Protestant Schools Focus on Faith; Catholic Schools Focus on Intellect

[bluestateguy]

No surprise here. There are some damn good Catholic schools out there. Protestant schools are more of a mixed bag. Fundamentalist Christians scorn intellectualism (see their adoration of Palin and Perry as examples), so this would make sense.

http://www.christianpost.com/news/protestant-schools-focus-on-faith-catholic-schools-focus-on-intellect-54269/

A new study of K-12 Christian schools shows that Protestant Christian schools do a better job of developing their students' spiritual formation while Catholic Christian schools do a better job developing their students' intellect.

These are among the findings of a two-year study of Christian schools in the United States conducted by Cardus, a Christian think tank.

Catholic school students have better academic outcomes, are more likely to attend prestigious colleges, more likely to achieve an advanced degree and have higher income levels as a result. This is consistent with the goals of Catholic schools. Catholic school administrators place much emphasis on academic achievement and Catholic schools have more rigorous course requirements than Protestant schools.

Catholic school graduates do not embrace Catholic social teaching at high rates, however. They are just as likely to divorce as public school graduates. Also, they are not more likely to attend religious services, and they are less likely to become leaders in their church than those who did not attend a Catholic school.

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[GodlessBiker]

1. So, you can be smart and abused (Catholic) or just stupid (Protestant).

[kestrel91316]

2. So, your one-man crusade to end all public education continues, I see.

[SheilaT]

3. Interesting.

My personal bias is always in favor of intellect.

I transferred my sons from a very good public school system into an even better secular private school when they were in 7th and 3rd grades for the academics. As good as the local public schools were -- and they are very good for public schools -- I was blown away by the private school. Maybe the best way to express it is to say that even the next to the last day of school they were learning NEW material in their classes. The same good public schools had the kids turning in their textbooks several days before the end of the school year, and they watched videos for the remainder of the school year.

I just don't get it. School is important. Each and every minute in the classroom matters.

Referring back to the secular private school my kids were in, the younger son in 7th grade had a science teacher who was used to teaching high school students, and did her best to adapt to 7th graders, but still taught well above grade level. The kids loved it, and rose to the challenge. This is also an example of why No Child Left Behind is so stupid. Teach a lot of content, and the rest will follow.

What's also interesting in this context, is that when my older son was in high school, and went to the National Science Bowl, and met up with the other team from our metro area, two of the five kids on the other team had gone to elementary school with him in our very good public school system. It was something of an Old Home Week.

[JDPriestly]

5. The question is not whether the school is private or public.

The question is whether the students are selected for the class based on ability and willingness to learn and pay attention.

My children went to public schools -- Magnet schools -- and we had the same kind of experience that you had in the private schools.

Public schools do a great job for students who are willing to accept a challenge.

But it is impossible to teach kids who are absent a lot or too tired to learn.

The problems in public schools are in the homes of the children, not in the schools.

I have had friends who taught in public schools and friends who taught in private schools, and those who taught in public schools were in general more professional, more dedicated and better prepared to teach. I could not have dreamed of better teachers than my children's public school teachers.

[SheilaT]

7. I had gone to back-to-school nights

for my kids in three different states, and what I was most struck by at the back-to-school night at the private school, was how happy the teachers were. I'd known mostly good, dedicated teachers in every school -- although there are always exceptions -- but it was the level of happiness that stood out.

And yes, the home environment is crucial, and challenging kids is a vital part of the school.

[bluestateguy]

8. I went to secular private school K-3 and public 4-12

I was lucky in that all schools I attended were well above average. There are pluses and minuses to both, but living in a community where parents take responsibility and value education makes all the difference.

[JDPriestly]

4. Catholic schools owe a lot to the intellectual rigor of the Jesuits.

[Hangingon]

6. +1

[knitter4democracy]

10. And the Ursulines.

Just sayin'.

[skippercollector]

9. catholic high school

I went to a Catholic high school in the 1970s in one of the most conservative cities in the United States. You'd be surprised by how liberal the Catholic schools were in those days. The teachers (lay and clergy) pretty much came out and said that birth control was a personal decision. In other words, they never said it was forbidden.
Please realize that abortion was, and still is, very much forbidden. But the Pill in the 1970s wasn't really a no-no.
Most Catholics do not take the Bible literally, and haven't for decades, if not centuries. I know there are exceptions (LeFebevre's followers, the center of the universe followers) but they are in the minority. I don't know if I've ever even known a Catholic who believes that God made the world in seven days.
By the way, I took AP English in high school and got a bachelor's degree in communications in college. One of my sisters, and one of my closest friends, both of whom attended the same high school, have master's degrees in nursing.

[knitter4democracy]

11. That squares with my experiences in teaching.

I went to an evangelical Christian college, taught in Catholic schools, and I applied for a few different Christian schools (when I was desperate for a teaching job right out of college), and I have to say, those evangelical schools aren't big on intellect or content or actual curriculum standards. Not like the Catholic schools are.

I'm subbing in a public school until Thanksgiving (no other teaching job for me this year), and the stupid hoops the state is requiring us to jump through aren't messed with in the Catholic schools. Guess who has higher test scores, graduation rates, etc.