Non-Catholics in Catholic School Experiences?

[SydSim]

I'm thinking of sending Dd to a Catholic high school. We are Christian, but not Catholic, so we have no experience with the religion. How did any of you non-
Catholics (or your children) fare in a Catholic school? Did you do confession, go to Mass, etc.? Was there a "Catholic practices for beginners" class for kids unfamiliar with the practices? If coming from a public school, how did you find the education? We live in NJ, where our public schools are supposed to be good. I have found them to be that, but I'm concerned about the environment of the high school and I thought that the local Catholic school may be a little better.

Thanks!

 

[Christine]

Oh, you've come to the right place!!

Here's my kids' history:

DD16 - Public school through 5th grade. Started Catholic middle school. Attended grades 6-8. Went to public high school in 9th grade. Not pretty. Moved to Catholic high school in 10th grade. She is now a Junior and still attending.

DS13 - Public school through 4th grade. Started Catholic school in 5th grade and is currently attending in 7th grade. We will probably send him Catholic all through high school is the budget allows it.

My experience has been that the Catholic school is very welcoming to non-Catholics. Some of the younger kids are more "strange" about it as the Catholic school kids are more sheltered and have not spent a lot of time with non-Catholics in a religious environment.

The Catholic grades K-8 are more "religious" oriented. They go to Mass once a week. Your child will participate in Mass but will skip the actual Communion part. Not a big deal at all.

In high school, the religion aspect really takes more of a backseat. In my DD's school they do take a religion class each semester but it is more focused on overall religion versus specific Catholic teachings (they do that in elementary school). For instance, in 10th grade my DD's classes were Christian Scriptures (dull ) and Morality (which she loved). This year, they do a HUGE push on volunteering for the Juniors, so her first semester was called Justice Service and is was all about helping the homeless, disabled, indigent, etc. Not sure what their thrust is this semester. In high school, they do not do weekly mass but only go on special occasions.

What is stressed in the high school, is that the atmosphere is VERY structured, discipline is enforced in each classroom (there are really none of the shenanigans going on in class that my DD witnessed in the public high school). The good side is, if kids do something bad they are usually out of there. The bad side is, I think maybe they do "kick out" too easily and sometimes kids just mess up, KWIM?

Anyway, I have found the Catholic school to be a better experience for my DD. She just needs the structure and "big brother" watching her. Not all kids require that. I'm not sure if their curriculum is any more rigorous than the public schools. The public schools in my area have a LOT to offer if you have a child who performs well. They don't have much to offer if you have an "average" kid. They don't care and the average child slips through the cracks. That was what we were seeing. I do find that the Catholic high school is better at taking care of *all* the kids and not just the shining stars or the ones with special needs.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I was Catholic and wouldn't send my kids to Catholic school.

I did go to Catholic and Public HS when I was in HS.

However that being said.....

My nephew goes to a fancy-schmancy private HS, called CBC in StL Mo.
My dd is the same age and we live here in Texas and she goes to a public HS.

My nephew is in "honors" classes (there are no "AP classes") and my dd is taking mostly AP classes except for math.

JR year is the PSAT test and my nephew expected to "smoke that test" because he did so well on the ACT.
Well....my dd scored higher than he did.

Not the outcome we were expecting for sure.

And let me tell you their scores are very low.

I expected my nephew to do WAYYY better for 12,000 a year.

I will say my kids DO NOT want to attend Catholic school because they do not agree with the C. Church. They also are fine handling public school so that makes a difference.
My nephew needs that smaller school so it is better for him overall.

 

[disneyjunkie]

I'm thinking of sending Dd to a Catholic high school. We are Christian, but not Catholic, so we have no experience with the religion. How did any of you non-
Catholics (or your children) fare in a Catholic school? Did you do confession, go to Mass, etc.? Was there a "Catholic practices for beginners" class for kids unfamiliar with the practices? If coming from a public school, how did you find the education? We live in NJ, where our public schools are supposed to be good. I have found them to be that, but I'm concerned about the environment of the high school and I thought that the local Catholic school may be a little better.

Thanks!

I attended Catholic schools from grades 1-6. My son attends a Catholic high school. We're Pentecostal, about as far from Catholic as you get and still be a Christian.

He hasn't had any problems at all. He's required to take Religion classes one semester a year. He's also required to attend Mass with the school body 4 times a year. However, he doesn't take communion, go to confession or do any of the other things the Catholic students do.


As far as environment, in my experience, Catholic schools aren't that much different from your typical public high school. They have the same issues, sex, drugs, fights, disrespectful students.

Last year someone asked my son if he liked the Catholic school better then the public school he attended the year before. His response?

"There's no difference between the two. Oh wait they make us go to Church. The kids and the teachers are the same."

In my area, the non Catholic students, are keeping the schools from closing.

I'm pleased with my son's school.

There's no way I'd ever send a Catholic child to a Catholic elementary school in my area. They are really awful. 30+ kids with one teacher.

 

[mumom95]

I didn't go to a Catholic school, but I did teach at a Catholic high school. We had quite a few students that weren't Catholic, and a few families that were Jewish. Those families seemed to be very happy. I talked to one of the parents about the fact that the kids had to take religion class, and they just looked at it like any other class, their kids were learning something. I remember she made the point that just because a kid takes a math class doesn't mean they are going to turn into a math major.

 

[Mkrop]

I am a Catholic and attended 16 years of Catholic school. In grade school it was more noticiable who was or wasnt Catholic bc of Mass and the sacraments but other than that everyone just hung out, no big deal was made.

My HS experience was very similar to what Christine is decescribing, Mass on ocassion but more kids who were Catholic at the point not particpating in Communion and stuff just bc they didnt feel like, Typical teen stuff. Our relgion classes were year long but they are similar to what was decribed as well. One of my most fascinating was the class that touch on many religions, I thought Judiasim was fascinating and we too had a morality class.

I too notice a stricter discipline than my public school counter parts, they could cut class We could never have done that and if we did we would get big time detentions, so when I got to college I had no understanding of why some professors were saying attendance was optional (I unfortunately learned th art of skipping class by my second semester )

I hope my perspective helps as well even though I am Catholic.

 

[disneyjunkie]

I was Catholic and wouldn't send my kids to Catholic school.

I did go to Catholic and Public HS when I was in HS.

However that being said.....

My nephew goes to a fancy-schmancy private HS, called CBC in StL Mo.
My dd is the same age and we live here in Texas and she goes to a public HS.

My nephew is in "honors" classes (there are no "AP classes") and my dd is taking mostly AP classes except for math.

JR year is the PSAT test and my nephew expected to "smoke that test" because he did so well on the ACT.
Well....my dd scored higher than he did.

Not the outcome we were expecting for sure.

And let me tell you their scores are very low.

I expected my nephew to do WAYYY better for 12,000 a year.

I will say my kids DO NOT want to attend Catholic school because they do not agree with the C. Church. They also are fine handling public school so that makes a difference.
My nephew needs that smaller school so it is better for him overall.

What's with the Catholic schools and AP classes?

My son's school only offers two. The vast majority of public schools in the
city have at least 5, many have more than 10.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

What's with the Catholic schools and AP classes?

My son's school only offers two. The vast majority of public schools in the
city have at least 5, many have more than 10.

I can't speak for Texas Catholic schools, I am from Missouri and we are moving back there. My dd will be a SR in HS.

There is only 1 district that teaches AP classes where we are going and that is public school.
NONE of the Catholic schools offer AP classes. I don't get it.

I think ALL schools should be required to offer AP classes.

 

[Mkrop]

My nephew is in "honors" classes (there are no "AP classes") and my dd is taking mostly AP classes except for math.

my dioscesan HS (not private) had AP classes and honors classes and other tracks as well. Some kids went to votech in the AM and then came back for core classes in the PM.

 

[Christine]

I can't speak for Texas Catholic schools, I am from Missouri and we are moving back there. My dd will be a SR in HS.

There is only 1 district that teaches AP classes where we are going and that is public school.
NONE of the Catholic schools offer AP classes. I don't get it.

I think ALL schools should be required to offer AP classes.

My DD's Catholic School does not offer AP courses either. They offer General, College Prep, and Honors level courses. I *assume* that the Honors courses are the equivalent of AP courses because they are weighted just like the AP courses in our public school (i.e., the student achieves a higher GPA when taking them). However, I do not know if they translate to any college courses when the student does go to college.

Also, in my DD's school, in order to get into the AP course, you must generally carry a 3.5 GPA and/or excel in the subject matter that your are trying to get into the Honors course for. So it *sounds* like AP, but probably differs in some way.

 

[Mkrop]

What's with the Catholic schools and AP classes?

My son's school only offers two. The vast majority of public schools in the
city have at least 5, many have more than 10.

I went twenty years ago and we had I think at least 5. I was in Honors, I didnt cut it for AP.

We has AP History (2), AP Math, AP English, AP Science. I thought we had AP Spanish but I might be wrong there. And I know when I was graduating they has a beta class in AP Econ and Honors Econ. I was in the Honors Econ.

So not all Catholic schools are lacking AP

 

[Christine]

Okay, just checked my DD's course catalog--they offer 4 levels: General, College Prep, Honors, and the almighty AP!!!

 

[Mkrop]

http://www.shanahan.org/academics.htm

This isnt my HS, they dont list the classes but this is the local one that I live near now and would be the one my kids will attend in the future. They offer AP. So maybe it is regional thing

 

[Christine]

Here is the course catalog for my DD's school. It gives you a pretty good idea of the curriculum:

http://www.paulvi.net/academics/course_selection_guide.pdf

 

[Galahad]

I think ALL schools should be required to offer AP classes.

But many, many colleges (especially the fancy-schmancy ones) don't accept AP credits the way you may be expecting them to. Many will require that your kids take the schools' own placement tests, even if you got 5's on the AP test. My son is a senior. He will have 11 AP courses/tests (with 4's and 5's) and one IB certificate when he graduated. He will get some credits for his AP courses, but not all and colleges are not required to take them.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

But many, many colleges (especially the fancy-schmancy ones) don't accept AP credits the way you may be expecting them to. Many will require that your kids take the schools' own placement tests, even if you got 5's on the AP test. My son is a senior. He will have 11 AP courses/tests (with 4's and 5's) and one IB certificate when he graduated. He will get some credits for his AP courses, but not all and colleges are not required to take them.

OK...I don't care about them accepting credits.

What I care about is that my kids take a challenging class as well as MY KIDS.

If they take the reg. class they are stuck in a class where the kids could care less.

My 16yodd is standing over my shoulder now and says the teachers don't care, the classes are way too easy, you have more busy work, etc.....

So it is NOT about the credits.

 

[Galahad]

OK...I don't care about them accepting credits.

What I care about is that my kids take a challenging class as well as MY KIDS.

If they take the reg. class they are stuck in a class where the kids could care less.

My 16yodd is standing over my shoulder now and says the teachers don't care, the classes are way too easy, you have more busy work, etc.....

So it is NOT about the credits.

OK, that part I get. And you're right that in a school, like for example my DS's, that offer the full range of AP classes, the "AP Kids" kind of move up the line in a pack in classes where people care. But that can be accomplished in classes that aren't called AP classes, if they are in an honors program and such. But any school with just "one tier" wouldn't be acceptable to me either.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

OK, that part I get. And you're right that in a school, like for example my DS's, that offer the full range of AP classes, the "AP Kids" kind of move up the line in a pack in classes where people care. But that can be accomplished in classes that aren't called AP classes, if they are in an honors program and such. But any school with just "one tier" wouldn't be acceptable to me either.

Right.

My kids do not qualify for "honors" programs but at the same time the reg. classes are horrible for them.

The AP classes are the perfect fit for the "above average" kids who love to learn and that is my girls.

In fact my dd is taking 2 History AP classes right now. American and Euro History.
She loves history so much.

The only class that is not AP for her is math.

 

[lilyv]

But many, many colleges (especially the fancy-schmancy ones) don't accept AP credits the way you may be expecting them to. Many will require that your kids take the schools' own placement tests, even if you got 5's on the AP test. My son is a senior. He will have 11 AP courses/tests (with 4's and 5's) and one IB certificate when he graduated. He will get some credits for his AP courses, but not all and colleges are not required to take them.

I wouldn't say many, many colleges do this. I would say that that you're right that some very elite, "fancy/schmancy" ones do.

Of course, it's a personal choice whether to send a student to a school that is going to force the student to basically retake the same classes, or get credit and move on.

Our kids eliminated any college that wouldn't take their AP/IB credit. Paying big bucks to repeat classes was nuts to them. They were excited about college, and wanted to progress, not repeat. It's a guaranteed boatload of money, though, for the schools that have the no AP/IB policy.

Both our kids entered college with 24 credit hours, so all their hard work in HS was nicely rewarded.

 

[believe]

I don't personally have experience with this but a close friend of mine says she would never do that again. She was raised Baptist but attend the Catholic school and she said it really caused confusion in her faith. She is a strong Christian now, still Baptist faith.

Make sure you are ready to handle any differences between the 2 faiths with your kids.