The visit

Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit a colleague at her school and observe everything. There is the possibility that I could be gainfully employed there come next school year, but only time will tell.

Having spent every waking hour of my educational experience, both as a student and teacher, in public school, it was a totally different experience to go to a Catholic school and notice the differences.

First of all, for the most part, things are the same, but after talking to her, it turns out that not everyone there is Catholic. There are even some atheist there. Nothing wrong with that, but why would you force yourself (or your child) to that? I suppose it could be a school thing, but I don't know how high or low the school's rank is.

As can be expected with any private school, there are spoiled rich kids. For instance, this one girl was running late to class, dropped her cell phone (not sure why she was even talking on the phone during school hours) and it got scratched up. So, she threw it away and said she'll get mama to buy her a new one. WTF?!? I don't know about you, but if I got a new cell everytime I dropped my phone, I'd own part of the company by now...lmao

I picked a rather strange day to visit, though, as it was a Mass day. Now, I'm a non-practicing Catholic, so it wasn't that big of a deal, I just had to go sit through mass for an hour. While sitting there, I got to thinking, the whole school is in the church. Many of them left their book bags out there on the benches and whatnot. If someone wanted to go rob the school or something, it could easily be done. I'm sure there is some kind of security or something, but still.

After Mass, the cattle..er...students...ran out of there like it was the last day of school! All the adults nearly got trampled! It was really quite hilarious now that I think about it. Take note...never get in the way of hungry teenagers that have been trapped inside a church for an hour in dress uniforms and are ready for lunch.

Speaking of uniforms, I still do not understand what some guys see in the Catholic school girl uniform. Maybe it's just me, but it does nothing for me. Not just for these girls, but when Britney Spears wore one in "...Baby One More Time" or Mariah Carey donned one for her video "Touch My Body", neither did anything for me (aside from the normal attraction...lol)

The school, like most high school in the south, is run by the football team (Eucharistic ministers apparently). These boys look like they've been hitting steroids hard and heavy. They're huge! Maybe even bigger than some of the college football players across town at LSU.

The school is in a bad part of town and looks to be ancient. Granted, the school that I currently work for was just built about 4 or 5 years ago, so anything would look old compared to that. The high school I graduated from was a bit older, but it at least was in good condition. A few state championships in football will keep the money flowing, especially in a small town...lol

One big difference between public and Catholic schools, at least this one, is that instead of hiring substitute teachers, they just use their own during their planning periods. Of course, they get paid a sub salary on top of the normal teacher salary.

It's no secret that teachers are underpaid in this country. It's ridiculous how the respectable professions like teaching, police and firefighter, etc. make just enough to live comfortably, while actors, athletes and the like get paid extremely excessive salaries, and then they say they don't make enough and demand more money. *SIGH* Guess that's just the way of the world, though.

So, I enjoyed my visit and learned alot. Some of the misconceptions I had about parochial schools have been corrected. Now I'm back in the realm of the public schools, but as soon as I get the chance to go back, I will...maybe as part of the faculty.