Would yo send your non Catholic child to a catholic school?

That is how I feel about it too.

It used to be like that in our diocese--one parenting needing to be Catholic to enroll kids in the school, but not anymore. When I went my dad was a baptized Catholic and used that to get us into the school, even though he wasn't practicing anymore (and most likely was agnostic or atheist at the time). My mom was non-denominational Christian, I guess--more spiritual then religious. My kids go to a Catholic school. When I filled out the enrollment forms I filled in atheist and agnostic as me and my husband's religion. I haven't heard anything about it. My dad was the one to actually enroll them (I just filled out the paper work). He even asked about us not being Catholic and they didn't care. They don't get special exceptions or anything. They go to Mass with the rest of the school and do all the same religious assignments. They did send home letters asking if we wanted to baptize the kids. I just tossed them out. I went to Catholic schools and was never baptized so I have gone threw it all already. I went to Mass every week and had to do all the assignments when we did our First Communion and Confirmation, although I didn't participate in the actual event. It wasn't bad. I survived and it taught me to be strong and find what I believed and not take what the church said at face value (saw way too much hypocrisy in school). As for dress codes--around here they wear uniforms. Plaid jumpers or skirts, blouses and knee-high socks for the girls. Slacks and button down shirts for the boys. Only dress shoes in black or navy blue, only school cardigans for the little kids. That was how it was for me growing up, too. I wore a uniform to school every day from 1st grade until I graduated high school (except for the random day we got to dress up or dress down--usually for a $1 donation to some charity). The dress code you describe is the same one my kid's public school had when she went there. Seems pretty standard to me. The public schools in our city have uniforms--navy blue pants, shorts (for the girls), skirts or jumpers and white shirts with collars. They are super strict like the Catholic schools, though.

My high school uniform was the plain skirt and at first a white blouse but then they changed it to a white polo shirt with the school name on it (now they have the school crest on them). The skirts were for 2 years then we voted on a different pattern for our junior/senior year so we had to buy 2 skirts during our time at school and they were like $60 a pop. The tops were expensive, too, because they had the name on them. The sweaters, too. We were allowed to wear turtle necks underneath in the winter and tights but they had to be navy, white or green/red (depending on the colors of our uniform--my jr/sr uniform was green, my fr/soph one was blue with red highlights). We had issues with girls hiking them up, too. I used to roll my skirt but only because my mom bought it too long and didn't feel like hemming it. It came all the way to my knees, looked silly and bugged the heck out of me. But I only rolled it to above my knees, not like the other girls where you could see their shorts (which was another rule violation that we all did--shorts under our skirts, lol). My daughter wears a green plaid jumper and white blouse, both have to be bought at the uniform shop (special one) because the blouses have rounded collars. She has green and navy socks she likes to wear and cute little Mary Janes. My son wears navy slacks and oxford shirt. The other Catholic school in the area (the one I went to for 7th and 8th grade) changed their uniforms. They still have the plaid jumpers but the girls also have the choice of navy slacks in the winter and the girls wear polo shirts like the boys now. They had blouses when I went there and the girls were NOT allowed to wear pants. Both schools allow all the kids to wear their gym uniforms on gym day (which is twice a week) which they didn't do when I was a kid.

As much as it cost us to get my daughter her high school uniform (probably about $350 not including shoes), I would like to see the Catholic elementary schools wearing uniforms. In the high school they got rid of the girl's kilt because the girls were hiking them up. They wear black pants, a white golf style shirt with the school initials on it, and a fleece sweatshirt or sweater or sweater vest with the school initials. These were purchased at a uniform store. The shoes we had to find on our own and they have to be ALL black. Not easy to find. My daughter actually has to marker out the white stripe on her shoes. They do a uniform inspection. She had to get a dress pass for 3 weeks when she developed a rash on her neck because we thought it might be the uniform. They also have dress down days that cost money for charity. The Catholic grade school uniforms were just going out when I went to grade school. I remember my sister wearing it - a white blouse with a black jumper. Of course kids in grade school would need a new uniform every year because they grow so much whereas we are hoping my daughter will be able to wear some of her uniform for all 4 years. She chose to go to the Catholic high school (we gave her the option because it is not in town) and she seems quite proud of her uniform. I, on the other hand, did NOT go to a Catholic high school like my sisters before me did and I still, to this day, regret it. I wish I had gone to the Catholic high school. Live and learn. We get to an age where we get to make our own choices. We can only hope we make the right ones.

Here in the States reading of the Bible has been banned for a long time.no principal could read from the Bible without a class action suit happening. We have separation of Church and State.If my child came to me and said he/she wanted to become Catholic, then I would enroll him/her into a Catholic school.

Most of the Catholic schools that I know of do not mix subjects and religion...but my husband knows quite a few schools that have tried to convert or atleast brainwash the students about their religion. That's the reason why he would never send our kids to Catholic schools.

Your school doesn't have to an exception. I just thought that a religious school would have students that were of that religion and they would mix regular school subjects and religion.

That may be the reason some parents wouldn't send their kids to Catholic school, the fear that Johnny or jane will want to be a Catholic.Not everyone thinks Catholicism is a great path and they may like the idea of a better education but reject to the religious part of a Catholic school.

In India to study in a catholic school you were not required to become a catholic but I don't know what happens in your country. One thing more no one can force you to do any thing even to become catholic, it is against law.

I would be afraid that Johnny and Jane would become Catholic.

Oops. I mean that they will be forced to become Catholic.

It takes a special person to be Catholic and I Know I am not that person. But like I said, that is why I respect them.

That's not true of every Catholic school. The ones I went to were very open. I learned a lot there and was taught to think for myself, although they did encourage us to stay Catholic (not that I was to begin with). We asked lots of questions about faith and what the church believed and were given honest answers by our teachers and priests. The high school I went to was very liberal and really encouraged us girls to become independent thinking young women. We could even take a comparative religion course our senior year to learn about other religions and they were discussed in other classes, too. I had friends of all different religions in high school. By the time I was a teen I no longer believed in organized religion. I stopped "praying" before class with the rest of the kids and when I was questioned I told the teachers I didn't feel a need to express my prayers out loud and that was accepted. Although, I'm sure my high school would have preferred I converted to Catholicism, I think they would be proud of the woman I am today because I am strong and independent like they taught me to be and I made up my mind with the tools they gave me in school. (Can you tell I love my alma mater, lol.--I would send my girls there if they still wanted to continue with Catholic education but I don't think I could afford it--with 3 girls and tuition now is over $6000 and will be even higher by the time they are in school)

There are scholarships but they only cover a tiny portion of the cost. It is just so expensive. The tuition alone is more then we make in 3 months. Then there is the cost of uniforms, books and all the hidden fees they don't tell you about because if you don't donate so many hours of your time you have to pay $10-$20 per hour required per year (at their elementary school it adds up to $200 for the year plus another $500 of donations for something else--that is on top of the almost $6000 we are paying for 2 kids to go there, next year we will have 3 in school). I used to donate to my high school when I actually had money and I always marked it for the scholarship fund. I'm hoping to be able to start giving them some money again because I want the girls going there that are having money troubles to be able to graduate. My brother went to an all male school (now co-ed) and almost didn't graduate because my parents were behind on the tuition. With weeks to go and no way to pay the money they met with the principal and he gave them a grant to pay off the last $2000 they owed which allowed my brother to graduate with his class. My mother cried because she was so happy and so proud of my brother who struggled through out school and finally was getting good grades and deserved to graduate. My parents paid some of it back when they got the money and told the school to use it for another child that needed it. That is why I donate to the school. We won't be living around here when my kids are in high school anyway. We are planning on moving out of state so it really isn't a concern. I can only imagine how much it will cost in 6 years when my oldest will start high school. It was about $3200 when I went there and is now over $6000 and I only graduated in 95.

4monsters, your school doesn't have scholarships? It sounds like a great school and there should be a way for your kids to go there, especially because you graduated from there.

Even though your child would be different, do you think the other kids would care? I went through Catholic School myself and many of the kids I was in class with were not Catholic. Kids do not ask what religion another child is. Unless a teacher pointed out your child was different, the other kids would never know. Even if the teacher did do that I doubt the other kids would care, religion does not define 100% who a person is and young kids are much more accepting than adults are.

I have to disagree that kids are so accepting... my classmates threw Bibles at me in school and called me Satan... and this was in a public school! I guess it depends on where you live and what the kids have been taught by their parents.

I agree Lecanis . Kids will find a reason to pick on other kids.Religion is as good a reason as any other.

But don't you find it freeing when someone thinks yo are a sinner and therefore damned?Since you are already going to hell, you might as well do what you like.

Their opinion doesn't mean a thing to me. It is what goes on between the Supreme Being and myself that counts. No one else matters in my eternal life. Maybe in my day to day life, but not in my spiritual life. Only I will be judged by what I did or didn't do in the end. Not by what someone else thinks I did or says I did.

If a Catholic school is the best school and you are comfortable with it then you are not being hypocritical. You are not pretending to be Catholic so your kids become Catholic all along you are an atheist. Now that is hypocritical.It sounds like you are making sure your kids are exposed to all points of view and you are letting them decide what to believe or not. That is great.

My mom went to Catholic school in Canada and wasn't Catholic. During the mass times, she and her siblings went to the library or something so they didn't have to participate in the mass. If what you say is true, then they must have changed the rules since then.