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My husband, 2 year-old son and I will most likely be moving to Puerto Rico in 6 months. I am concerned because we have heard that you must attend private school in order to get a decent education and I don't think we will be able to afford that for our son. Also, I have heard that the only private schools are catholic, and we do not practice catholocism. We will not move there if my son's education and future would be in jeopardy. Any light you can shed on this would be appreciated. Thanks!
My husband, 2 year-old son and I will most likely be moving to Puerto Rico in 6 months. I am concerned because we have heard that you must attend private school in order to get a decent education and I don't think we will be able to afford that for our son. Also, I have heard that the only private schools are catholic, and we do not practice catholocism. We will not move there if my son's education and future would be in jeopardy. Any light you can shed on this would be appreciated. Thanks!
Lots of non Catholic students attend Catholic School. They have to religion classes but aren't forced to take communion or participate in other sacrament.
As EdwardA said many non-Catholics attend Catholic schools because of the quality education they provide and just opt out of any Mass attendance. There are other religious schools available in some areas of the island if that is your preference though.
We were warned not to put our kids in public schools before we moved here due to the poor quality of education and frequent closures.
Thanks for the replies! Financially we'll have to see if the move would be feasible. Any idea what private primary education costs at a reputable private school there? Any particular towns I should consider/stay away from for education? Thanks!
Yeah private school is not as expensive with what you're thinking of in terms of CONUS "private school". Furthermore, as a product of private catholic education in PR myself, I can tell you in terms of drawing parallels, private education in PR is tantamount to a decently funded public school district in the states. Perhaps with dated island physical infrastructure, but otherwise academically equivalent.
And yes, in an island almost homogeniously catholic, being non-catholic is not even a requisite to attend catholic private school. Not an issue at all. If the ethics or "religion" class in most of these schools' curricula bother ya too much, try public school and see how that fares ya. Probably a mere inconvenience in the big picture. Beggers can't be choosers ya know, this is PR we're talking about, not much in the way of choice when it comes to education.
Public school is primarily geared in PR as a social refugee camp and baseline prep to make it to UPR, which is not hard to do, nor is it even much relevant anymore seeing how they're about to lose accreditation because they can't keep a dozen so 7-year freshmen down there from closing down the campus and screwing up the year for the rest trying to get a degree. I digress.
If any level of private tuition is undoable for ya, don't move to PR, you'll simply won't have any level of acceptable public education outlets available to you, judging from your original thread and the expectations of education you have, which seem to be very CONUS-biased (not a bad thing, just very 'American' in attitude). The island educational system has a very different beat than you're accustomed. Go private or don't go. Good luck to you and the family!
My husband and I are from the Midwest and I'm a teacher, but with no school-aged kiddos yet. I believe in public schooling an am normally an optimist, but I do have to say the public school system in PR is in extremely rough shape. The Governor laid off something like 20K govt employees last year and cut funding for the Univ of PR so education took a hard hit. There is a plethora of social issues that contribute to the downward spiral from quality education as well, due to lack of ideal family/community environment like crime, drug use, domestic violence, teenage pregnancy. Don't let it scare you away, but it's good to know what you're dealing with. St. John's, Robinson and Buchanan charge in the ballpark of 8-12K/yr (a lot for PR standards; in fact they're what many consider to be elitist). As far as quality...our friends send their kids to Buchanan and say that, while it's one of the better schools PR has to offer, the curriculum is very average (compared to US standards; although people say it's like comparing apples to oranges). I do believe there to be other much more affordable schooling options for you out there. I wish I could recommend some...
(ps--Many schools say they're bilingual but technically they're not. A bilingual school is one in which instruction of every subject is given in both languages, alternating days and not essentially repeating content...here they'll call them bilingual when they have English instruction, thus aiding in the formation of bilingual individuals as a whole bc they speak Spanish outside of school. It's kind of confusing.)
Best of luck to your family. Puerto Rico is beautiful and a nice place to live in many ways.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JMThompson
My husband, 2 year-old son and I will most likely be moving to Puerto Rico in 6 months. I am concerned because we have heard that you must attend private school in order to get a decent education and I don't think we will be able to afford that for our son. Also, I have heard that the only private schools are catholic, and we do not practice catholocism. We will not move there if my son's education and future would be in jeopardy. Any light you can shed on this would be appreciated. Thanks!
I wouldn't agree that Buchanan is the best in PR. At least from an outsider's perspective, they didn't particularly stand out at academics' competitions. Maybe I missed something, but I went to a lot of Math Bowls and other academic events.
And btw, Catholic schools are a thing of the past. I would argue there are equal amount if not more non-religious schools in PR than there are Catholic schools.
It really is a pity this public school dilemma. But I would argue it is the issue most responsible for a decaying Puerto Rican society. One with no values, rampant crime on its hands and one that is selfish and does not respond to a sense of community.
Still, there are some public schools that are decent. The language barrier might not work out though. Some public schools that look nice are located in Arecibo and Mayagüez. If your student is more art-oriented, consider the Central High School in Santurce, or if he/she is leaning on math/sciences, I hear University High School is good too.
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