Catholic Schools

[Guest]

If it was a wind-up, I FORGIVE HER (as a Christian)

[BonnieParker]

This is NOT a wind up, it is a simple technical question ( please read my initial post ) and despite the fact that I do not agree with everyone's opinion on this forum, I appreciate your views and wish to thank all of you for your valuable suggestions.

Thanks a lot !

[Guest]

I know parents, no names mentioned of course, who send their children to St Anthonys and do not have the slightest interest in the faith of the school, they simply want to get a good education for their kids, and like or lump it this is a very good local school. I am not a fan of religion and i'm not terribly keen on hypocritical people either, but once you are a parent you will realise that the rules of morality dont exist when confronted with sending your child to a decent local catholic school over a horridly under funded state school, it's just a fact of life, so BonnieParker, I would ignore what others say and just try and get your kids into this school, attend mass and do whatever it takes.

[Mark]

there is a Catholic School search avaible on this site, and a more 'all seeing' search of all schools in the area on this 'schools finder' site

[northerner]

Louisa Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> but once you are a parent you will realise that

> the rules of morality dont exist when confronted

> with sending your child to a decent local catholic

> school over a horridly under funded state school,

I don't think you should even consider it immoral pulling the wool over the churches eyes to get your child into the school of your choice. Why should a significant percentage of local schools be unavailable to you as a parent just because you don't share the faith of the organisation that governs it?

Btw, I'm not anti church or anti faith, just anti faith groups running schools. Personally I think children should be taught about all the main faiths and allowed to choose any or none when old enough to make an intelligent choice ( dream on! ). This does not imply that they should be raised with no moral framework and allowed to run wild. A school is perfectly capable of imposing a strong moral framework without the help of the church.

[Mark]

From a sililar discussion on schools on this site:

A report commissioned by the Department of Education and Skills from the London School of Economics says that "religious affiliation of schools has little impact on their results. Church of England and Roman Catholic schools have fewer children from poor backgrounds and are more likely to be targeted by pushy parents.

The report focuses on the social intake and exam results of England?s 16,000 primary schools. ?There is clear positive selection of pupils into faith schools on the basis of observable characteristics that are favourable to education ? even when we compare pupils that originate in the same block of residential housing,? it says. ?Any performance impact from ?faith? schools in England seems to be closely linked to autonomous governance and admissions arrangements, and not to religious character.?

The report says that pupils in religious schools are more likely to be white, and to have English as their first language and less likely to come from a family on a low income.

The report found that voluntary aided schools (which are run by the church with public money) had some opportunity to covertly pick pupils based on what they could observe about pupils and their family background." Read the full report here (pdf) or on the Telegraph website

In this modern age when reasonable people are trying to bring cultures together to live in harmony, it's a shame that they still bring up children in schools dominated by unfounded superstitious beliefs which install into children an 'Us' and 'Them' attitude.

[snorky]

northerner Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Louisa Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > but once you are a parent you will realise that

> > the rules of morality dont exist when

> confronted

> > with sending your child to a decent local

> catholic

> > school over a horridly under funded state

> school,

>

> I don't think you should even consider it immoral

> pulling the wool over the churches eyes to get

> your child into the school of your choice. Why

> should a significant percentage of local schools

> be unavailable to you as a parent just because you

> don't share the faith of the organisation that

> governs it?

>

> Btw, I'm not anti church or anti faith, just anti

> faith groups running schools. Personally I think

> children should be taught about all the main

> faiths and allowed to choose any or none when old

> enough to make an intelligent choice ( dream on!

> ). This does not imply that they should be raised

> with no moral framework and allowed to run wild.

> A school is perfectly capable of imposing a strong

> moral framework without the help of the church.

Word

[brash]

but once you are a parent you will realise that

> > the rules of morality dont exist when

> confronted

> > with sending your child to a decent local

> catholic

> > school over a horridly under funded state

> school,

Is this what children lewarn from there parents?

[dulwichmum]

Dear Mr Brash,

Welcome to Dulwich!

[brash]

dulwichmum

Thank you!

Brash

[Guest]

Louisa Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I know parents, no names mentioned of course, who

> send their children to St Anthonys and do not have

> the slightest interest in the faith of the school,

> they simply want to get a good education for their

> kids, and like or lump it this is a very good

> local school. I am not a fan of religion and i'm

> not terribly keen on hypocritical people either,

> but once you are a parent you will realise that

> the rules of morality dont exist when confronted

> with sending your child to a decent local catholic

> school over a horridly under funded state school,

> it's just a fact of life, so BonnieParker, I would

> ignore what others say and just try and get your

> kids into this school, attend mass and do whatever

> it takes.

Louise, I don't have a problem with the notion of non-Catholic children attending a Catholic school, but I'm sorry, I don't agree with pretending to be of a certain faith and attending mass purely to get into a school. I can appreciate the fact that many people have no time for religion or Catholicism in particular, but I know of many Catholics who would be offended at the idea of people who have no real interest faking an attempt to receive communion for example. That is a very sacred part of the faith and to do that is showing very little respect for the people who take their faith seriously.

I don't know the admission criteria of St Anthony's, but as far as I'm concerned, a faith school should have places open foremost to children of that faith, with the remaining places taken up by whoever would like to go there and who would meet the criteria of that school (faith aside).

[Guest]

Michael I appreciate your position here, but the Catholic church amongst other faiths isnt exactly prized on it's honesty and morality, so a non-faith parent sending their child to a school and pretending to be Catholic isnt an issue as far as I am concerned. No one is non the wiser, and the child is receiving a good quality education. It may seem a bit harsh, but if it works then do it, the second option of being honest and hoping you may get your non-faith child in if there is room,isnt really an option in my opinion.

[Guest]

Louisa Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Michael I appreciate your position here, but the

> Catholic church amongst other faiths isnt exactly

> prized on it's honesty and morality, so a

> non-faith parent sending their child to a school

> and pretending to be Catholic isnt an issue as far

> as I am concerned. No one is non the wiser, and

> the child is receiving a good quality education.

> It may seem a bit harsh, but if it works then do

> it, the second option of being honest and hoping

> you may get your non-faith child in if there is

> room,isnt really an option in my opinion.

Louisa, I personally don't mind people of any religion going to any school. Although I am Catholic myself, I would try send my kids to any school that would benefit them the most. At the end of the day, I will send my kids to church and teach them their faith at home and hopefully they will grow up well-adjusted people. If they later choose a different path spiritually, then I would let them, because ultimately they have freedom of choice

On the subject of the morality of the Catholic Church, I can't deny that there have been people within it that have been corrupt and immoral in one way or another, but like all things, there are two sides to any story. There are plenty of priests, nuns and just normal members of the church that have also done a lot of good in many ways in many communities around the world. For example, Mother Teresa is just one great example. For every crusader from the middle ages, corrupt pope or paedophile priest, there has been another who has done just as much good as harm.

Anyway, I am not trying to convert you, just merely saying that the "church" is an ambiguous term, similar to saying that all Muslims are violent thugs because some of the more extreme among them bomb innocent people for example.

[dulwichmum]

/

[all_star]

/start off topic warning

Ah Michael, but there are two sides to the Mother Teresa story as well...

/end off topic warning

[snorky]

The Catholic church is rich beyond belief. they should reject state funding for all their schools and thus can take whoever they want under whatever criteria they deem acceptable. When they however choose to take the local authorities shilling then they are fair game to anyone who needs to access public education.

[dulwichmum]

Dear All Star,

I am so pleased that you posted the information above - I put something similar on - but took it off because I did not know where to stop. All severely off topic. Well said.

[batdog]

D-Mum,

Do not worry being off topic, if we all strictly stay on topic, this forum will be EXTREMELY boring and the Administrator extremely "bored".... Ha..HA... !!!

[Administrator]

The previous post is why we posted the Keep threads on topic announcement "...if you want to chat with other users please feel free to do so but not when it's irrelevant to a thread...". This is a thread about Catholic Schools, dulwichmum's and all_star's comments before batdog's were fine, they were about Catholicism stemming from the discussion about Catholic Schools. Of course some threads do slightly go off topic and that's generally fine, but this is the sort of comment that would probably get removed, I hope you understand.

Anyway, back to Mother Teresa, who'd have thought? Just goes to show...

[Paul Holdsworth]

Beware the mythical reputation of Catholic schools.

I went to St Joseph's Academy, on Belmont Hill, in the seventies. It had a great reputation, built upon an allegedly fine past, but it had become truly dire. I was a nervous, shy kid and I was bullied and beaten - by the teachers and "christian brothers" who were supposed to be teaching me. The brothers each had their own cane or leather strap. One had a particularly fiendish 'tool', comprising a short cane stitched into a chrome leather cover - it gives me the shivers just to think about it.

This was a school my older, perhaps more robust brothers had been to, and the quality of education had plummeted, while its fine reputation lived on.

If you want a good education for your children, be honest and fairminded and remember that, if you do your job as a parent properly, they'll flourish in everything but the very worst establishment - their presence in an 'average' school might even help it a bit!

[batdog]

Hi everyone,

Sorry if I've gone off topic "again". I hope my actions did not affect any other forum users. :)

[lavender27]

I have unearthed this thread on page 308. Reading all the comments, I have found it very interesting, some humorous.

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