Setting up our kids to leave the Church

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Setting up our kids to leave the Church

Now that I have school-​aged chil­dren, I spend more time every time we move ana­lyz­ing school dis­tricts. A friend of mine that lives where we are mov­ing to next sends both their kids to Catholic ele­men­tary school, to the tune of about 9,000 dol­lars. Although I choked when I heard the cost, it didn’t sur­prise me too much. In Geor­gia, we ended up send­ing our old­est kid to kinder­garten at the local Bap­tist school, which cost 150/​month, instead of the Catholic school, which would have cost 650/​month.

Hate to say it, but the Bap­tists got it right.

Catholic schools are too expen­sive for most peo­ple in a one-​earner fam­ily. So we face the choice of either hav­ing both par­ents work, liv­ing pay­check to pay­check, or send­ing our kids to pub­lic school. Pub­lic schools don’t have the best track record of being friendly to Catholics, which means the par­ent stay­ing at home has to spend a con­sid­er­able amount of time edu­cat­ing the kids in the faith.

From PewRe​search​Cen​ter​.org

Given that too many par­ents don’t have a good under­stand­ing of the faith as it is, we’ve just setup a sys­tem that allows our kids to be plucked away from the Church.

I think we’re miss­ing the mark on Catholic edu­ca­tion. If we want a future gen­er­a­tion, we should be edu­cat­ing our young par­ents in the faith. Poor under­stand­ing of the faith cre­ates kids with a weak under­stand­ing of what they believe in, which sets them up to be lead astray in high school and college.

School choice is going to help as well. I think a large part of the neg­a­tive reac­tion to Betsy DeVos is because she threat­ens to break the stran­gle­hold of pub­lic ele­men­tary and mid­dle schools, a stran­gle­hold that has been con­tribut­ing to an increas­ingly non-​religious world.

Our future gen­er­a­tion is caught in an edu­ca­tion setup that is push­ing them to leave the church. We would be wise to rec­og­nize that.

Now that I have school-aged children, I spend more time every time we move analyzing school districts.  A friend of mine that lives where we are moving to next sends both their kids to Catholic elementary school, to the tune of about 9,000 dollars.  Although I choked when I heard the cost, it didn’t surprise me too much.  In Georgia, we ended up sending our oldest kid to kindergarten at the local Baptist school, which cost 150/month, instead of the Catholic school, which would have cost 650/month.

Hate to say it, but the Baptists got it right.

Catholic schools are too expensive for most people in a one-earner family.  So we face the choice of either having both parents work, living paycheck to paycheck, or sending our kids to public school.  Public schools don’t have the best track record of being friendly to Catholics, which means the parent staying at home has to spend a considerable amount of time educating the kids in the faith.

From PewResearchCenter.org

Given that too many parents don’t have a good understanding of the faith as it is, we’ve just setup a system that allows our kids to be plucked away from the Church.

I think we’re missing the mark on Catholic education.  If we want a future generation, we should be educating our young parents in the faith.  Poor understanding of the faith creates kids with a weak understanding of what they believe in, which sets them up to be lead astray in high school and college.

School choice is going to help as well.  I think a large part of the negative reaction to Betsy DeVos is because she threatens to break the stranglehold of public elementary and middle schools, a stranglehold that has been contributing to an increasingly non-religious world.

Our future generation is caught in an education setup that is pushing them to leave the church. We would be wise to recognize that.