Every year we lose more and more students to Catholic schools. It is the biggest decision an 8th grader has to make.
In the class of 2021 alone, we lost about 45 kids to schools like Chaminade, Kellenberg, St. Anthony’s, Our Lady of Mercy, St. Dominic’s, Holy Trinity and Sacred Heart. After all, these kids did study all summer to prepare for the test.
Not only, do they go for a more studious environment. They go for the sports and the social aspect. Chaminade freshman baseball Player Thomas Tariche says,
“The transition from public school to an all boys school was weird at first but after a few weeks it was easy to get used to and is basically normal as of now,” says Thomas Tariche, Chaminade freshman baseball Player. “Catholic school and public school sports are very different. In public school everybody has known everybody for their entire lives so the chemistry between the guys is natural. The dugout is usually pretty loud because of all the pride in the team. In Catholic school not everybody knows each other and it takes a little bit of time to develop as a team.”
How about teachers opinions? Are Catholic school teachers public school parents? And vise versa?
“My children all went to public school and state universities,” said Mr. Kravitz, English and Journalism teacher. “I believe many Wantagh teachers’ children attended or attend public schools.”
As we lose many kids to these schools, many do come back. Some even after only being there for a month.
“The environment was too strict and the girls were too stuck up,” says former Our Lady of Mercy freshman, current Wantagh High School freshman Julianne Noel, on the reason she returned to Wantagh.
Many kids chose not to go at all.
Wantagh High School freshman Reilly Brady says, “I just didn’t want to. I didn’t think there was a difference between the education at a Catholic school and at a public school.”
But in the end, what is the difference between Catholic schools and public schools?
Are they really going to push you up that much higher in life? It is really worth paying for four years of high school rather than go to a school just as good that your family already paid for through taxes.