Thinking of putting my child in Catholic school in Illinois?

Question

I am thinking of putting my daughter in Catholic school in the fall (she'll be in 1st grade). We are a Catholic family with 3 kids and the cost is pretty reasonable whrn I look at what I will be paying for after school care. The public school is fine but I am NOT happy with the cost and quality of the before/after school programming. Please share your experience with Catholic school education.

Answer 1

well i can be your example now im 17 and i used to go to catholic school for 6 and im telling you it was good because there is not as much vandalism and there is no gangs like in my school right now. It might be kind of expansive but when u look at the facts your child will learn you will think and say i ve made a good choice.

Answer 2

In my opinion:

Catholic schools provide a very good moral and religious base for children. As a rule they are also safer than public schools.

Educationally, most of them are above average. Although some are exceptionally good and a very few are bad. Your school or the diocese should have some test scores for comparison.

In general, Catholic schools do a good job with average and above average kids.

However the resources of most Catholic schools are limited. If students need extra attention due to being way over or way under average, then their needs may not be properly met.

With love in Christ.

Answer 3

i went to a catholic school for half of elementary and hated it, no offense. The principal didn't truly care about the students, just the amount she got on her paycheck. The teachers didn't really help with education. I struggled in 4th grade because my math teacher would teach something and then move on not helping those of us who didn't fully understand the concept. i didn't really have too many friends until i got to public middle school. Most catholic kids i know are stuck up and think they're better than public school kids.

Answer 4

I did not go to catholic school nor am I catholic, but i know alot of my friend that went during their elementary years and then transferred to public school once they started junior high.

most were usually smarter and ahead of the class, but they usually did not have too much respect for christianity or catholicsm or their religious heritage. socially, they were ok. No problems there.

so my thought is catholic elementary school is a much better education than public school, but don't expect them to automatically become faithful catholics when they grown up.

Answer 5

When I was little, I went to several schools: Public, Catholic, and private.

I dunno if its the same in Illinois as here in Pennsylvania, but the public schools suck here, you just get most of the teachers who are forced into a state mandated curriculum and just don't care (we actually had teachers tell us that), but there's always a few bright shining exceptions. Public schools don't realy seem to have to answer to parents, because they use the excuse that everthing they do is state-mandated. Classes were sometimes unbelievably large and kids received little to no personalized attention. I switched from private to public school in 8th grade. It was definitely a culture shock. It felt like I was in a zoo. That's when I started to see the frequent fights, drugs, pregnant classmates, etc. These things I'm sure also did exist in the private schools I attended, but to a much lesser degree.

Catholic schools were a bit better, but they seemed too stuck in tradition. Everyone was always spending too much time on kissing-up to the head nuns and priests, it almost seemed like a mini-caste system. We went to a sweltering church, with choking incense, in sometimes 90 degree weather, on school time. Kids and elderly people passed out, but they just escorted them out and the services just kept on going. They seemed to have a "sacrifice everything for religion" attitude.

The non-religion affiliated private schools were the best. The kids actually seemed to have fun and the teachers actually seemed to care. There were small classes and the teachers were always available to chat with the parents. The schools knew that the parents sacrificed to pay tuition and they were definitely more-likely to often cater to the parents wishes. We went on lots of field trips. Getting out of the school every-so-often kept us from getting too stir-crazy. They offered many programs that let kids excell in the subjects which they liked the most. The resources and supplies were always kept up-to-date. The kids always seemed less stressed, it just made it sooo much easier to learn in that type of atmosphere.

I hoped I helped ya out a bit. Good luck!

Answer 6

I am a student in a catholic middle school going to one in the fall for high school it isa good experience and very good educatin provided in a catholic school education . When she gets t about 13 going on fourteen bre prepared for a very large fee n the upper grades . I suggest you send her to catholic school but remember you might have to transfer her to public school when she gets older or the funds in your household will get very tight as they are in mine. P.S my school next year will be 10,000 a year thats why i say transfer in future.