Religious Schools outperform others

Students at religious schools were less likely, for instance, to get suspended, get into fights, do drugs, and get involved in bullying. These students also showed more respect for teachers.

 

(Long Beach, CA)—Where to send your children to school ranks up there with one of the most important, stressful and frustrating decisions a parent has to make.

As a parochial educated student my entire life, I was sold on private schools. My husband excelled in the public school system in the early 1960’s and found his experiences there rewarding and memorable. It took faith and a lot of sacrifice and praying and compromising between us to agree on our children’s education. In the end, all three were homeschooled a good part of their lives and then attended a private local Christian high school.(Photo: Post-Gazette) 

I can say my husband and I have no regrets. Our children are all happily married now, grounded, hard-working and successful in their chosen careers. Still, when it’s all said and done, our experience taught us one thing: every school system—private, public, or homeschool—has its pros and cons, its strengths and weaknesses.

Sadly, school choice can be a divisive subject within the Christian community, though it shouldn’t be. I recall parents who chose to send their children to public schools because they didn’t have the money for private education, felt inadequate to teach their own children, or believed strongly that their children could be a light in the public system, being ostracized for their decision. By the same token, there were times I felt others judging me as being anti-social and less missional for homeschooling and later, elitist because we were able to scrape together the money for a private education for our children. (Photo: Post-Gazette) 

Now comes a new study by William Jeynes at California State University at Long Beach, which shows that religious school students—mostly Christian—were a full year ahead of students who attended public and charter schools.

According to a Christian Post report, several reasons were given for religious schools’ outperformance, including smaller class sizes, stronger discipline, parent involvement, students encouraged to take difficult courses much more frequently, and the “can do” attitude they are equipped with in school.

Importantly, Jeynes did not include homeschooled students in the study, though he has studied them in the past and concludes that they do even better than students at religious schools.

Whatever choice you make, may God’s grace and peace be with you!