Top 5 Reasons to NOT Choose a Catholic School

It's Catholic Schools Week! I have been fielding some questions from other parents (sometimes offering unsolicited advice *gasp*) and here's where I stand:

1. Don't send your child to Catholic school if you have fundamental problems with Catholicism. Your children will have religion classes and those classes will have a decidedly Catholic slant. Plus, religion will be a topic of discussion at other times throughout the day and week.
2. Don't send your child to Catholic school if you want a perfect little pre-Vatican II traditional Catholic kid. This isn't 1942 and most teachers are not nuns.
3. Don't send your child to Catholic school if you want to write a check and be done with it. Most good schools require heavy parental involvement.
4. Don't send your child to Catholic school because the public school sucks. Catholic schools are not an escape mechanism - they are an alternate choice.
5. Don't send your child to Catholic school if diversity is your #1 concern. The kids there will be mostly Catholic and will reflect the makeup of your neighborhood/parish.

Do send your child to Catholic school if you want them to see values in action, learn about their faith, be encouraged to live their faith everyday, be supported by an entire community of believers, and have a solid academic start in life. I love my son's school and I'm glad we chose it. It's a place where he is beginning to understand how to be a moral person, and a place where he is loved and cherished even when he makes a mistake. It is a place where he learns that he is part of a larger community, that he has responsibilities to that community, and that the community has responsibilities to him. It is a place where he learns fundamental rules about respecting the children of God - including himself. I don't think that Catholic schools are the right choice for every family. If you are considering it, visit the school, talk to the faculty and staff, and pray about it. And wherever your children are schooled, I hope that they are valued as all children should be.