Choices in School
In the past couple of days, I have been confronted with some very pro-public school perspectives. On Sunday, a woman who is a retired public school teacher told me I should go to the open houses at the magnet schools and consider sending my children. I just smiled and said “I do not know.” (Although I feel incredibly strong about my decision to homeschool, I do not look for debates on the issue.) Her reply was “well, pretty soon you are going to find yourself teaching chemistry.”
Even though I did not reply, I was thinking “over my dead body,”. I do feel very strongly about homeschooling. Lately, I feel I have to apologise for choosing to homeschool. I have heard people say the homeschooling is just the “Catholic thing to do”, or that the Church does not state that one must homeschool…I certainly believe all this and try to weigh in the options so I can stay “centered”. Yet the more I mull over our choice, the stronger I am in my resolve. So here are some of my cons for not sending my children to school:
I cannot send my children to a school that is not only void of religion, but where being religious is worse than having the plague. They should not only be allowed to say the Angelus at noon and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy at 3, it should be encouraged. Or in the very least feel comfortable enough to do so.
I cannot send my children to a school that teaches sex ed. I will not send my children to an institution that teaches that birth control is OK, and refers to it as “protection”. I will not send them to a school that teaches them that premarital sex is just fine as long as precautions are taken to avoid pregnancy. This is Ass Backwards logic. Sex is for procreation. Besides the moral implications and that is is a mortal sin, if I allow my children to be taught that logic is only based on what you want to do, how can I expect them to reason out the most basic of logical problems, like a mathematics problem, for example?
I cannot send my children to a Catholic school where the faith is so watered down that it barely resembles Catholicism. I think this may be even more dangerous than sending my children to let’s say a Protestant school because as Catholic parents I can always say “well, we are Catholic, we do not believe that…” What happens when a nun tells my children that the Eucharist is just symbolic and my children think “well, that is a nun saying it…”
I cannot send my children to a school that values diversity over true history. Where teachers and classmates feel the need to make sure my children know they are black, white, Hispanic etc-that they have to fall into some “group”. The predominant culture in our household is Catholic American. They should not have to choose being “black” for example over being Catholic. For myself, being in a public school as a bi-racial student, I had to choose when I was going to be around my white friends or black friends. I had to choose a racial identity at school, while at home I was just Pansy.Not to mention I was teased often for being a black Catholic as opposed to being Muslim or Baptist. I will pass on exposing my children to that for now.
I cannot send my daughter to a school where her peers are dressed in some of the immoral atrocities that are the “current trends”.
My children should not be afraid to be pro-life.
My daughter reads at a seventh grade reading level.
Many people say that I should expose my children to different types of thinking, and perhaps there is some truth to that, but I do not believe my children should be exposed in an environment that is so contrary to Catholic philosophy, 6 hours a day, 5 days a week. Children are in the process of formation, and special care must be taken that they are formed correctly.
I worry often that my daughter does not have enough little girlfriends she sees on a daily basis, but when I see the little girls at the public schools, I do not want my daughter around those types of peers.
The only pro I can think of is access to more programs, but what is the good of having more computer classes at the expense of their souls?