that she would send her child to ANY religious school rather than the Public schools.

[Yaelle]

ping

[finnman69]

Im it bothers you now it will be worse when your son is school. It may likely be fine for him but you would not be asking the question here unless you were very uneasy.

[GovernmentShrinker]

I suppose it depends somewhat on the particular school, but most Catholic schools I'm familiar with have a number of non-Catholic students and don't try to browbeat anyone into adopting Catholicism. Like Judaism, it's not an evangelical religion. As long as your son also has a community of Jewish friends through your synagogue, I doubt you'll have a problem. By high school you'll probably want to get him out though -- heavy drinking and obsession with sports is the norm at Catholic high schools.

[2banana]

My son goes to Catholic School - although we are Baptists and do not attend the associated Catholic Church (so we pay about 50% more in tuition).

About 10% of his time is on religious studies.

They get more work out of him than I can believe. There is discipline and a climate of learning (and they do not take BS from any child). The biggest problems in the school is talking in class.

And remember - Jesus was Rabbi.

[tom paine 2]

He'll get a great education

[T Minus Four]

Why? So they can be molested?

Ignoring what else is wrong with your post, I would like to point out that Catholic elemetary school teachers are almost universally lay women.

[OldFriend]

We are jewish and seriously considered sending our children to a catholic high school. They are highly rated and have a waiting list. They also have more than a few jewish parents who send their children and they are involved in the school process with the full support of the administration.

In the end, we moved to a new community and used the public schools for one and a private school for another.

Good luck......why not go into the school and speak to the principal.

[Salvation]

Your question is uncalled for!

[Nachum]

How about asking the Chabad Rabbis about a proper conversion?

[Alberta's Child]

Based on my experience with Catholic schools, I would say that your son will not have too much trouble there. Sure, he will be seen as "different" -- but you have to make sure to differentiate between perceived ostracization (because he is not Catholic) and actual abuse.

You should also know that 6th grade is a difficult time to introduce a child to an environment like this. Kids of this age are old enough to know the difference between various races and ethnic/religious backgrounds, but not old quite enough to know the wisdom of holding their tongues.

On the negative side, I will point out that Christians have an obligation to attract converts from other faiths. They will not necessarily be "pushy" about it (and many of them are not even aware of this obligation), but even people who are not engaging in an open attempt to convert non-Christians will sometimes attract interest simply by the way they carry themselves, their attitudes toward others, etc.

[Yaelle]

That would be a consideration, not getting help for the baby, but staying with homeschooling. Now that I have gotten used to the idea, I think the best thing would be to put him in school now. But if nothing else works, we can continue homeschooling.

[mlmr]

I almost sent my daughter to a Catholic high school this year but they were bending over backwards for the non chrictians in the group to show how NON RELIGIOUS they could be that I was appalled.

Lots of Jews send their kids to Catholic school. I think that if you are mostly cultural Jewish there is no problem, but if you are deepley religious Jewish, it would more difficult.

[Nonstatist]

It doesn't seem right to send a Jewish boy to Catholic school.

Yea, no kidding; use your head. You want your kid to be raised Jewish or Catholic? You want him going to religion class with Catholics? Don't be such an ignoramous.