Here is some feedback I received on-line after querying two Usenet newsgroups, alt.religion.christian.roman-catholic and misc.education, on the topic of Catholic/parochial education. I would like to thank the following cybercitizens for their contributions: MenoCoop@BellSouth.net, kahorn@cts.com, and phargis@cybrtown.com. ***Back then (late 50's earily 60's) almost all of the Catholic children went to the Catholic school. Probably 90%. ***The nice thing about Catholic schools were you were ahead of your public school friends [scholastically]. I learned cursive writing in 1st grade. ***The classes [at Catholic school] are at a higher level for every grade. ***I had the old world nuns. They demand high levels of learning. ***You are with the same people for nearly the time whole time you are enrolled, whereas in public schools the attendees seem to change somewhat almost every single year. ***The kids in parochial school were better behaved. ***They [the nuns] all were most concerned with our treatment of each other. ***[What's the most important thing you learned about your faith while attending Catholic/parochial school?] That God is all loving and welcomes all at all times. ***My religion helped me to see that my mother was doing the best job she could under the circumstances. ***[I learned in Catholic school] that religion isn't something that's a compartmentalized part of your life. It's integrated into your everyday life. I can remember being taught this in so many informal ways. For instance I can remember our 1st grade nun stopping class if an ambulance or firetruck went by with sirens. Sister would have us say a prayer for "whoever was in need" AND the firemen/ambulance drivers. We did mission collections and were taught to consider that many children around the world did NOT have freedom of religion as we did, nor were they fortunate enough always to have even basics like clean water, education etc. We were taught not to take things for granted and that there's opportunities all around us. There are sins of omission, as well as sins of comission. *** I enjoyed learning about religion in school because I had little to no free time out of school and a religion requirement was a welcome addition. ***I loved the care taken with each character [the nuns in THE TROUBLE WITH ANGELS]. They weren't all "cookie cutter nuns" and neither were any of the nuns I encountered. *** They [the nuns] all had a good sense of humor, which often teachers in public schools are afraid to have. *** What I found most real was that the faculty [in Catholic school] was so concerned with their charges. Even in the 1st grade, in my blue-collar working class neighborhood, the nuns always spoke of "when you go to college" etc. etc. EVERYBODY was [asumed to be] college prep. In 8th grade I wanted to see how "the other half lived" so I attended public school-- though I was impressed with the physical plant, which I thought the students took way too much for granted, I missed the personal concern our nuns showed us. ***Most of the nuns were great Christain role models but a few were sadistic (spanked, slapped, verbally abused students). But if I (and most of my fellow students) were to complain at home we would be punished again. ***I learned what a nun looks like having a nervous breakdown in the middle of the schoolday. ***The nuns worked for very little money and many of them now are having huge financial problems as they age. It seems the church didn't set aside money for their retirement. Funny, though, all the priests seem to have enough money in retirement.