"Bucking a trend, Allentown Diocese sees two-year rise in Catholic school enrollment"

read all about it @ http://articles.mcall.com/2013-11-22/news/mc-allentown-catholic-school-enrollment-increase-20131122_1_catholic-diocese-school-enrollment-seton-academy



"No one's calling it a miracle yet, but school enrollment in the Catholic Diocese of Allentown has grown two years straight.
It's the only one of the eight dioceses in Pennsylvania to mark growth in consecutive years, and it's what you might call counterintuitive news. Catholic schools, like Catholic churches, have been closing apace these many years, and more than a few doomsayers have envisioned the end of the system that has imparted faith-based instruction to generations of Americans, Catholic and otherwise.

Not so fast, it seems. After 15 years of steady decline — losing as many as 500 students some years — the five-county diocese in 2010 formed a commission to take a hard look at its system.
The Bishop's Commission on Catholic Schools determined the problem was not the product — education — but in the mechanics of how it was offered.
"It was a business problem, not an academics problem," said Jim Friend, director of the diocesan Office of Stewardship and Development.
Even with the closure of the Seton Academy in Bethlehem this year, total diocese enrollment is 12,419 students — up more than one-half of 1 percent over last year and the second straight uptick. The diocese has 36 elementary schools, seven high schools and three special learning centers in Berks, Carbon, Schuylkill, Lehigh and Northampton counties."

Foreign Students And Religion Classes

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/07/nyregion/catholic-schools-court-chinese-and-their-cash.html?_r=0


http://catholicstand.com/confessions-of-a-wanna-be-orthodox-catholic-high-school-teacher/

Yes, it is true, and this New York Article proves it as well. Since we aren't able to bring in grown through enrollments of actual Americans, we are now enrolling people from foreign nations. China is one of them, but then there's also enrollments from other nations like South Korea. Now, I don't mind other people coming from other countries to learn about our faith, and be enlightened by it. However, there is something that needs to be addressed.  

Now what does this mean? My fellow Catholic School students, it is important to note that the some of the people coming over are not here to be enlightened by our Catholic faith, but are here for academics. According to an article that is entitled, "Confessions of a Wanna-Be Orthodox Catholic High School Teacher", the author (who refers to himself as 'Francis') states that Catholic Education is a gateway to American Universities. The reason why this is so is because in Chinese universities, there are placement tests that need to be done once and only once. There are no second chances. Since the American Catholic School System is the greatest school system in America from the viewpoint of the Chinese, it would seem that getting into an American university would be far more easier, as opposed to applying for a university in their own nation.

The author of the latter article agrees that this could be a potential attempt at evangelization, an idea that I idea would agree 100% on. However, he asserts that the teaching standards of the religion classes within our schools are 'lukewarm', and believes that it won't be effective enough in evangelizing these foreign students. Of course, he also mentioned that there was no serious attempt at evangelization either. As a Catholic High School student who is in the 11th grade, I can't be for sure if his case applies to all of the Catholic High Schools in the United States. To be honest, I don't people making a point through constructive criticism, but I really do mind people not doing anything to address these problems.

Indeed, Catholic Education in America is at a crossroads. Now that the National Catholic Educational Association has reported that for first time in what would appear to be in years, we have now achieved a total population of less than 2,000,000 students from pre K, all the way to 12th grade seniors. Common Core, Charter Schools, high tuition, low enrollments, faithless teachers, ordained clergymen being accused of committing vile acts, a lack of methods and tactics on bringing the word out, a lack of innovation, and hardly any action to stop all this, you could say that  Catholic Education is besieged by problems, and on the way to literal, physical extinction. But you know, we have not achieved midnight yet; there is still time to fix all this. The question that we must be asking is, who is going fix all this?

How about we Catholic School students? It doesn't hurt to find the will to save Catholic Education, and search for a solution that will end all of these problems. The American Catholic School System can still be around when you have children and grandchildren, or it can be a distant memory from a bygone era. The answer to solve all this begins with us, my fellow Catholic School students.               

"Without vouchers, could these Catholic schools survive?"

http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2014/04/what_if_theres_no_money_for_sc.html

Honestly though, Catholic Education can and will survive, even without vouchers. If the root cause of the American Catholic School System's problem was a financial problem, then should have been gone a long time ago. I say that because Catholic Education has survived in times where money was really tight; the Great Depression comes to mind, as well as the two World Wars. 

-Edward Lamb

"Rise & Shine: Charter school sector surges, as Catholic schools shrink"

http://ny.chalkbeat.org/2014/04/23/rise-shine-charter-school-sector-surges-as-catholic-schools-shrink/


http://ny.chalkbeat.org/2014/04/22/new-city-enrollment-data-details-charter-school-sectors-explosion/

That's right, rise and shine because the American Catholic School System is still falling apart. Meanwhile, the Charter School keep on growing and thriving as I speak. In an article entitled,  "New enrollment analysis details charter school sector’s growth", the article notes the trend in the decrease of Catholic schools and students, apparently from the state of New York. Of course, one should pay note to the fact that the Charter School grows in places where municipal and state legislature is all for it, such as that of New York City. Oh lordy, lordy, New York City. Over there, schools close every year, to the point where it has become as natural as the transitioning of the four seasons within a year.

Our outlook is not very encountering.

-Edward Lamb    

Update

Sorry if I hadn't been updating this blog lately. Nothing much has come from the American Catholic School System despite the fact that the NCEA has reported that the total population of Catholic School Students from K-12 is around some 1,974,000 students; a change of pace from the nearly two million.


I'm not sure if I will update this blog next week, let alone this week, but I'll try to.


-Edward Lamb

"Nun Reportedly Tells Students Masturbation, Divorced Parents Can Make Someone Gay"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/01/nun-masturbation-gay_n_5070010.html

Apparently, some Catholic nun was speaking about homosexuality to a Catholic High School in North Carolina, and was backfired for doing so. To be rather frank, I'm not quite sure as to how a child with divorced parents will play a role on determining whether someone will be leaning towards homosexuality or not. If there was some more evidence on this, it would be rather appreciated. Having known people who have divorced parents, I cannot be sure if what that nun said was true. After all, it really depends on upbringing, as someone once put it.

-Edward Lamb