Anonymous wrote:I would much rather my child be well spoken and well mannered and part of a strong community than be ahead in math. The reading and writing skills taught in Catholic are far more advanced than public schools too. I think most high school teachers can easily identify who attended parochial school based on writing.

But if you are a STEM family MCP may be the better choice.

Because clearly if a kid attend public school they are doomed to be ill mannered, with broken language, and lacking a sense of community.

Anonymous wrote:I would much rather my child be well spoken and well mannered and part of a strong community than be ahead in math. The reading and writing skills taught in Catholic are far more advanced than public schools too. I think most high school teachers can easily identify who attended parochial school based on writing.

But if you are a STEM family MCP may be the better choice.

IB magnet for the win -- strong reading/writing/analysis and IB/AP and MVC for STEM

I would much rather my child be well spoken and well mannered and part of a strong community than be ahead in math. The reading and writing skills taught in Catholic are far more advanced than public schools too. I think most high school teachers can easily identify who attended parochial school based on writing.

But if you are a STEM family MCP may be the better choice.

Exactly! In this area the parochial schools need to be excellent because the parents demand it or they withdraw their kids and do public or private with CCD. We are not in some rural area with limited choices. In fact, we have the burden of choice. I live in NoVA and from my DS experience at St James and also with friends at OLGC, St Mark’s, St Leo’s, St Luke’s, is that the academics are all excellent. Sure there’s always a teacher or something that is off and could be improved but would be like that anywhere.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would you say academics (math, reading and writing specifically) are strong enough in small catholic schools? looking at Holy Cross in Kensington.. Or are they stronger in Bethesda area MCPS?

So we moved from Catholic to Bethesda area MCPS. But that was part of a bigger move from out of state.

Kids in elementary at the time. Reading and writing were fine. But behind in math for MCPS. Needed summer school to get them to the right level.

Absolutely every kid in Bethesda seems to be in higher level math, particularly by high school. Glad we made the move early. It would be impossible to catch up later.

You can't compare these if you are looking at out of state. Our experience is that math is as strong or stronger in our parochial school vs. MCPS. English, reading, and other subjects are significantly stronger. Behavior issues are non existent. You have to look at the whole package.