@TomSrOfBoston , pretty sure that was not “catholic school bashing” but rather an anecdote to illustrate that attending a catholic school does not, by default equal moral superiority. It was in response to comments that their child was going to have more difficulties because they did not attend Catholic School.
I am sure you can see that difference.
Personally I disagree with the entire premise that the unwed mother is immoral. To me the posts are more troublesome that way. Certainly not preferable, but I can think of many choices that I would consider more immoral.
@TomSrOfBoston@Karenk6 Sorry the point of my post went over your heads. I would suggest you read it again with a couple hints. My point was not to bash catholic schools. For the record, I went to 12 years of catholic schools (including high school). My wife did too. I have many friends and family members who went to catholic schools and/or send(t) their kids to catholic schools. My sister graduated from the all girls catholic school I referenced (one of her daughters goes there now and the other will in a year). Work with several people who graduated from the very all boys catholic high school I referenced. Have several friends who send their sons to that school as well.
Point also wasn’t to point out that a parochial school couple had a baby out of wedlock.
Maybe with that guidance you will better understand my point (especially if you focus on the title of this thread).
I interpreted your post #1596 as placing a higher approval value on the graduate of the public school who was married than on the graduate of the Catholic School who was not married but had a baby.
Otherwise I don’t understand the context of “You don’t say.” You say you “never said anything to my wife’s cousin.” If you had, what would that have been?
Oh good grief. Post 1596 was not Catholic bashing. It was bashing someone who mistakenly assumed that Catholic school grads were automatically of finer character than public HS grads.
Aren’t you from Philadelphia, @Dolemite? My son’s Quaker schools never prioritized test taking (nor did several other independent schools we looked at), and I’m sure that’s the case with many private schools (whose students generally do just fine on standardized tests). Also his HS curriculum had very little in common with our local public school, which was considerably different from the neighboring districts, so I’m not sure what “curriculum” you’re referring to.
Like it or not, test scores do matter. The question is really, how do we best improve test scores? I would agree with you that too much emphasis on test taking is a mistake, but it’s wong IMHO to assume that all schools use the same curricula or teaching methods.
I wouldn’t consider Quaker schools as “most” schools and represent a very small percentage.
And test scores matter because we make them matter - there are schools where test scores don’t matter. And I disagree that we need to improve them.
I’d say that most curriculum in schools is primary convergent thinking/learning with scarce amounts of divergent thinking/learning. It makes great test takers but poor problem solvers.
But it’s not just Quaker schools that “don’t teach to the test.” Many private and parochial schools teach differently than their public school counterparts, who don’t all approach the education of their students the same way either.
And I can only speak for one of my kids who attended private schools on the local public school’s dime–he DEFINITELY needs to improve his test scores. Life can be very limited academically for the kid who tests poorly when the test is merely confirming that the student hasn’t met the minimum academic requirements. I’m dealing with that right now.
I think you are misunderstanding when I talk about test taking. I am not eluding to standardized tests but basically any and all tests like midterms, quizzes, etc. The ones that give you a problem with 1 answer.
Also I’m not saying there isn’t a place for convergent thinking but a better curriculum mixes the 2 appropriately.
@HarvestMoon1 Post went over your head as well. Focus is on the dad (my wife’s cousin) and not the kids going to either public or catholic high schools.
@Karenk6 I agree that anecdotes don’t necessarily prove anything. Though they do often speak to the subject of the anecdote. In the case of my post, again it was the dad (my wife’s cousin) who was the focus. I think it speaks to him quite well.
@sailakeerie -And my point was not that you were Catholic school bashing but that you were making a value judgment about the unwed mother. Somehow is was important to note that she was not married but had a child versus her sister who was married and waiting to have children until they were more settled.
The “you don’t say” seems to reflect a judgment. Which is fine, I just happen to disagree with it.
*Moderator’s Note: How about returning to the original reason for the thread: Smile and Nod (usually related to college questions)? Let’s not have it jump off the tracks and get closed. *
Saw an old volleyball coach at the grocery store. Said hello, she asks where I’m going. I say Boston, and I’ll be an English major. Her response? “What a shame you didn’t work hard enough to get an athletic scholarship to a good school.”
Smile and nod.
@STEM2017 , I should have clarified, because I realize that sounds worse than it should have. My own kid went to a private school becasue he floundered in the public school. And I live in an area with a million Catholic families who want their kids to go to catholic school because it’s a great school. So the people who take the kids out of public school are trying to help their kids because it’s smaller and they get more personal attention. I have no issue with anyone going to private school.
These forums are great places to have interesting conversations, but sometimes things get lost in translation
What I don’t understand is – if someone comes out and says something particularly rude (“that’s not a very good school at all” or whatever) - doesn’t your opinion of them drop pretty much immediately? So why worry that they aren’t properly impressed? They have shown themselves to be not worth impressing.
My kids (classes of 14 and 15) were at a public function last Saturday and ran into their old school’s public relations person, the one who sends out press releases, often about students’ accomplishments. He said to them, “Are you tired of winning everything yet?” Awkward.
@mdcmom That’s awkward, so awkward.
Reminds me of when in April, at our senior honors night, I won an award that was incorrectly stated to be for the “top student-athlete” (I play only golf, terribly) and my sister (age 11) blurted out, loudly, “How did that happen?!” Smiled, nodded, and gave her a look that could kill. Sometimes, awards can be embarrassing.
