Schooling Your Children

 

Deciding on where to send your children to school can be a daunting one. But what does our faith require of us with regards to our children’s education?

‘As those first responsible for the education of their children, parents have the right to choose a school for them which corresponds to their own convictions. This right is fundamental. As far as possible parents have the duty of choosing schools that will best help them in their task as Christian educators. Public authorities have the duty of guaranteeing this parental right and of ensuring the concrete conditions for its exercise.’ (CCC 2228)

So, it’s our right to choose where our children go to school, based on our own convictions. So then, what options are there?

Home schooling

Home schooling is often the preferred option for Catholic families who want to ensure that their children are educated very strongly and correctly in the Catholic faith. There are many networks of home schooled families throughout Australia who support each other and meet up for the home school equivalent of excursions.

Parents have the power to choose their own preferred curriculum and can maintain a particular emphasis on religion. The hours can be made to fit around your home activities and I’ve often heard mothers who home school explain that the work is done quicker and their children actually spend more time playing or entertaining themselves during the day than those who attend traditional schools.

Home schooling saves money in terms of uniforms, school bags, transport to and from school, school and excursion fees and any other out of pocket expenses that schools may have.

One of the frustrations that home schooler families have is that the government is not terribly supportive of them and they often find themselves overwhelmed by making sure the education of their children meets the criteria and jumps through all of the hoops so to speak. Currently there is a discussion nationally about home schooling and people from all aspects of the home school community have been asked to contribute feedback and their experiences. A friend of mine last week travelled to Sydney to be interviewed by a panel of politicians on the subject. I have yet to hear how she went but she was concerned that those on the panel may have had vested interests.

Parochial Catholic schools

Once the bastion of Catholicity, with religion overseen and taught by priests and religious, Catholic education now varies from diocese to diocese based on the religion program that each chooses and the way in which the sacramental programs are coordinated.

Some schools choose their own religious education programs and run their own sacramental programs in school hours. In other parishes the sacramental programs are facilitated by the parish priests or catechists. Parents have no say in the religious courses taught to their children and depending on where the programs are developed they often favour a more social justice bent and are less likely to be as solid, or hard line, as parents may prefer.

That is not to detract from schools, and teachers, who do undertake all things with passion and gusto. Parents often find that religious education is not inaccurate, rather, more politically correct and requires greater effort at home with regards to understanding the Catholic faith.

Parents who choose to send their children to parochial Catholic schools, for other than religious reasons, often do so because they do not want them attending public schools and would prefer a private school option so as to ‘ensure’ academic success.

Catholic schools often have higher fees, because they are not fully funded by the government, and a stricter adherence to uniforms than public schools.

Public schools

Public schools are, as they profess to be, a one size fits all policy and children will get some religious education based on the religious education programs offered by outside parties in the school. Some public schools still allow Catholic scripture classes, but more often than not, children are exposed to non-denominational scripture classes which are an opt-in rather than an opt-out. These vary from school to school and depend a lot on the relationship between the school and the local churches.

Public school fees are cheaper and uniforms are generally more simple, less expensive and more loosely policed.

Independent schools

The religious education taught in independent schools depends on the governing ethos. Some schools may be a Christian, Anglican or Lutheran denomination but are chosen by parents due to the academic excellence of the students. Catholic students often find religion classes to be uncomfortable and can experience heated debates or even belittling of their faith in such an environment in class. Generally speaking, outside of religion classes the Christian community of an independent school is often a happy one.

More recently there has been the emergence of independent Catholic schools which deliberately foster a Catholic community and make weekly Mass attendance a compulsory part of school enrolment. Adoration, Benediction, Mass and prayers are of paramount importance and religious instruction is taught by priests and religious and follows the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Two such schools have been opened in the Diocese of Wagga Wagga, with one located in Wagga Wagga and one in Jindera, which is just on the outskirts of Albury.

These schools are also top performers academically, scoring high NAPLAN results, because of the small class sizes that such a controversial school attracts. The community is unashamedly Catholic and polarises the local Catholic community who either see it as the next best thing to home schooling or far too traditional and old fashioned.

How to decide?

Less face it, as much as we’d love to make decisions based absolutely on our faith alone, other factors such as location and finance come in to play. I feel blessed to be able to send my children to one of the independent Catholic schools I mentioned above, but not all of us have that luxury. Our second option was the local Catholic school because the sacramental program is parish, rather than school, based. I did consider home schooling, but with a past history of PND I didn’t feel comfortable putting myself in a position where I would be trying to be the perfect teacher for my children and lose my sanity in the process. As an aside, I’m a public school graduate and I love and practice my faith!

Pray, discern, and if in doubt consult a priest you trust. Whether you home school or send your child to a public school you will still need to continue to educate your children in the Catholic faith at home. You shouldn’t ever feel guilty for where you send your children to school, or how you decide to educate them, even if others don’t share your views. Let God guide your choices!

Originally posted 2014-09-23 22:26:46.