Private schools against public schools

Stephanje Moritz Assistant Sports Editor

Let's face it girls, who doesn't miss being able to roll out of bed and roll into an uncomfortable wool skirt and white oxford shirt each and every day. Catholic school definitely has its perks, but no one can really appreciate it until they have experienced it. For many of you, you might think Catholic school is a bunch of nuns that throw religious nonsense down your throat, when in fact it's really not. Sure most teachers start off the class in prayer, but that's five less minutes you would have to hear your teacher lecture at the end of the class.

Due to a smaller community, Catholic schools are a large family where you know each other and support one another. Catholic schools show a lbt of school spirit in all their sporting activities and other after school functions. You belong to something you are proud of and develop a life that will lead you in the right direction in the future.

Because of Catholic school you would never have to attend those CCD classes that take up your whole Sunday. Even though many look at mass to be boring, Catholic school students look forward to holy days because that means classes will be cut in half due to the mass being celebrated in the middle of the day, and if it was a snow day as well then you would hardly go to any classes.

With a small school comes fewer students with more opportunities. Most Catholic school students are able to play varsity sports for four years in high school rather than choosing only one sport to excel in. There would be no way you would be able to manage your time or commit to that many sports with the opportunity to play all of them in a public school. Not only in sports, but in many extracurricular activities, students are given the opportunity to participate more and become more involved in their school activities.

A recent study shows that 92 percent of students who attend Catholic schools further a higher education at a four-year college or university. Many might agree that Catholic schools provide heavy discipline with countless rules that students must abide by. Several students might add they would rather attend a school with less rules and regulations, but actually much more gets accomplished in a classroom with more discipline. This will surely benefit a student in the future.

ANNE MARIE WHITE ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR

The argument that teenagers use to say that public schools are "better" is that they get to express their individuality through their clothing. They stress individuality but I think I have found more solid examples in which a public school student can announce their uniqueness.

So, okay, the students get to wear whatever they choose to class but that doesn't mean there isn't an enforced dress code. Some public school bashers would say their children would be limited to wearing certain colors because of implied gang insignia. But listen to this, my school colors were red and black, which are also the colors of a prominent gang on both coasts of the U.S., but that didn't stop the majority of the students from showing their school pride during Pride Week.

Another argument would be you wouldn't get as individualized attention in the classroom or a quality education from the conditions that public schools have to administer by. But if I succeeded along with my six hundred fellow graduates, who is to say that our education wasn't equal to a private school one? You make what you want of the education that you receive.

One thing I think a lot of people wouldn't argue with is that you're getting an education for free. In private school, there is a larger pressure for a student to excel because it would a be waste of money and effort for the person who pays their tuition and the student who does not perform to par.

When you are in public school, your eyes are opened. You are surrounded by people who look different, speak differently, and think and believe different things from you. I think that is the essential mixing bowl of America. You are 1 globalized, not brainwashed to listen to one particular thing.

In short, I think the commonplace arguments about public school not being the best choice for your child aren't always given a fair hearing. I may sound ambiguous because I have passed through both systems, but I feel as if my sheltered private school days were just minute compared to the real life I experienced in public school. Individuality is expressed by the actions that you display and the things you live through shape it. I think that public school is better -... equipped to handle that job.

Waking up to reality and leaving the comfort zone

SHANNONKING FEATURES EDITOR

It's amazing how most of us spend our entire youth trying to grow up, but once we get there we want to tum around and go back. When you're a child you really have nothing to worry about other than skinned knees and trying to milk a couple of more hours of playtime out of your parents. In high school you try so hard to be a grown up, but still want the plea- sures of freedom and the lack of responsibilities.

College is where most of us really start looking to the future, but even then, not until senior year. Every year you have the security of knowing that you will be right back in Founders Hall next year. Not until you're a senior does it kick in that the halls you '11 be walking next year are totally uncertain. In many ways I wish I could have just one more year of certainty.

One of the hardest things to deal with as we get older is to accept very adult situations. One of these situations came a couple of weeks ago as two of our classmates, Kate Dilworth and Devon Spratling, were called to war.

Dilworth is a sergeant in the Marines and Spratling, is in the National Guard. This news was extremely hard to swallow. Dilworth always talked about being a Marine, but in the back of my mind I never thought she would be activated to actually go to war. In a lot of ways I feel like we're too young to be worrying about our friends being thrown into combat. Maybe I just haven't seen us, until now, as the prime generation to be called upon. This generation being "old enough."

I remember that as I graduated high school, even as a female, I received plenty of calls from Army recruiters who played on the emotions of students who really didn't have the money to pay for college. They promised tuition reimbursement and great perks.

Several people in my graduating class did sign up. In 1999 there really was no fear of war and most of the people who signed up reluctantly used just that as a way to make themselves feel better about their enlistment, "It's not like we 'II be going to war or anything." Four years later, these same people are facing their worst fears.

I find it interesting that as much as we all wanted to grow up, we totally ignored the things that would affect us the most. We've all turned the channel when the news started to talk war and we flipped the newspaper pages when we saw the words Saddam, Iraq and Afghanistan. I don't think I'll be doing that anymore. I don't think too many ofus will be. To Sgt. Dilworth and Spratling, and anyone else I may not have known about, good luck over there and come home safe.