"Why Catholic school is worth it"

http://www.statepress.com/2014/11/19/why-catholic-school-is-worth-it/

"For years, the concept of public school terrified me. As I had attended a private, uniformed, Catholic institution from preschool through high-school, the chaos I associated with public school was pretentious to say the least.

owever, my personal history in Catholic schooling has allowed me a unique perspective on what constitutes education when religious culture is injected into the curriculum. I was raised with lines of plaid skirts, polos, navy and white filing into rectangles in a grassy courtyard every morning for prayer and assembly. Mass was an undisputed part of Friday’s schedule and religion class was as demanding as math and literature.

Looking back, this amount of structure seemed imperative to a scholastic environment and prepared me for the future. This column is not meant to hold one type of schooling over another; instead, it’s meant to examine the extensive benefits gained from the educational and social features of private, religious institutes, and why they are worth the trouble.

Although Catholic school teachers employed by the Diocese often make less than public school educators, they define commitment and tenacity, especially in an environment where the relationships formed in kindergarten exist for decades due to the Diocesan emphasis on community. These instructors go above and beyond to provide a quality education and a personal mentorship for their students. I was lucky to have these teachers throughout grade school."