No matter how much I complained when I was younger, I really did love going to a Catholic elementary school. I think most of us who grew up attending these schools secretly loved every minute of it, even if we tell our friends, and ourselves, differently. Here are some of the reasons why I loved my Catholic school, and maybe why you (secretly) did too.
1. Uniforms are actually awesome.
Even though I'll be the first to admit uniforms do indeed get tedious at times, I wore them for ten years and survived. I never had to worry each morning what outfit I should wear, whether or not my shoes matched, or if I was wearing the latest fashion trends. If you're like me, having those few extra minutes in the morning to sleep in a bit more made up for everything. Plus, having everyone wear the same thing made us all equal under the eyes of our teachers. We were all students to them no matter how much money our parents made or how good our grades were. And for those who really craved some fashion flair, there was always accessorizing. Bring on the headbands!
2. Going to church instead of class.
3. Actually learning in Religion class.
4. Good manners for life.
We learned to respect our teachers, our families, and each other more than anything. From little things like making sure to "stick to the right when possible" when walking to making our personal motto truly be "Work hard, play hard, pray hard," as my principal used to say.
5. Cursive is better than print.
We had to learn it and use it on everything that was handwritten, but now I thank my lucky stars. Though our pubic school counterparts may disagree, writing in cursive is simply better. It saves a lot of time when you're in a rush or when you are in college and need to take down notes like your life depends upon it. It's true that it may not always be the most legible, but it will always still be prettier and fancier than print.
6. Appreciating the little things.
We may not have had city or state funding to go on as many field trips as public school kids, but we had the time of our lives at little events like our talent shows and Nativity plays. The whole class would cheer for you if you were on that stage like there was no tomorrow. And on N. U. T. days (aka "No Uniform Today" days) you could feel the excitement in the air. Don't even get me started on how intense Spirit Week got. Let's go red team!
7. Solidarity.
We all understood the struggles of going to Catholic elementary school because we all experienced them at some point. Even if we could not sing, we still had to sing the hymns (usually as loud as you could) and hope for the best. At some point, we all dressed up as a saint, an angel, or an animal from the Nativity, and nobody made fun of us. We were all in it together, even before High School Musical came along.
8. Growing up together.
Most of us went through Catholic school for the long haul which meant knowing each other for many, many years. We lost our baby teeth, had terrible birthday parties, went through puberty, and finally graduated together. It made the awkwardness of growing up a little less awakward.
9. It's a small community.
You get all the advantages of going to a small school along with all the other perks. You have small classroom sizes which means more attention from your teachers and a better chance of really grasping the material. It also means you know every single person in your grade, probably the rest of the school, and even the parents and siblings who went to school there years ago. It was very easy to make friends and keep them.
10. BFFs.
The friends we made there we know we can depend on for life. We went through so much together and only we know and get it. From doing our Sacraments together to watching "The Prince of Egypt" a hundred times before we went on break, these are the friends you're glad to call your BFF's.
I didn't always understand why my parents so decidedly wanted me to attend a Catholic school. But now after the years have passed, I see how much my school influenced my life. I still "stay to the right when possible," write in cursive, see my BFFs, and appreciate everything my teachers taught me. I would not trade my experience there for anything.
