Impact of Catholic Schooling
As a kid i was always a skeptic, i questioned santa clause before i had even heard he was fake (sorry if i just ruined that for anyone), and i even caught my mom trying to be the tooth fairy because i waited up all night to see what really happend. I was also enrolled into a new school when we moved in 6th grade, it happend to be a catholic school and for some reason i had already formed an opinion on God, church, and what i regarded as pointless rules. It basically boiled down to a vague belief in God but a hatred for what i considered a waste of an hour spent at church every wednesday. Although i semi-enjoyed religion class due to the rich history it taught, the skeptic in me could not accept the lessons and stories i heard. Part of my skepticism could be due to the fact that my parents had raised me logically, my mom is a nurse and my dad is an engineer; needless to say they never sugar coated things. For example i never heard the stork story for how babys are born, instead i got the birds and the bees speech, my parents never questioned my maturity on issues and always gave me there honest opinions. But the part that mostly impacted my views on religion was the strict code of conduct that was in place at my school, and the fact that the religion teacher also dealt with all disciplinary issues. In my mind i began to associate punishment, closed mindedness, and a strict adherence to the rules with religion in general. I turned from skeptical of the bible stories i heard to outright skeptical of anything my religion teacher said. It is my opinion that my middle school years spent at a catholic school actually lessened my openness to religion and had are a major part of the reason why i am so skeptical of religion today. I would like to take this hypothesis a little further and say that i believe someones relationship with there teacher, and not just school teachers but anyone trying to teach them a lesson, greatly effects how they receive the intended message. And that if that relationship happens to be negative, it can actually taint the persons view of the information they receive. I experienced this myself through my religion teacher and possibly would have been much more receptive if i had had a better image of her during my schooling.
I went to a Catholic elementary school from 1st-8th grade. While I was attending, I didn't care much for God. He was there but I didn't really care. I would go through the motions you talked about. Every friday the whole school spent an hour at church. Then during religion class, we mostly goofed off because a majority of my classmates didn't care much about God. Then I headed off to a public high school. Quickly did I drop the theory of God. No longer did religion matter at a public high school. Some of my friends did go to a private high school. They continued to have religion shoved down their throats. So this summer before me and my buddies headed off to college, we had some moments where we talked about the problems of the world. One of those problems was religion. My friends who continued their education at a private high school hated God. Wanted nothing to do with God. But I, having gone to a public high school, cared more about God now than I ever have. I believe this is because I was able to explore God at my own pace. I was also opened up to other religions. My best friend is Jewish. Most of my friends were Buddhist. I'm not saying you need to go to confession ASAP. Just enjoy things in life. Maybe God will sneak in when you need it the most.
ReplyDeleteI also went to private school from my k-8th grade years but instead of catholic school I went to a Lutheran school. I saw a lot of what you guys talked about and experienced where the message was more being shoved down our throats instead of us coming to terms with it on our own. I have always trusted in God but it wasn't until I went to a private high school where my faith became genuinely mine. My faith is literally the purpose of everything I do, and I love it. I think past experiences can harm our views on certain things but it can also help. As Joe said, no ASAP confirming needed but be open to hearing new things, it will only broaden your perspectives.
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