Anonymous wrote:For those of you with kids in big co-ed Catholic schools—how do you see them as different from public schools? Assuming both have large student bodies and offer the same kinds of activities, and your child is doing great academically either way… why choose the private (and pricey) route if you're not specifically seeking a religious focus? What do you feel you get from it?

I have a graduate and two in Diocesan high school. There doesn’t seem to be a lot (or any?) of social Justice stuff eating into class time. No walk outs, no demonstrations etc. I’m 100% sure kids’ opinions vary on this stuff having overheard snippets of conversations over the years but politics doesn’t seem to enter too large into the equation. They’ve been able to enjoy being a teenager without it being ruined by divisive political stances. Well behaved (imperfect but within the bounds of typical teen behavior) kids, great academic offerings for different abilities. Sports, clubs etc. Plenty of neighborhood friends at the unwieldy, large public who seem to have managed just fine too. But the experiences were def different.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are no good zoned public schools around here. There are only good programs within those schools. If you don’t agree with me then you are either oblivious or you haven’t set foot on a high school campus in 2 decades.

Bethesda W schools?

No. You have a group of wealthy high achievers who would perform well anywhere due to parent involvement and resources for supplemental supports. The schools are still overcrowded, have major disciplinary concerns, and all the same admin issues at any other public.

Touché

No, that was an idiotic post.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are no good zoned public schools around here. There are only good programs within those schools. If you don’t agree with me then you are either oblivious or you haven’t set foot on a high school campus in 2 decades.

Bethesda W schools?

No. You have a group of wealthy high achievers who would perform well anywhere due to parent involvement and resources for supplemental supports. The schools are still overcrowded, have major disciplinary concerns, and all the same admin issues at any other public.

Doesn’t that apply even more to the "top private schools "?
Then there are no good private schools around.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I attended a large local catholic co-ed. I knew of 1 non-catholic student, other than myself and some athletes. It's catholic. My first 5 minutes, everyone was in bleachers doing the sign of the cross, saying a prayer in unison, and I knew I was a fish out of water

Where and when? Is your experience of one of the local schools during this decade?

Local here, 1990s.

Dp. Pretty sure they’d feel the same way if they attended today.

Do your kids attend?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are no good zoned public schools around here. There are only good programs within those schools. If you don’t agree with me then you are either oblivious or you haven’t set foot on a high school campus in 2 decades.

Bethesda W schools?

No. You have a group of wealthy high achievers who would perform well anywhere due to parent involvement and resources for supplemental supports. The schools are still overcrowded, have major disciplinary concerns, and all the same admin issues at any other public.

Touché

SJC's classes are smaller than MCPS high school classes, and that means more student participation and teacher attention. I believe that the average class size at SJC is about 20. My child has never been in a class larger than 23 students.

My child take honors/AP classes at SJC, and they write more papers (and get a lot more feedback) in their English and history classes than their friends who are taking the same AP classes at BCC do.

Also, SJC allows kids to focus on school without having to worry about violence. In the time DC has been in high school there have been no bomb threats or lockdowns at SJC. They are a regular occurance at BCC these days. I've only heard of one (small) fight in the time that we've been there, and all of the kids who were involved were expelled.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are no good zoned public schools around here. There are only good programs within those schools. If you don’t agree with me then you are either oblivious or you haven’t set foot on a high school campus in 2 decades.

Bethesda W schools?

No. You have a group of wealthy high achievers who would perform well anywhere due to parent involvement and resources for supplemental supports. The schools are still overcrowded, have major disciplinary concerns, and all the same admin issues at any other public.

Anonymous wrote:There are no good zoned public schools around here. There are only good programs within those schools. If you don’t agree with me then you are either oblivious or you haven’t set foot on a high school campus in 2 decades.

Bethesda W schools?

There are no good zoned public schools around here. There are only good programs within those schools. If you don’t agree with me then you are either oblivious or you haven’t set foot on a high school campus in 2 decades.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I attended a large local catholic co-ed. I knew of 1 non-catholic student, other than myself and some athletes. It's catholic. My first 5 minutes, everyone was in bleachers doing the sign of the cross, saying a prayer in unison, and I knew I was a fish out of water

Where and when? Is your experience of one of the local schools during this decade?

Local here, 1990s.

Dp. Pretty sure they’d feel the same way if they attended today.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think a lot of these larger co-ed Catholic schools are a lot like the good public schools we attended in the 80s and 90s.

100% this.

Which school does your child attend?

One of the Arlington Diocesan ones. I felt very similarly about our parish K-8.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I attended a large local catholic co-ed. I knew of 1 non-catholic student, other than myself and some athletes. It's catholic. My first 5 minutes, everyone was in bleachers doing the sign of the cross, saying a prayer in unison, and I knew I was a fish out of water

Where and when? Is your experience of one of the local schools during this decade?

Local here, 1990s.

Agree with all of the above. DC is a junior at sf John’s and it feels like my well-run public high school from the 90s. Organized administration, good discipline, plenty of academic and extracurricular choices. Lots of different socio-economic backgrounds. Teachers and administration are responsive if you email them. We are Christian but not catholic and don’t find the religion to be too much. But could be if you’re not Christian.

Our zoned public has almost 3000 kids and my kids' Catholic high school has 1000. Even if I assumed they were equal in all other ways (they're not but just for the sake of this discussion), the size difference alone is enough to make the cost worth it for us. If we lived somewhere else where the public schools were smaller, we probably would have made a different choice.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. No fights at private.
2. Kids can actually sign up for classes.
3. They don’t lose your paperwork over and over.
4. Teachers aren’t missing for months to full years leaving ineffective subs.
5. If a student makes a sports team you know it and get sufficient information to participate.
5a. Actually, there is also sufficient information to try out for a sports team.
6. Schedules are posted early enough to make plans.
7. No fights at sports events.
8. No drive by shootings even at the “good” public schools.
9. Sufficient bathrooms and water fountains in working order.
10. I could go on but won’t.

I got everything except for 8. Are they drive by shootings in the literal sense? Or am I missing something.

I’m wondering too