How Were You Schooled? Part 2: Private Schools
Wednesday, June 30, 2010 at 7:00AM 
Missed Part 1: Homeschooling? Catch up HERE
In short form, I was homeschooled from fourth grade through to my freshman year of high school. My parents decided to put me into a "brick-and-mortar" school at that time because they didn't want to take any chances where scholarships or university admissions were concerned. They enrolled me in a small private school attached to our protestant Christian church. Classes were small, and they offered accelerated courses for students who wanted the more challenging academic route. It seemed promising.
Being totally honest, I have a lot of mixed feelings about attending a school that used a religiously biased curriculum. Private Christian schools in the south/southwest are different than the Catholic schools in the North. The school I attended required that each student be a Christian, moral codes are enacted, and the curriculum was religious (taught only Creationism, evolution in a disagreeable light, science and history was told in a Christian light, etc.) Catholic schools here in Chicago also often have moral codes, but the Bible is taught in a literary manner, the curriculum is usually unbiased, and any student can attend, Catholic or not. I explain these differences so that my readers in both the North and the South understand the very distinct differences.
For me, now that I have some years and a college degree between me and high school, I wouldn't advocate for education that has a religious bias. It's one thing for the atmosphere of the school to encourage a particular religious point of view or create religious literacy (which I totally advocate for), but I dislike the idea of an entire curriculum that edits everything toward that viewpoint. I was at a significant disadvantage in college, because I knew very little about evolution and scientific initiatives that didn't jive with the Christian church. My high school history courses ignored the fact that our founding fathers were NOT all Christians - in fact the textbooks bordered on total misrepresentation in that department. I felt like the textbooks were trying to tell me what to think instead of equipping me to make my own decisions.
I think, when I'm a mom, I'd be willing to look into Catholic school or a secular private school. Here in Chicago, depending on the suburb/neighborhood, we have some pretty great public schools, as well, which I'd be open to. However, I am NOT open to any school that uses a religiously biased set of textbooks. You can't just ignore parts of history that happened, and misrepresenting history really makes me angry. History is one of the greatest ways to understand humanity, and to do better. How can you learn, if it's not represented accurately? Don't even get me started on the proposed TX textbook changes. I can't even talk about them without making myself apoplectic.
Every school has significant pros and cons - it's normal. At my school, I met several peeps with whom I am still dear friends. I had a number of teachers that were great. I started developing socially (my BFA in Theatre finished that off... you can't really be shy in theatre school). I learned how to be an academic self-starter. I also got into the university of my choice without a hitch, since I graduated from a "normal" school.
As you can see, I have a lot of mixed feelings about my high school experience, mainly due to the way I later found out that several of my textbooks were so strongly biased. To me, schools should focus on learning and equipping you to make your own choices, NOT telling you what those choices should be. To me, producing graduates who think for themselves is a school's highest achievement.
Did you attend a private high school? How about a public high school? No school is perfect, but I'd be interested in hearing what were the pros and cons for you?
Reader Comments (6)
I went to a private Catholic school and you are right it was more liberal in the curriculum. We learned about evolution, Religion was taught in four years and the latter two were based on ethics and morality. .They were accepting of all types of students (only requirement was that you are a female) and they used these students as tools for learning about culture, religion and history. We did have to wear uniforms and to this day I have an aversion to plaid.
I also went to a Catholic affiliated university but that was very open and liberal. the accepted all types of people and ideas. While we were required to take a religion class the offerings varied and they were some of the most interesting classes.
While I wish that my HS has a bit more and varied classes I have no regrets about my education.
This is a really interesting series! My husband and I both went to public schools that were just "OK" (good in some ways, lacking in others: for example, neither of us had Trigonometry when we graduated because the school thought it wasn't necessary for most students to know, and our only offered second language was spanish, etc). Depending on where we live and what options are available when we have school-age children, we would consider a private school for them. If we live here, there isn't a lot of choice: the only private school with a great reputation is the catholic one. Since we aren't religious (and want our children to be free to make up their own minds about religion), we would definitely want to know what policies, codes and practices any religion-affiliated school uses. Thanks for the clarification regarding the north vs. south schools too: we live in the north so I do wonder if our school follows similar rules to those in Chicago.
Really enjoyed reading this post! I went to a Lutheran middle school 40 minutes northwest of Chicago. Unfortunately, it was much like your high school, except less academically rigorous. The only "advanced" class they ever offered was Algebra. Not kidding! And there were only FOUR of us that took it in 8th grade. Coming from a solid public school, I was way ahead and definitely got lazy since I could get A's without trying. But the worst part was the bias you mentioned - America as a religious nation in history classes, evolution as a "test of our faith" etc.
I opted to go to public high school for these reasons. I do feel my time at that school set me behind, though. I now go to DePaul, which is Catholic but does not stray from accepted scientific theory/research. We plan on raising our kids in the city, and while I would consider sending them to a school similar in curriculum philosophy to DePaul, I'd rather send them to a secular private or public school in our neighborhood (we're in Lakeview.)
Anni, I attended DePaul, as well! And I was in The Theatre School - a 180 from a strict religious school :)
How random! It's always fun to find someone else from DePaul, and I just stumbled on your blog from when you were on Weddingbee! I'm crossing my fingers that I get to stay for grad school (Clinical Psych) because I love it so much.
Now that I'm caught up on this series, I have a few thoughts about this well - very thought provoking series Penny! I think that religious curriculum is not necessarily a bad thing (yes, even curriculum that suggests alternatives to evolution). I was exposed to curriculum with religious and humanistic biases throughout my educational experience (homeschooling, private school classes, community college, liberal arts undergrad, Christian graduate school). I think it's a mistake to think that non-religious curriculum is unbiased. The bias is there, you just have to figure out what it is. I don't believe it's a curriculum issue, as much as it's an issue of how it is taught. If you're taught to question, wrestle, doubt, believe, look within, and scientifically examine, then I think that you're using all learning tools to determine what you think is true. I think that religious curriculum plays an important part in representing the other side of the story. Historical accounts and scientific theories are both subjective and I think the best education teaches to examine these for oneself.