Catholic education Part II: funds

People think that Catholic schools are rich, thinking it's "private" in a sense where Duke University is rolling in dough, or how Harvard had an endowment that can afford its poorest students free tuition. Where I live? Not really. Some are wealthy; some are poor. A perfect example would be the music departments of Catholic schools versus public schools.

I'm a product of parochial schools (attended an all-male high school; co-ed grade school) only finally entering the secular educational world once I entered university. If there's one thing that public schools do have a clear advantage over Catholic schools is that their is more money to fund extracurricular activities and to hire more staff (hence more options for classes creating a robust curriculum). There is no orchestra at the grade school level for Catholic elementary schools in my area. If the Catholic school is lucky there will be a band, a very tiny band.

At the high school level my school only had band - no orchestra. Not only that, but one public high school nearby had winter guard, winter percussion and orchestra (divided into beginner and advance), pep band (pep band in my school was rarely formed - it only came into existence at the whims of those who wanted to form one for a particular game whereas football games were mandatory) in addition to the band. The music students had options to participate in solo-ensemble contests at nearby universities after marching band season. The high school had welding classes, it had a far more in-depth art department (we only had drafting) and not to mention a drama department boasting a choir and a couple of musicals (my school didn't have a drama department - we had a drama class but since the teacher who taught that retired there is zero drama education). We had no speech & debate while other public schools did.

Some Catholic schools were in much better financial shape with a more balanced curriculum than my alma mater. One all-girls Catholic school, Mother McAuley, does have many of the extracurricular activities mentioned with a heralded music, drama & fine arts department. That school focuses on the liberal arts. My alma mater is currently focusing on STEM which is a change from its previous, more balanced curriculum. The band director at Brother Rice, MM's "brother" school, just recently expanded their music program with a wind ensemble, adding to the already existing symphonic, concert and jazz ensembles, replicating where he previously taught. Now, if I were in charge of my alma mater I'd borrow some pages from MM as well as BR. But the thing is my school doesn't have the funds nor the does it see it as "challenging the status quo of Catholic schools" (whatever that means), says the current president of my high school. A large part has to do with the vision of a particular program and how those overseeing view it.. The current band director at BR is making the music department more robust despite being the sole teacher (?). He brought back the marching band after several years of its absence. The school's bands are expanding and winning competitions. The man even has a hand in growing the choir.

To go back to faculty, take for instance Lincoln-Way East and Mother McAuley. If you look at their music class selection there's no doubt it takes more than one person to teach all of those classes whereas my alma mater had two - a chair and an associate (usually a recent music ed major). When we did have a marching band (now defunct due to low membership) the associate band director headed it with a lady who focused on color guard. That's it. What's the difference between now and then? There was a healthy relationship between the president the band director. The president wanted the band to succeed.

With all that depressing facts aside my alma mater did excel at academics. What we lacked, oh so sorely lacked in extracurricular activities and faculty members, we somehow made up in discipline. There were several times were I wore my letterman jacket out in public, once at a grocery store and at the movies, where people went up to me and said, "That's a good school. You're lucky." I didn't get the feeling they felt that way about the local public schools. Reavis? Nope. Oak Lawn? Nope. Argo? Nope. Stagg? Nope. Don't even mention Bogan, the nearest CPS. Maybe Brookfield-Riverside, though.

Even though I admit that the school's music department was a pebble compared to the larger and wealthy ones it was highly respected. The band director, now retired and replaced by a much less ambitious - and much younger - band director, was also respected and well-known throughout area when it came to music directors. People knew our band (to be expanded in Part III).

As with teaching at a Catholic school, be it elementary or high school, hiring is a sacrifice. Take for instance the music department. You most likely don't have the financial means to hire a separate choral, jazz, orchestra and marching instructor. You either got one or two people putting on many hats: marching instructor, jazz director, symphonic and concert instructor. Music theory class? Now that's a sign of wealth.

In many ways I'm in awe of how the band was perceived in the community and what it did in its glory days as well as my days.

You may ask where I went to high school. I'm a Viking. I went to St. Laurence.

Compared to BR St. Laurence was known as the poor school. We're still poor but also more narrow in focus (STEM and sports). 

A more interesting question is if I had a child would I send him to St. Laurence. The answer to that is a definite no. I don't like where the direction of the curriculum is going. The band sucks; the local elementary public district band has better tonal quality. The president, President Joe Martinez, gives zero fucks whether or not it flourishes. If I had a girl she'd be looking at Mother McAuley. A reason I'd be hesitant to send her there is the feminism that runs through it. Like soon-to-be defunct Queen of Peace (who also jumped on the STEM trend, though they included art so it was STEAM) it practices the bizarre "we don't need men" narrative, which, apparently, was far more potent at Queen of Peace. But still. If a boy, Brother Rice or maybe St. Rita. I'd even look into St. Ignatius.

Part III will focus on my thoughts on St. Laurence and its current transformation.