Yes, this thread is devolving into an anti-Catholic diatribe. If the kids’ parents are not able to raise them morally correct there is only so much any school can do.
@m0minmd I don’t think people are bashing Catholic school. I think people are bashing the judgmental parents who think Catholic school is soooo much better than public school, and are pleased to see those judgmental parents get their comeuppance. That’s how I’m reading it, anyway.
Around here, many parents send their kids to private catholic schools because either the kids floundered in our rigorous high school, or the parents are trying to give their kids a sports advantage.
Everyone thinks their school is better - even teachers! I had a private school teacher tell me, “I would never teach in a public school like you do, because I actually want to have relationships with my students as individuals”
ETA: of course everyone doesn’t express things obnoxiously enough to merit smile/nod response! And for me, it’s more like I love where I teach and where my kids go, but I know it’s right for them. 
Around here, we welcome your floundering public school kids to our rigorous Catholic schools.
@FallGirl your post reminded me of the mom of kids in private elementary school who told me she would never send her kids to the public elementary school we chose because she had heard that “all the kindergarteners at the public school had bladder infections because it was too dangerous for them to use the bathrooms at the school.” Umm, no.
A neighborhood blog a few years ago was focused on the local public high schools and one parents said that a certain school was no good, and sniffed “They don’t even have a swim team,” as if that’s some kind of given. I politely mentioned that in fact, it DID have a swim team and I knew this because my older daughter was ON the swim team and that it had sent some kids to states. Other common beliefs about the publics in our “bad part of town” is that there are no PTA’s because the parents “can’t” serve or “won’t” attend meetings. All of them have a PTA.
@zimmum TELL. ME. ABOUT. IT. My family is from Nigeria and not only my parents, but also my siblings, were questioning my decision to go from NJ to NC last year. “Isn’t everyone racist there? Are you gonna get hurt”?
“For the upteempth time: no, hardly any actual racism in NC actually (especially compared to other southern states). And I realize that I am going very far away (nine hours) for the first time, but I will be FINE.”
Actually convincing them to let me attend my school was far more difficult and drawn out than it should have been. It took until literally the day before the deadline.
@STEM2017 As a mother of 2 Catholic sons who attended public school, I can assure you that our sons are neither floundering and received a rigorous enough education.
As annoying as the unwelcome comments from family members and neighbors may be, I find it equally annoying how easily offended so many people are. If somebody stumbles and makes an uncharitable comment, it’s far easier to just shrug it off and ignore than to get one’s knickers all up in a twist over. Public school is the best choice for many families. Catholic schools are often preferable when religious training and/or other considerations are weighed. Independent schools are chosen for a variety of reasons that may have nothing to do with their college acceptances. What I choose for my kid has nothing to do with your choice for yours. Not everything is about you.
@carolinamom2boys My post was in response to a a previous post that suggested that the floundering kids who can’t handle a rigorous public education are sent to the Catholic schools.
None of the comments are necessary IMO. There’s no one school that’s right for everyone HS or college. Not right to judge a families personal decision .
Don’t have to read 108 pages to see that it’s the same old story - if you have judgmental friends or relatives on any topic, yes, smile and nod and cross them off your holiday party list.
As for “judging” in general, one issue on CC is that, myself included, those of us trying to respond honestly as in “what do you think?” will get accused of judging when we are inputting our personal knowledge.
I have completely reversed myself on a few things because of CC and other not that close friend or family member input. Their “judging” can cause me to rethink my motives.
Once the horse is out of the barn though, and your child is attending Expensive Private U. or Little Known State U., the polite response to your or your child’s good news should be “oh, where is that?” or even better “did you pick a major yet?” Both are rather innocent. To say “I’ve never heard of it” or “must be a small school” is rude, but you risk that in conversations. Especially if someone was going on about applying to Ivy U. or Flagship State U., and they are attending Little Known But Great U.
I never heard of Reed College until I was on CC.
Can someone point out to me the posts that are Catholic Bashing, or even Catholic School Bashing? I must have missed them. The ones I read here are the opposite, with people defending public schools. I am not sure why that isn’t admirable.
I’ll be happy to bash the curriculum most schools in the US use be it private, public or parochial. I think in general it does a good job of producing kids that are great at taking tests.
@Postmodern Please read the posts citing Catholic school grads as unwed mothers and absent fathers" 1595 and 1596 for example. A school can at best reinforce values learned at home. It cannot counter a dysfunctional family. Nor can it deal with the effects of busy body neighbors.
Little odd someone would single out an out of wedlock pregnancy from a parochial school couple. Last I checked, the out of wedlock birth rate in the US is 40% – safe to deduce (at least) 90% of them are public school graduates.
And I do not think an unwed mother = a “dysfunctional family.”
Well. Instead of catholic school bashing or defending, I’ll give you an example of public school vs. public school bashing.
I went to an elementary school with a divided feeding pattern. About 70% of the kids were zoned for what you could call your average every day middle/high school. 30% were headed to the minority/high middle school (which isn’t that bad of a school).
I remember at 5th grade graduation, my mom consoling a crying mom that was distraught about her son going there. She ended up petitioning the county to go to the other school. Another mom was bragging about having bought a new house (during the market crash) to use so she was zoned in the better district.
Fast forward to this year and those kids are headed to directionals, while we have several T20 admits.
Unrelated to the above, I had another smile and nod moment recently – we have a close friend whose daughter has Celiac disease, which means she can’t have gluten or she gets severely sick and is put at greatly increased risk for T1 diabetes, intestinal cancer, etc. Not something to mess around with.
She only applied to 3 schools, which would have been fine given that she had a safety in there, but she didn’t bother checking to see if the schools could accommodate her food requirements. (Many can’t deal with gluten free – I know this as I have a GF daughter myself). Her response when questioned about the food? “It doesn’t matter, I can always eat at restaurants for all of my meals.”
Some people live in a different world.