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Attending Catholic elementary is not a precursor to attending Catholic HS. So long as you have that 6-10K/yr to lay out, they'll happily accept you.
The workload isn't much different than public HS.
Kids aren't better behaved in Catholic school than in public schools. As a matter of fact, I would say kids in public school are a bit more well-rounded, mature, and accepting than kids in Catholic schools. I've witnessed (in Catholic school) the "classism" and "materialism" of the kids and it's pretty disgraceful. Not to mention the sneakiness.
As for "troublemakers" being kicked out of Catholic schools? Doesn't happen unless it gets to the point of being completely, totally out of hand. They don't want to lose that $$$ so they keep whoever they have regardless of behavior issues.
Question: Why do you want to send your son to Catholic HS after being in public elementary/middle? (just curious)
Wow. I have found eveything to be the opposite of what you say. My brother and I went to Catholic school all our lives and my mom teaches at a Catholic HS on LI. I graduated 9 years ago, my brother 5 years ago from Catholic school. I am a public school teacher in a great school district that made the best 300 schools in the nation list in US NEws and World Report.
The kids in Catholic school are so better behaved than in public school. No contest. Also, really bad kids are not tolerated in the catholic schools, no matter the money involved. They do not want really disruptive kids taking away from the learning experience.
The workload in Catholic school is more college level. My assignments in Catholic school are definately things I can't give my public school students...they are too far behind. My kids in public school could never handle the assignments my mom give to her private school kids. I have tried, but the basic foundation in skills is so poor in the public school. Also, as a product of Catholic school, I found materialism to be less than public school kids. Everyone wears a uniform, so there is little competition for clothes. Maybe cell phones and ipods, but my wealthy public school kids are materialistic too.
The only reason I teach in public school is because I make considerable more money. I would teach in private school any day and send my kids to private school over public school any day.
I disagree with your post. I've seen it firsthand, just as you have so I guess we have differing opinions on it.
Funny, though, how no one has answered the question as to why, if Catholic schools are so great, so advance, HS on college level, etc., they don't publish their NYS test scores??? If they're so great, why are the teachers paid so poorly?? If they're so great why is enrollment down?
Oh, and as for bad kids not being tolerated... Don't make me laugh. There was a kid in my daughter's class... Trouble with a capital "t". He bullied, he hit, he refused to do his work, etc..... They tolerated him for YEARS because of the $$$$$$ factor. He was only **asked** to leave the school when the threatened a teacher. The teacher said that if he wasn't removed from her class, she would be resigning immediately. The school didn't have too much choice in the matter and had to ask him to leave. On top of that, they gave the parents a month to get him placed in another school.
I disagree with your post. I've seen it firsthand, just as you have so I guess we have differing opinions on it.
Funny, though, how no one has answered the question as to why, if Catholic schools are so great, so advance, HS on college level, etc., they don't publish their NYS test scores??? If they're so great, why are the teachers paid so poorly?? If they're so great why is enrollment down?
Oh, and as for bad kids not being tolerated... Don't make me laugh. There was a kid in my daughter's class... Trouble with a capital "t". He bullied, he hit, he refused to do his work, etc..... They tolerated him for YEARS because of the $$$$$$ factor. He was only **asked** to leave the school when the threatened a teacher. The teacher said that if he wasn't removed from her class, she would be resigning immediately. The school didn't have too much choice in the matter and had to ask him to leave. On top of that, they gave the parents a month to get him placed in another school.
Keep in mind, there is a difference between the elementary schools and the high schools. The elementary schools are diocese run and the high schools are independantly run. Also, each catholic school is different. perhaps the one your daughter goes to is not up to par. Most, however, are. Perhaps you should look into a different Catholic elementary school that fits your needs.
As for enrollment being down..it is just the opposite. The high schools have huge waiting lists. At the Catholic HS where my mom teaches, the waiting list is over 150 kids long. My friend teaches at another school and she has quite the waiting list too. Also, any kid that was a problem was kicked out. They don't kick out slight discipline problems because that would be ridiculous, but any serious infraction is dealt with. (In the public schools, the bad kids remain in class. Kids who threaten others or teachers get after school detention once in my public school.) The private school legally needs to keep a log of infractions and when they can prove a kid is too disruptive, they can get rid of them without fear of a lawsuit.
Another friend teaches at a Catholic elementary school and they just expanded to 2 classes for each grade to accomidate the growth.
No private school, by law, has to publish their grades. It does not mean that they are subpar. Jewish schools and Lutheran schools as well a schools like Friends Academy don't publish their grades and they are steller schools with great reputations. Also private schools like Chaminade don't take the Regents exams because they were deemed to easy and watered down. Chaminade gives their own test which is much harder than the Regents. They look at the NYS tests like a joke compared to the Chaminade curriculum. So do a few other schools. (FYI: Chaminade legally had to work with NYS to prove that their tests and curriculum were more difficult before being allowed to bypass the Regents legally).
As I said, perhaps your daughter is just not in a good Catholic school. Look around and examine a few others before passing judgement.
If you need any advice, let me know. I have tons of friends in the Catholic schools so I can advise you about certain programs and ask around if you need.
As a public school teacher, it is evident which 9th grade students of mine come from the local public middle school and which came from a catholic elementary/middle school. the essay writing, work ethic, and respectful behavior is so noticeable, I could almost bet money on it.
I have no vested interest in this discussion, but I just has to share my experiences. If you asked me before I became a teacher, I would have said there was no difference, but as an educator, the difference is so obvious. If it were me, when I have kids, I would totally spend the money to pay for private school.
I did a substantial amount of research before deciding to enroll my child in our public school. I had always thought I wanted a parochial education for my family. I did not get satisfactory answers to basic questions regarding professional development, teacher certification and curriculum writing. The class size was almost 2 times that of our public school and their enrichment was hardly anything to talk about. I would have liked the discipline piece parochial schools are known for but it seemed more like a threat of removal than character development. One of the deciding factors was when a friends daughter from public was doing science homework with her neighbor from parochial that was 1 year older and they were both working from the same text book at almost the same place in the book. Every parent hopes they make the right decisions for their child and at this point we are more than satisfied with our choice. Time will tell but as of now he is thriving in academics, involved in the clubs available and exposed to children from many different cultures-something that was very important to us. We made the decision best for our family and respect every families right to do so.
Catholic school enrollment has dropped.... Don't you remember how many Catholic schools had to close down or combine 2 schools into one because of declining enrollement and, thus, a lack of funds? I really don't want to get into statistics about nationwide Catholic school enrollment, but it's been talked about for the past few years how enrollment is way down and they're doing whatever they can to recruit new students.
Don't believe the "waiting list" hype.... that's just another way to get you to open your wallet a little wider and feel "privileged" that they're allowing you to fork over your hard-earned cash so your child can attend their school.
Of course private schools don't have to publish their NYS test scores, but why DON'T they???? If their students are so gifted, so advanced, and you have HS kids learning on college level, then why not publish this???? People would be camping out for a week before enrollement day in order to get their kids in! BTW, Friends Academy and the Waldorf Schools don't take the NYS standardized tests. I have friends with children in both schools (in Manhattan) and those kids get the best education ever. I wish I could send my daughter to either one of those schools.
involved in the clubs available and exposed to children from many different cultures-something that was very important to us. We made the decision best for our family and respect every families right to do so.
That's another point I meant to bring up. Public schools have so many extracurricular activities that the kids can participate in --- and at least you don't have to pay an arm and a leg to participate (unlike in Catholic school where everything has a price tag).
Also, I love the fact that in public school, my daughter has children from all walks of life in her class, all religions, all ethnicities, all cultures. When I saw her class picture this year, it was like a little United Nations and I loved it!!! Each child will learn from the others and learn that we're all the same, even though our cultures or outward appearances may be a little different. You definitely won't see THAT in Catholic school!
Here is a question I am hoping someone can answer: how important is it that a child attend a Catholic Elementary and Middle School to prepare them for Catholic High School. If a child goes to public school up until 9th grade, will he/she be unprepared for Catholic High School (i.e. St. Anthony's in Huntington). People have told me this would be the case, but honestly I don't want to pay $4,000+ a year for 9 years (K-8) if I do not have to. High school is what really concerns me. Are the kids better behaved at Catholic schools? I would assume they are, as they would be kicked out if they were causing trouble (I assume). It's all about who your kids hang out with, or so I have been told. Thoughts anyone?
IMO, if you do not want to pay for Catholic school all the way thru, start catholic school in middle school and it will help your kids a bit with high school.
Now Sts. Philips & James in St James had 16 of 18 boys from last year get accepted to Chaminade. That speak volumes to me about the school.
As for the negative comments about catholic schools, you need to do you homework and visit the school. There are big differences in these schools. They are not all created equal.
Look into every parochial school. Ours is so small ; two classes per grade and each class has about 20-22 children. We have children from all walks of life ; haitian, chinese, jewish, american, hispanic, irish, scottish. Our teachers are wonderful. In the five years our children have atteneded, I have had one teacher that we had a problem with ; she is no longer there. The rest of the teachers are just wonderful ; i could go on and on about the great teachers.
As for going onto high school ; I would start parochial school in 5-6 grade. That way, before high school begins, the child is already used to the climate in school. It is not too much of a shock with the discipline and expectations.
After school activites ; sorry, but I send my children to school to learn. Yes, they do basketball and bowling, but thats it. I find that the more the children have on after school, the more the schoolwork lags. At least that happened in our house so we cut back. The school does have sports in the middle grades, but until then I am fine with having to bring them to the local school for their baseball etc in the spring.
The children in our parochial school go to ; St. Johns (closer), St. Anthonys, Mercy, Chaminade and also Kellenberg.
All of the Catholic schools that I am aware of have extra-curricular activities. I did band, the school play, and sports on the elementary level. my Catholic HS had more activities than I can list. They had all of the public schools clubs, plus some other rare ones, like horseback riding.
As to entrollement. When I was in 7th grade, many schools in Eastern Nassau regionalized and closed. I am now 28 and so far, I haven't seen to many closings. You are referencing such a long time ago with the closings. That data is so obsolete. I know St. Boniface in Elmont closed in the past few years, but that was due to it not being so great. Other schools on LI are not doing badly at all. NAtionally maybe, but I am talking locally. The good schools do well.
Also, Catholic schools don't need to publish their results because of waiting lists. If you already have so many people on a wait list, why would you want more?? As for wait lists, I am not exaggerating and they are real. You can investigate this further if you would like. Not every school is good, but most are.I respect your ideas, but I have to disagree with you on many levels. Perhaps your daughter's school is struggling because it is not one of the desirable schools.
As for curriculum and workload, most catholic schools are superior.As I said, perhaps you were not in a good one. I would be interested to know which school you ar talking about.As for ethnicities, in my catholic HS, we had many black, asian, and hispanic students. We also had a few Jewish, Protestant, and Muslim students. My HS is actually more diverse than the public school I currently teach in, and that was 10 years ago. I think you need to compare specific schools, and not just judge all of the private schools based on your one experience. You can't compare Friends Academy, to Chaminade, to Hebrew Academy of the 5 Towns, just because they are private. The same for for Catholic school. That's why there is a choice of different schools.(Also, as for teachers, private school teachers have to get their Master's Degree's just like everybody else).
Here is a question I am hoping someone can answer: how important is it that a child attend a Catholic Elementary and Middle School to prepare them for Catholic High School. If a child goes to public school up until 9th grade, will he/she be unprepared for Catholic High School (i.e. St. Anthony's in Huntington). People have told me this would be the case, but honestly I don't want to pay $4,000+ a year for 9 years (K-8) if I do not have to. High school is what really concerns me. Are the kids better behaved at Catholic schools? I would assume they are, as they would be kicked out if they were causing trouble (I assume). It's all about who your kids hang out with, or so I have been told. Thoughts anyone?
There are practical reasons for wanting parochial schools, depending on your situation.
In terms of quality of academics, most parochial schools are – to put it politely – as good as average public district schools (as opposed to specialized public schools) that happen to have religion subjects. But there are some parochial schools where academics are superior to the average public district school. You just have to do the legwork to find out which parochial schools are these as there is not a lot of information available publicly.
Another thing you have to consider is the schools’ finances. Public district schools that have finances solid enough to consistently support quality academic programs in good times and bad are almost always located in neighborhoods with expensive home prices. For example, our family currently lives in Queens where, in light of the difficult economic climate, the mayor is proposing large cuts in the public education budget to the point that improvements in the quality of teaching will be compromised. However, our neighborhood parochial school which is decent in academics is not contemplating budget cuts and has even reported a surplus. Best of all, you don’t have to own a house in our neighborhood to send your children to our parochial school.
I can’t comment on the tuition though. To my family, $4K/year is well within our budget even assuming we had 3 kids. Might not be the same for other families.
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