If anyone wonders why non-Catholics would want to send their kids to Catholic school, the Georgia Bulletin has a heartening explanation:

Recommendations from other parents and a long-standing reputation as effective educators who also address a student’s moral development are key reasons why non-Catholic parents choose Catholic schools for their children.

Jamal Burt, who is Christian but not Catholic, is both a teacher and the parent of a student at St. Peter Claver School in Decatur.

“I’m a product of Catholic schools from first to eighth grade,” said the teacher who grew up in New Jersey. “My education received a jumpstart (in a Catholic elementary school), and when I went to a public high school I saw that I had an advantage.”

He described the experience of attending a Catholic school as “intense” and “exciting.”

“We’re able to talk about faith, to talk about God specifically. To me, it’s an important part of socializing a person. To have to take that component out is a huge detriment.”

He is happy that his son, Isaiah, a kindergartner, can “get the most out of his time here.”

“One of the best things is the small teacher-student ratio,” he said.

With order, learning can take place. “What wows me is when the children walk down the hall. You can tell the disciplining that goes on here. They’re taught to focus. … Kids can act crazy, but children out there need to learn to listen and pay attention, too.”

The middle school language arts teacher is currently reading “To Kill a Mocking Bird” with his eighth-grade students and discussing social issues prevalent in 1935.

“Reading unlocks doors in the brain. If you do that, you can escape anything,” Burt said.

Besides being very good with children, the Morehouse graduate confided that his mother taught for 29 years “so it runs in the family.” He appreciates the open communication between faculty and parents and believes the faculty and staff “really care about every kid that comes through here.”

Not many teaching candidates would choose to tackle middle school education.

“A lot are afraid of teaching middle school, but I think it’s the perfect age. They’re old enough to understand but still young enough to be molded,” Burt said, adding later, “I just want to make sure children avoid certain pitfalls when they’re older. I’m reaching a hand back and hoping they’ll avoid (the bad) things.”

Mawuli Davis, another St. Peter Claver School parent, sees the sad effects of poor judgment by youth in his work as a criminal defense attorney.

“A lot of young people are not learning what consequences are,” said Davis. “They haven’t come to understand the need for personal discipline. These two things are huge in the educational experience.”

He recalled his own high school days when he attended a Catholic high school in Chicago with “the Christian Brothers and coaches.”

“As a society, we’ve moved away from being accountable to a group of people to a focus on what’s best for me. What’s best for you might be detrimental to the community,” he said.

He and his wife, Jana Johnson-Davis, a schoolteacher, decided to consider St. Peter Claver for their two children—Khari, a second-grader, and Kobie, a fourth-grader—when another teacher spoke of the school’s strong academic program among other things. They looked at many schools, both private and public, before eventually settling on St. Peter Claver, which offers a “really good education both academically as well as socially,” said Mawuli, who also attended a Catholic elementary school.

He said they are comfortable with the student population and the sense that their fourth-grader and his classmates “can be 8- to 9-year-olds, not 14.”

He also remains impressed at how well-behaved the children are. “Our concern was that our children might come home saying and doing things we don’t approve of that were things they had learned at school. Last night my son was singing a Christian song. Had he had another experience (in a different school) he might have been singing a Top 40 song.”

The behavior of his peers was “a big factor” in their school decision.

“It’s more than achieving As and Bs in math; the fundamentals are important,” Davis said. “(Catholic schools) shape character and integrity. They communicate the need to do the right thing in the right way.”

There’s much much more at the link, so check it out. It’s a great reminder of something so many of us have taken for granted.

Photo: by Michael Alexander, Georgia Bulletin