Why are so many public school kids applying to Catholic high school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are sending our child to a Christian school despite not being religious because it is normal. It’s focused on education, not on cramming the latest woke social emotional nonsense down our throats. I would not previously have considered myself conservative, btw, but schools around here have lost their minds.

+ a million

Absolutely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Back to the original question, I think rising tuition costs play a big role. Families can get a solid k-8 experience in a strong public school system then move on to Catholic for hs. If you were paying tuition from k on, that’s a lot of lost retirement and college savings, especially for regular UMC families (as opposed to the very rich).

Yes!! This is a very cost effective approach. We considered doing the Catholic K-12 to ensure matriculation to 9th grade of that particular school, but saved so much money doing K8 in parochial school.

A parochial K-8 is very cost effective and good preparation for a Catholic HS. It also helps to give your kid a priority then coming straight from public.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Far less expensive than other privates and easier to get into

True for parochial Catholic schools, but not independent Catholic schools.

I find the independent Catholic schools are not worth the cost. The parochial K-8 are just as good at a fraction of the cost, yet provides the same moral and academic preparations. They also help their kids prepare for the HSPT and give a boost in priority in applications to Catholic HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Far less expensive than other privates and easier to get into

Ours is $30k year- so $60k for both kids. Cheaper than the $50k/yr— but we wanted a Jesuit all-boy school for HS.

Kids received a great public k-5 education, middling public MS…and our public HS quality dropped significantly since Covid. We also like the size 240 per grade vs 600+.

Gonzaga is a great school. We sent our son there out of public MS as well. It transformed him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Far less expensive than other privates and easier to get into

True for parochial Catholic schools, but not independent Catholic schools.

I find the independent Catholic schools are not worth the cost. The parochial K-8 are just as good at a fraction of the cost, yet provides the same moral and academic preparations. They also help their kids prepare for the HSPT and give a boost in priority in applications to Catholic HS.

Yes this was us as well. We considered moving into the independent school for 6th, but waited, and DD still got in for HS. Saved ourselves close to $100K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Far less expensive than other privates and easier to get into

Ours is $30k year- so $60k for both kids. Cheaper than the $50k/yr— but we wanted a Jesuit all-boy school for HS.

Kids received a great public k-5 education, middling public MS…and our public HS quality dropped significantly since Covid. We also like the size 240 per grade vs 600+.

Gonzaga is a great school. We sent our son there out of public MS as well. It transformed him.

Gonzaga offers an education and teachers equivalent to the $50k Big3 private schools across town. Yes, I have had kids at both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Far less expensive than other privates and easier to get into

True for parochial Catholic schools, but not independent Catholic schools.

I find the independent Catholic schools are not worth the cost. The parochial K-8 are just as good at a fraction of the cost, yet provides the same moral and academic preparations. They also help their kids prepare for the HSPT and give a boost in priority in applications to Catholic HS.

Yes this was us as well. We considered moving into the independent school for 6th, but waited, and DD still got in for HS. Saved ourselves close to $100K.

What independent K-8 Catholic school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Far less expensive than other privates and easier to get into

True for parochial Catholic schools, but not independent Catholic schools.

I find the independent Catholic schools are not worth the cost. The parochial K-8 are just as good at a fraction of the cost, yet provides the same moral and academic preparations. They also help their kids prepare for the HSPT and give a boost in priority in applications to Catholic HS.

Yes this was us as well. We considered moving into the independent school for 6th, but waited, and DD still got in for HS. Saved ourselves close to $100K.

What independent K-8 Catholic school?

I’m not the PP, but generally, K-8 that are designated as Blue Ribbon schools are good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Far less expensive than other privates and easier to get into

True for parochial Catholic schools, but not independent Catholic schools.

I find the independent Catholic schools are not worth the cost. The parochial K-8 are just as good at a fraction of the cost, yet provides the same moral and academic preparations. They also help their kids prepare for the HSPT and give a boost in priority in applications to Catholic HS.

Yes this was us as well. We considered moving into the independent school for 6th, but waited, and DD still got in for HS. Saved ourselves close to $100K.

What independent K-8 Catholic school?

I’m not the PP, but generally, K-8 that are designated as Blue Ribbon schools are good.

Oops, sorry, I misread. Thought you wanted to know which are good parochial K-8.

[Anonymous]

The Catholic elementary school education my kids get reminds me of the education I received as a child of the early 80s-homework, textbooks, grammar, weekly tests/quizzes (no retakes!), behavior standards, etc.

I don’t care what the new research says about homework, testing, skills based grading.

The education most gen x adults received at public school (myself included) is far superior to what kids are getting at public schools today.

If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When we purchased in DC, we had always planned to consider private for MS and HS.
We are Catholic - and had considered our parish school but did not get in for PreK as the class was filled with siblings.

Similar situation. I did a combination of Catholic and pubic myself and liked the balance, so to give the same balance to my kids public ES and Catholic MS/HS was the better mix.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When we purchased in DC, we had always planned to consider private for MS and HS.
We are Catholic - and had considered our parish school but did not get in for PreK as the class was filled with siblings.

Similar situation. I did a combination of Catholic and pubic myself and liked the balance, so to give the same balance to my kids public ES and Catholic MS/HS was the better mix.

That should be fine. Generally, behavior issues that causes classroom disruptions (which affects academics) occur starting in MS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Catholic elementary school education my kids get reminds me of the education I received as a child of the early 80s-homework, textbooks, grammar, weekly tests/quizzes (no retakes!), behavior standards, etc.

I don’t care what the new research says about homework, testing, skills based grading.

The education most gen x adults received at public school (myself included) is far superior to what kids are getting at public schools today.

If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.

Fellow GenX-er and I say this all the time about my kids parochial K-8 education. It’s very much like what my public schooling was like, with some prayers and weekly mass added in.

I’m very happy with my kids education. Everytime I hear about a public school classroom being evacuated because a kid threw a chair, or a lack of textbooks, or the absence of grammar or spelling or cursive instruction, I’m happy with our decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are sending our child to a Christian school despite not being religious because it is normal. It’s focused on education, not on cramming the latest woke social emotional nonsense down our throats. I would not previously have considered myself conservative, btw, but schools around here have lost their minds.

I just want to point out as a black family formerly with kids in MCPS public school, I didn’t feel our family was being well served, before, during, or after what is described as the “woke social emotional nonsense”. I put the phrase in quotes because I don’t feel diversity is nonsense, acknowledging history is more than white males is nonsense, or treating people fairly and equally is nonsense or acknowledging mental health is nonsense. I point this out because the pursuit of those things isn’t what has the quality going down hill. You can pick any goal - say getting our kids to be the best at math, and if it is not executed well with things like research, good communication, parents as true partners in the effort, pilots and adjusting from what you learn …of course things will get worse but it doesn’t mean there wasn’t value in the goal.

I won’t say Catholic school has been perfect, but the focus on the whole child, parents as partners in the education of your child, and true acceptance of all people (not when leaders use religion to divide people) has ironically was more inclusive of our family both from the racial aspect and having a neurodivergent child than when we were in public school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I just want to point out as a black family formerly with kids in MCPS public school, I didn’t feel our family was being well served, before, during, or after what is described as the “woke social emotional nonsense”. I put the phrase in quotes because I don’t feel diversity is nonsense, acknowledging history is more than white males is nonsense, or treating people fairly and equally is nonsense or acknowledging mental health is nonsense. I point this out because the pursuit of those things isn’t what has the quality going down hill. You can pick any goal - say getting our kids to be the best at math, and if it is not executed well with things like research, good communication, parents as true partners in the effort, pilots and adjusting from what you learn …of course things will get worse but it doesn’t mean there wasn’t value in the goal.

I won’t say Catholic school has been perfect, but the focus on the whole child, parents as partners in the education of your child, and true acceptance of all people (not when leaders use religion to divide people) has ironically was more inclusive of our family both from the racial aspect and having a neurodivergent child than when we were in public school.

We are public school people considering a Catholic high school because we value racial diversity. The best high school (where most want to go) in our area is almost all white kids, despite the racial makeup of the area as a whole. We are really drawn to the social justice, empathy, and equity among the school community of the one Catholic school we are considering. And it’s racially diverse. We are pushing for our kid to go there.