Catholic schools rigor?

[Anonymous]

Moved my kids from APS (public) to Catholic. One of the biggest differences is actually instructional time - but in the opposite direction of OP's point! Catholic school teaches from the first day to the last. APS does very little teaching at the start of the year, before breaks, and after the first week of May (after the SOLs). My kid in Catholic HS had exams the last week of school. Very big difference.

[Anonymous]

Our experience was that there is a LOT of work and homework at the catholic school, but not a great DEPTH of study. So, “rigor” in the sense of very busy and generating lots of papers, but not a rigorous depth of learning necessarily and not any probing studying or wonder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Friend’s kids go to local Catholic school for 3rd grade and 5th grade. It seems like every other day they go to mass, have some prayer event, have a student assembly, etc. Do kids at these schools have enough instruction time for ACADEMICS?

How do they compete with public and non-religious schools whose total number of school days are the same (or more) but without all the religious extracurricular?

How do they “compete with public”? Are you in the DMV?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our experience was that there is a LOT of work and homework at the catholic school, but not a great DEPTH of study. So, “rigor” in the sense of very busy and generating lots of papers, but not a rigorous depth of learning necessarily and not any probing studying or wonder.

Traditional schools like catholic schools follow the rote memorization learning style of the 20th century. They don't ask "explain your thinking", which I know many parents and students alike hate. TBH, "explain your thinking" isn't applicable in all cases, but the reasoning behind the recent craze of "explain your thinking" is to spur critical thinking skills.

A lot of Asian countries still use the rote memorization teaching style but it's changing.

[Anonymous]

Diocese of Arlington does the stupid MAP tests at least 4x a year. DC has straight As but is in 75th percentile on MAP. What does that tell you about the “rigor”?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any Private is better than Public. Catholic or not.

no way, not *any*, not those evangelical ones that teach creationism

Those are not Catholic schools. Catholics are not creationist or biblical literalists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:True story. A friend of mine whose daughter attended MCPS through HS is now at Towson University. She is struggling because she doesn't know how to study. Because she never had exposure to mid term or final exams, she is having to learn how to study and is considering dropping a class or two. This is so sad.

Also, she was an honor student in HS FWIW.

True story, lots of MCPS kids go to top colleges, and they know how to study, and get good grades there.

I am talking about average kids here, not the ones who are going to magnets and W schools. Students who never take an AP class don't get exposure to cumulative testing experiences. There are lots of these kids, and if they can't succeed at a school like Towson, that is not a good look on MCPS. Sorry.

I know it's shocking but there are actually kids outside of magnet and W schools that do go to great colleges.

Of course there are. But not many.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Moved my kids from APS (public) to Catholic. One of the biggest differences is actually instructional time - but in the opposite direction of OP's point! Catholic school teaches from the first day to the last. APS does very little teaching at the start of the year, before breaks, and after the first week of May (after the SOLs). My kid in Catholic HS had exams the last week of school. Very big difference.

Comments like this absolutely fascinate me. How the hell do you know the intricate details of what goes on in your child’s classroom every single day? What are you doing, sitting in the back of the room? This is total bullshit and I say this as a supporter of Catholic schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our experience was that there is a LOT of work and homework at the catholic school, but not a great DEPTH of study. So, “rigor” in the sense of very busy and generating lots of papers, but not a rigorous depth of learning necessarily and not any probing studying or wonder.

Traditional schools like catholic schools follow the rote memorization learning style of the 20th century. They don't ask "explain your thinking", which I know many parents and students alike hate. TBH, "explain your thinking" isn't applicable in all cases, but the reasoning behind the recent craze of "explain your thinking" is to spur critical thinking skills.

A lot of Asian countries still use the rote memorization teaching style but it's changing.

You guys are peddling in tropes. Catholic schools are not all one thing, so PP's experience with one, even if true, cannot be applied to all of the others. To say Catholic education is all about rote memorization with no critical thinking, and others claiming Catholics teach Creationism, and still others saying they don't teach science (on other threads), is the kind of misinformation and bigotry that is constantly allowed in this forum and it is so dang tired and wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our experience was that there is a LOT of work and homework at the catholic school, but not a great DEPTH of study. So, “rigor” in the sense of very busy and generating lots of papers, but not a rigorous depth of learning necessarily and not any probing studying or wonder.

Traditional schools like catholic schools follow the rote memorization learning style of the 20th century. They don't ask "explain your thinking", which I know many parents and students alike hate. TBH, "explain your thinking" isn't applicable in all cases, but the reasoning behind the recent craze of "explain your thinking" is to spur critical thinking skills.

A lot of Asian countries still use the rote memorization teaching style but it's changing. [America?

Rote memorization is appropriate for young kids. Their brains are wired to memorize. Think about the perfectly average kids who have memorized all 800 Pokemon...that brainpower can easily be harnessed for real world facts. Analysis and critical thinking come in in the preteen years and it's usually pointless to push it earlier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Diocese of Arlington does the stupid MAP tests at least 4x a year. DC has straight As but is in 75th percentile on MAP. What does that tell you about the “rigor”?

Who is holding a gun to your head and forcing your kid to go to a Catholic school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Moved my kids from APS (public) to Catholic. One of the biggest differences is actually instructional time - but in the opposite direction of OP's point! Catholic school teaches from the first day to the last. APS does very little teaching at the start of the year, before breaks, and after the first week of May (after the SOLs). My kid in Catholic HS had exams the last week of school. Very big difference.

Comments like this absolutely fascinate me. How the hell do you know the intricate details of what goes on in your child’s classroom every single day? What are you doing, sitting in the back of the room? This is total bullshit and I say this as a supporter of Catholic schools

I had my kids in APS for 13 years so watched every May as the "after the SOL" nonsense started. I watched my senior last year do nothing after AP exams were over - coming home during the school day because no learning was happening. I drove my other kid to final exams the last week of school. So yes, I could see the difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It depends on the school but there are mixed views on that. Many people find that the basic writing and math skills taught in Catholic schools give them a stronger foundation than public schools when the kids get to high school.

What seems to lack is a broader degree of differentiation that you might get in public schools. Few if any K-8 Catholic kids get to Geometry for example. Advanced learners who might be in AAP and students at the other end of the spectrum don't necessarily have their needs met.

Catholic schools are a good fit for a run-of-the-mill student who also wants a religious component to their education.

It took me all of two seconds to prove you wrong. Of course Catholic schools offer geometry. Here’s a typical example:

https://www.ihm-school.com/academics/eighthgrade.cfm

How many Catholic schools do you actually have experience with? What qualifies you as an expert on Catholic education?

I'm a Catholic who looked at multiple diocesan schools for my kids and this was feedback I heard from school parents as one of the negatives. Yes, some schools offer it but most kids don't have access to it, is what was shared with me by parents at at least three different schools near me.

1/4 of the students in my kids Catholic 8 th grade class took geometry last year. I think that’s a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any Private is better than Public. Catholic or not.

no way, not *any*, not those evangelical ones that teach creationism

Those are not Catholic schools. Catholics are not creationist or biblical literalists.

You need to re-read what pp stated: "Any Private is better than Public. Catholic or not."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:True story. A friend of mine whose daughter attended MCPS through HS is now at Towson University. She is struggling because she doesn't know how to study. Because she never had exposure to mid term or final exams, she is having to learn how to study and is considering dropping a class or two. This is so sad.

Also, she was an honor student in HS FWIW.

True story, lots of MCPS kids go to top colleges, and they know how to study, and get good grades there.

I am talking about average kids here, not the ones who are going to magnets and W schools. Students who never take an AP class don't get exposure to cumulative testing experiences. There are lots of these kids, and if they can't succeed at a school like Towson, that is not a good look on MCPS. Sorry.

I know it's shocking but there are actually kids outside of magnet and W schools that do go to great colleges.

Of course there are. But not many.

and there are "not many" from catholics who get into great colleges.