by Meagan DeJong

Created on: March 19, 2009

The Many Sins of Catholic School

So then my parents decided on Catholic school for the beginning of sixth grade, instead of going to the middle school with these really messed up kids- whose parents might as well have been sitting in the desks with them. Maybe the Catholic school was a better environment with less parent involvement and more values. Plus, the kids had to wear uniforms, which took away the problem of having to keep up-to-date on designer brands. Now let me just say I totally understand this decision from a parent's perspective and would do the same thing. This was the same church, St. Mary's, where my parents were married and where I attended CCD and received my first holy communion.

Anyway, what resulted was that starting this new school really taxed my already nearly-destroyed nerves, and I realized that Catholic school was just as convoluted as public school, albeit in a different way. For one thing, the nuns who taught the classes (who by now can dress normally, so don't picture the habits) completely disliked children and didn't really try to hide it. For another, they didn't know how to teach or possibly had to adhere to a curriculum from 1956. Though some of the teachers I had in public school blew, (not because of the way they taught but because they weren't inspiring in any way, shape, or form) I did have one that was really cool in fifth grade named Mrs. Bernstock. She encouraged me to pursue my love of writing and was patient with me regarding my cluelessness in math. In Catholic school, though, all of the teachers were even blander than the communion wafers. They didn't even try. And what's worse is that my two favorite subjects- History and English- were probably the most boring of all. We were studying Ancient Egypt, which practically teaches itself it's so cool, and they found a way to make it boring as hell. In English, we didn't get to read any books that were even remotely good, and had to do the dreaded grammar. To this day, I absolutely hate grammar and do not see its purpose besides torturing children. So right away, I had a beef with the teachers and the classes. Oh- and one of my classes was called "Religion" which I find hilarious now because it just taught us the tenets of Catholicism, which can be summed up in a sentence comprised of six words: "FEEL GUILTY for just about everything". By the way, though I am listing some really crappy crap about the Catholic Church and therefore school, there are better things about

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