Why We Send Our Daughter to a Catholic School

By Bill Henk –  Today’s post amounts to a celebration of America’s K-12 Catholic schools.  These havens of academic excellence and faith formation have rightly been called a national treasure by none other than former U. S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings.  This designation is no wonder,  because the success of Catholic education contributed mightily to the ascendance of our country.   And what better time to honor this rich tradition than right in the middle of Catholic Schools Week.

Initially established to educate an immigrant population, our Catholic elementary and secondary schools have evolved to touch the lives of children and families across every sector of our nation’s tapestry.  After hitting a high watermark in the 1960′s, however, Catholic schools declined both in their number and in the corpus of children who are served by them.  Happily, in some parts of the country enrollment is increasing again, including the numbers in our own Archdiocese of Milwaukee.  At present some 32000 students attend 14 high schools and 105 grade schools in 10 counties under its dominion.

Numerous reasons exist for sending children to Catholic schools.  Rather than attempt to list all or even most of them.  I’m choosing instead to tell you what drove the personal decision that my wife, Lisa, and I made.  By telling our story, I expect that the major ”selling points” from such a list will emerge naturally.

Public or Private?

First of all, you need to understand that our daughter, Audrey, is the love of our lives.  She is infinitely precious to my wife and to me.  Fact is, we adore her.   Because Audrey is destined to be an only child, when it comes to her education, something I happen to know a little about, we want to get it as right as possible.

Now I have to say at the outset that I am also a staunch supporter of high quality public education.  Audrey could attend perfectly fine schools in the district where we live.  And for the record, I am a 100% public school product myself, and feel that I was very well served academically.  Private education was never part of my background until I came to Marquette, after stints at five public higher education institutions as a student and a professor.

So why did my wife and I opt to send Audrey to a Catholic school?  Long before we had to decide between public or parochial education, I honestly wasn’t sure what we’d do when the time came.  Our discernment started out with day care.  Audrey was three years old, and Lisa was scheduled to return to work.  A nearby faith-based facility, not Catholic, but still Christian, came highly recommended to us by neighbors we trusted.  In turn, our impressions when we toured the place and the convenience it afforded us made the choice a reasonable one.

Sad to say for an Education dean, but I hadn’t given any prior thought to curriculum.  She was too young for me to worry about it I guess.  As long as her environment was safe and enjoyable and the care she received was professional and loving, I’d be fine.

But not long after Audrey started attending, curious and unexpected outcomes occurred.  When we’d have our nightly bedtime talks, she began sharing what she had learned about God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit.  And she’d often recount religious songs that she had learned during the day.  Every time these episodes unfolded, I found myself smiling.   And that’s when the seed for a faith-based education first took firm root.

Audrey flourished at the day care in every respect, and we were grateful for the Christian experience she received there.  But the time soon came to decide on a four year old Kindergarten (K-4) placement.

Off To Catholic Schools

We chose St. Charles Borromeo, one of about three possible schools that were close to our home.  And here’s the thing:  all of these Catholic schools would have been excellent.  However, St. Charles was smaller and more intimate, the enthusiasm of its principal, Ellen Knippel, was infectious, and all of the staff, including Barbara Leonard, her K-4 teacher, and her aides were skilled, passionate, and extremely nurturing.

Audrey had another terrific year, and we were sad that she wouldn’t be able to continue attending there longterm after we moved several miles away last winter. We did keep her enrolled until school ended, and by the way, it was only then that I realized St. Charles was a choice school.  You’d think someone in my position would know that since I work with Archdiocese through our Greater Milwaukee Catholic Education Consortium.

Anyway, although we were back to square one, I’m pleased to report that we once again had at least three outstanding Catholic schools from which to choose.  Each enjoyed solid evidence of academic excellence and stellar reputations.   Thankfully we couldn’t go wrong.

Still we had to decide, so I asked Brenda White, Associate Superintendent in our Archdiocese’s Office for Schools, to share her thoughts with me about all three schools.  The information was very helpful, and my dear friend and colleague, Kathleen Cepelka, the marvelous Superintendent of Catholic Schools, confirmed it.  Coupled with our own research and some visits, we were ready to make a decision.  It did not come down to choosing the best school; there was no way to decide that.  It came down to finding the best fit for Audrey.

We ultimately selected St. Mary School in Hales Corners, because except for being notably larger, the school exhibited all the factors that had endeared St. Charles to us.   First, principal Gina Brown is highly regarded in the Archdiocese and deservedly so.  She oversees  a teaching staff that again appears to be very knowledgeable, talented, dedicated, and caring.  It’s no surprise that the school’s academic achievement profile is so impressive.  In short, we couldn’t be happier.

But it’s not “merely” the exemplary instruction that Audrey experiences thanks to her exceptional K-5 teacher, Linda Scharine, that has us sold.  It’s also the love as well as the infusion of faith, perhaps the most compelling reason of all.

Don’t get me wrong.  If the education our daughter was receiving at ANY school struck us as academically inferior, she’d be attending elsewhere.   In my experience, there is no loss in academic quality in Catholic schools.  On the contrary,  it’s more often the case that the education Catholic schools deliver ranks as every bit as good if not better than competitor schools.

If you’re wondering why, here’s my theory –  the majority of educators in Catholic schools seem to regard their work as a calling.  Let’s face it, they could all be making more money elsewhere.   The less committed probably do leave for that reason.  But the dedicated veterans and enthusiastic newcomers,  precisely who I’d want teaching our child, choose to stay, because they believe perpetuating the Catholic faith is at or near the top of what schools are supposed to do.

So, in the end the pivotal ”value-added” of Catholic education for us is the grounding our daughter is getting in our faith.  (And for the record, I would likely say the same thing about most or all high quality faith-based schools, Christian or otherwise).

You see, for me it comes down to the issue of spirituality.  My daughter is definitely not going to receive that commodity in a public school setting.  And frankly, I’m envious.  Although I’m a lifelong Catholic, my parents couldn’t afford to send me to a Catholic school, and as a result, I never really understood my religion.  Nor did I learn to appreciate the enormous empowerment it could offer — that is, until I came under the influence of my Jesuit mentors at Marquette at the ripe old age of 53.

In the meantime I had been a hit-or-miss Catholic depending on whatever life phase I happened to be in.  I attribute that wavering to a shortfall in my religious education.  Going to Sunday school (namely, Catechism classes) and not attending as regularly as I should have, left me thinking as a young boy that being a Catholic meant ‘memorizing a lot of holy stuff.’  Because of this acute misunderstanding, a genuine foundation for spirituality never really took hold for me.

Even so, over the years I couldn’t help but notice that my friends who had attended Catholic elementary and secondary schools did possess richer spiritual lives.  They all tended to be grounded differently — worshipping in a way I couldn’t imagine.  And they found deep fulfillment in it.

What I came to realize is that they benefited from what my colleague Martin Scanlan calls the “lived experience of Catholic schools.”   Immersion in faith-based school cultures, where religious themes were woven throughout classes and extracurricular activities each day, made God a consistent presence and force in their lives.

In these contexts, prayer comes naturally.  As does faith. As does spirituality.

I dearly want these treasures for our daughter.  Rather than come to these realizations very late in life like I did, my hope is that she’ll prosper from them as soon as possible.  Why?  Because my own spirituality, once set in proper motion, has been altogether joyous, life altering, affirming, and uplifting.  And I’m convinced that it is only through a faith-based (and in my family’s case) a Catholic education, that Audrey will get there.

A Keeper of a Story

In closing, I’m reminded of a speaker I heard at my first national summit on how K-12 Catholic education and Catholic institutions of higher education could partner together.  A successful businessman, who as a parent volunteer played a key role in the launching of three new Catholic schools in Atlanta, shared what his high school-aged daughter told him about her education.

Here’s what she said,

Dad, when I was in elementary and middle school I didn’t really get why going to Catholic schools mattered so much.  Now that I’m about to graduate and go out into the world, I know that God will always be with me, that He’ll keep me safe, and that he’ll help me with whatever life has in store.  I’m not afraid any more; I’m ready.  Thank you for sending me.” 

Now that story, my friends, captures better than I ever could why I send my daughter to a Catholic school.

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We celebrate ALL of the excellent Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee including the two that happen to be mentioned here.  May God bless every professional, paraprofessional, and volunteer whose efforts make P-12 Catholic education possible.  The Marquette Educator salutes you in this extremely well deserved week of special recognition.