Non-Catholic going to Catholic School (Islip, Huntington: school district, college, live)
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I am curious to hear about any experiences/advice regarding a non-Catholic going to Catholic school. We are considering sending our son to a Catholic school, most likely for middle and high school and possibly for elementary school as well. We are raising him Methodist, and neither my wife or I are particularly religious. For elementary, he would probably be attending St. Patrick's in Smithtown, Sts. Philip & James in St. James, or St. Joseph's in Ronkonkoma (any thoughts on these schools would be appreciated). For high school it would either be St. Anthony's in Huntington or St. John's in West Islip. Catholic school is really the only practical option for us since the non-Catholic schools are so much money. I am concerned about him not fitting in and getting confused by all the Catholic-oriented things he would be involved in (we don't have anything against the Catholic faith, it's just not what he'd be raised with). Any thoughts on these issues would be appreciated.
Another option we are considering is moving to another school district, i.e. Smithtown or Three Village, but with the expenses and hassle of moving, we are not sure it is worth it, vs. sending him to private school.
Finally, we would be concerned that our son would be unprepared for Catholic high school if he goes to the local public elementary school - people have told us that public school does not prepare children for the workload of a Catholic high school. Is there any truth to this?
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Where is it that you live that you feel you can not send your child to even the elementary schools? There aren't that many districts on the island that fall into this category.
In my experience as a teacher in both the Catholic and public schools, I would say that the public school elementary schools are a lot better than the Catholic ones. The teachers are better trained & there are simply more educational experiences. Catholic schools are often overcrowded & the teaching is more rote than in the public schools.
The Catholic High Schools are a different story ; usually they have a wonderful group of children and I would recommend almost any of them, specifically the ones you have mentioned.
The religious angle is totally a non-issue as Catholic schools have been welcoming to non-Catholics since I attended them in the sixties. I would not even give that a thought. Best of luck !!!
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Thanks Nancy for your reply. I'm in the Middle Country district. Our elementary school, Eugene Auer, does not have very good NYS test score results, so that is one consideration. In fact, its 5th grade math results are one of the lowest in all Suffolk elementary schools. I have not visited the school yet, so I do not know what the learning environment is like. Additionally, a few people told us that going there would not properly prepare our son for Catholic high school, as the work load is (supposedly) much higher in a Catholic school. I do not know if this is a valid consideration or not. Quite honestly, from a financial perspective, we'd rather send our son to the local public elementary school and then to Catholic high school, as it is a significant amount of money. I just wasn't sure if this is a good idea. I appreciate your feedback on Catholic elementary schools; I have heard that St. Patrick's is very good, but I am not sure about the others. I do know that Sts. Philip & James has very good standardized test score results, which they post a summary of on their website (much better than my district's elementary schools). Also, we would have to be concerned about middle school as well (Dawnwood) - I have not visited this school yet, so I do not know how it is. If it looks anything like the inside of Centereach High School (I was shocked at how old and beat up it looked), I would certainly not want to send my son there. Any more input would be appreciated.
Last edited by villager-li; 10-22-2008 at 04:06 AM..
I am a product of Catholic school. I began in public elementary school and switched into catholic school in 3rd grade. In my experience, the Catholic school education that I received was far superior to the public school education. There was an adjustment period. The level of work and amount of work was higher in the catholic school. In publice school, a mediocre assignment would get an A. In Catholic school, I had to strive for an A. My Catholic school high school education definately put me ahead of my public school friends in college. They were stressing and I found college to be easier than high school. I went to Sacred Heart academy for high school.
If you can afford it, it would be a great investment.
As for non-Catholics in Catholic school: I never saw a problem. At sacred heart we had a few Lutherans, episcopaliens, and methodists. We also has 2 Muslim girls and 1 Jewish girl in early 2000. They were not treated any differently at all. the only difference is that they would not receive communion at mass.
I am curious to hear about any experiences/advice regarding a non-Catholic going to Catholic school. We are considering sending our son to a Catholic school, most likely for middle and high school and possibly for elementary school as well. We are raising him Methodist, and neither my wife or I are particularly religious. For elementary, he would probably be attending St. Patrick's in Smithtown, Sts. Philip & James in St. James, or St. Joseph's in Ronkonkoma (any thoughts on these schools would be appreciated). For high school it would either be St. Anthony's in Huntington or St. John's in West Islip. Catholic school is really the only practical option for us since the non-Catholic schools are so much money. I am concerned about him not fitting in and getting confused by all the Catholic-oriented things he would be involved in (we don't have anything against the Catholic faith, it's just not what he'd be raised with). Any thoughts on these issues would be appreciated.
Another option we are considering is moving to another school district, i.e. Smithtown or Three Village, but with the expenses and hassle of moving, we are not sure it is worth it, vs. sending him to private school.
Finally, we would be concerned that our son would be unprepared for Catholic high school if he goes to the local public elementary school - people have told us that public school does not prepare children for the workload of a Catholic high school. Is there any truth to this?
Thanks in advance for any input.
My children attend Sts. Philips & James (SSPJ) and we are extremely satisfied with the education they are getting. We chose them over St. Pat's for several reasons. I do not know much about St. Joes. The interesting thing about SSPJ is that they draw children from as far away as Holtsville and Huntington Station. 16 of 18 of the 8th graders last year were accepted to Chaminade......which is amazing. Send me a message with any questions.
As far as non catholic, there will be no issues about not fitting in. Beware that some Catholic high schools are now catholic only acceptance due to high enrollment.
Went to Catholic school on LI for 12 years. One of my best friends from high school is Hindu - obviously a far cry from Catholicism! She never had any problems from the school (sometimes she went to the masses, sometimes she called out sick) and I don't think she was treated any differently. Another girl in the class was Jewish, and made an active decision to attend Catholic school to gain a minority experience. She also didn't have any problems. To my knowledge, neither regretted the decision and I know my BF would make the same decision again. Back when I applied (early 90s) there was no requirement to be Catholic, but obviously that could have changed over the past 10-15 years.
Most of my friends have done well for themselves, and are very satisfied with the education they received. It's not perfect - you generally have more options for classes, more APs, more after school activities in public schools, but I would still send my kids to a Catholic school in a heartbeat. IMO, there's a different mentality that is taught, higher personal and academic standards etc.
we went to catholic school all my life (k-12) and i would not have wanted it any other way.
what a great experience and I wouldnt be who i am or what i have done in life without it.
i am now teaching religious ed (grade 6) for my old grammer school and i LOVE it
Also in june I have my 15th yr of grammer school (8th grade) reunion which i am excited about.
we had one when it was our 10th and it was one of the best nights ever!!!
We are not Catholic. But my niece was enrolled in a prestigious private girls' Catholic school in NYC. After that one year, my sister took her out because of the outrageous proselytizing.
And that flew in the face of the statements the headmistress and faculty gave, saying they never pushed religion on the students.
We are not Catholic. But my niece was enrolled in a prestigious private girls' Catholic school in NYC. After that one year, my sister took her out because of the outrageous proselytizing.
And that flew in the face of the statements the headmistress and faculty gave, saying they never pushed religion on the students.
That could be that one school. One thing I forgot to mention in my previous post is that there is a mandatory religion class. I never noticed any outrageous proseltyzing, but they do teach about Jesus, Bible stories, and Catholic ideas. All of the non-Catholics that I knew from Catholic school never had a problem with that, but you should be aware in case it is an issue. I still think Catholic education is the best
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