Comments about ‘Why religious schools shine’

Carden Memorial School in Salt Lake City was worth every dime we paid to have our four children (now all well functioning adults) attend it. After our children had been there a few years, I joined them as a teacher and had a wonderful 19 years of being a teacher, and a student, in a spiritual and patriotic environment.

I graduated from a private Christian Academy california and the teachers were great the classes were small and now I am sending my daughter there not because its a "spiritual and patriotic" environment but because I want to isolate her from the outside world public school is too crazy anymore .

"While there is little research comparing religious schools to public schools, scholars in Texas determined a few years ago that the majority of parents who send their children to religion-based schools are highly religious themselves."

Duh...you don't have to be a scholar in Texas to figure that one out!

I am very pleased with the education my sons have received and afre receiving in the Utah public schools in Davis County. I am glad people are enjoying their expeience but public schols work great when parents are actively involved in the experience and also know when to pull back and allow them to fail (gasp!)

Back when I was an educator and looking for teaching jobs, I thought about applying to some of these places. I have a degree in Biology from BYU, but was bothered by the expectations at some of these schools. At Liahona Academy, for example, teachers say "the only way to teach science is through a religious lens." (In other words, ignore valid science if it disagrees with your worldview). I couldn't imagine myself doing that, and then answering "yes" when my Bishop asks if I'm honest.
One of the great things about public schools (and good private schools) is that they open children's minds to viewpoints they might not get from church or home. Children can see that other people who have different opinions on things are still good people. It's a big world out there. We do children no favors when we hide them from it.
If public schools aren't working, enroll your kids in the honors classes, ALPS, etc. If that doesn't work, there are quality private and charter schools in Utah that do a fantastic job. But (unlike BYU) some of these religious schools hide their students from reality.

In my last comment, I didn't intend to say that the teachers who teach at these religious schools(especially those who teach science) aren't honest. I'm sure most of them are good people, and truly believe what they are teaching.
I'm just glad the schools actually owned by the church (BYU and BYU-I) teach science like it is (complete with courses in evolution, etc.)

The quasi-Mormon schools are nothing more than right-wing rouses teaching students to become Glenn Beck robots and bash Obama. I've seen them first hand and am disappointed in the hate they teach.

The Liahona school is a joke. When they discuss immigration they talk about the Lehite colony coming to America or with the founding fathers they make they out to be god-fearing, bible thumping christians. Little wonder why most of these kids are not prepared for the rigors of university life when they leave these schools.

Public schools get $7700 per student and Charter schools get $5500 per student. I wish I could take my $7700 and send my child to a Private Christian School. I don't want my children to learn history from the secular schools which take God out of history.

These schools provide a great means for preventing one's children from playing with children of other beliefs or being exposed to outside ideas. They have always been valuable to controlling children and have historically been valuable for that purpose.

"We are able to bring God into everything we do here," said Principal Judy Julian. "And I think for one thing, that helps them make better decisions. They fall back on what they believe and know to be right and wrong."

Yeah, perish the thought that you teach kids how to think for themselves and not worry what an absentee Sky Daddy has to say.

I'm childless and paying taxes, so I don't benefit from any schools of any kind. Oh wait, perhaps I do benefit by having an educated population, otherwise the U.S. would be like a third world country.

It is okay to blend religion into curriculum but religion can often obscure the truth in order to merge the two more seamlessly. Christoper Columbus is a good example. Mormon teachings say that Columbus was inspired and perhaps he was, but LDS religious schools often ignore the bad things Columbus did after discovering American while he was governor. I've had parents approach me and say that Columbus didn't do anything wrong because he was working for God and that the immoral treatment of the Indian population by Columbus was a work of fiction. I am a product of public and religious private schools and if I compare the two experiences I would say that the religious schools made me feel warm and fuzzy while the public schools opened my mind. Just food for thought.

I was a counselor and a coach for a year at a small private school in Utah that weaved faith and morals into its curriculum. I saw firsthand how this approach played a vital role in the complete turn-around of the at-risk youth that attended there. I wish the students, families, and faculties of the schools this article speaks of much success. God bless you in your efforts.

There is also another alternative to add enrichment to the education of home-schooled children. It is called the Commonwealth Schools. They only meet once a week and the cost is much lower than private schools while providing many of the benefits. The teaching is mentor based and founded on the type of education received by Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and the other founding fathers. There goal is to help kids learn to think like a philosopher, write like an author, compute like a mathematician and speak like an orator. It's amazing. www.thelemi.com

But so many parents of ALL religions think that if they send their kids to a religious school, then the kid will stay in the "faith of the fathers." Then they freak out if the kids don't and think they wasted all their money on the school – even if the kid grows up to hold a lot of the same values with some different doctrines.

Re anonymous 7:34 a.m.: you probably don't even pay $7700 in taxes that goes towards education. I don't mind if you take the money you pay towards education and take your kids to a religious school, but I don't want you take my tax money to do it.

Sounds like some quality brain-washing going on to me, at least as it concerns religion. Hopefully the academics are good. It also sounds like it caters to a group (I'd be willing to bet mostly white) of people who have the money necessary to take their kids away from a diverse public school, and "isolate them from the outside world," because apparently public schools are "too crazy anymore." Wonder what that isolation will lead to in the future. That's what scares me.

Thank you for making the point of many of those who put their children into private schools of any kind. Ours have gone to private secular schools and to Catholic schools (and we are very active LDS). The public schools exclude children from the positive role that God and Faith play in the history and lives of the people of the earth. They exclude these "outside" ideas by law. They do engage in government-sponsored social engineering. You don't tend to see it, though, if it happens to coincide with the world view you were indoctrinated into. If you don't think the government schools are not in the business of "controlling" children you are very naive. I am continually amazed at the writers in these comments that, while presenting the most narrow view possible, offer themselves as more open-minded and enlightened than everyone else.

At least the article makes the point that vouchers were never necessary for religious schools to flourish. But as the picture with the article shows, if you want to pay a little more, you can have your kids go to school where they'll only have to interact with others of the same race and with the True gospel.