Why Private Catholic School Isn't Always Better Than Public School

You don't always get what you pay for, when it comes to sending your kid to a private school. I should know, because I went to a Catholic high school for grades 9 and 10, and to a Catholic grade school from grades 1 through 6. And I was so deprived.

But I never realized that until I was older.

That blasted Catholic school offered no extracurricular activities! Except a girls' softball team that was a new thing, implemented when I was in the fourth grade, I believe. But that was it.

There were absolutely no other extracurricular activities, unless you want to consider the annual science fair one. Now, maybe things have changed since I was in grade school, and maybe today, every single Catholic grade school has lots of extracurricular activities. On the other hand, I know for a fact that when I was in grade school, all the public grade schools offered many an extracurricular activity.

The athlete in me remained buried all through grade school. When a kid is surrounded by sedation, how are they supposed to have the resolve and initiative to go hunting for athletic challenges? The only sports I thought existed at that age, was kickball during gym class.

The high school had about 900 students and was an all-girl school. There was no athletic department! But they did have a soccer team and softball team. I think they had a volleyball team. But they never had a track team until I was in the ninth grade. So they were definitely underdeveloped in the sports arena. They did have a drama department.

But extracurricular activities aren't the only issue here. The kids at a private school are no better mannered than kids at a public high school. Some parents tend to think that public high schools are rough and full of tough kids.

But this all-girls high school was teaming with back-stabbing, gossiping, vicious girls -- vicious with their mouths, that is. Though I never witnessed a fist fight, the verbal assaults were rampant. There were a lot of mean girls. There were girls who habitually got bad grades. Their parents were throwing the tuition money out the window.