At Country Day – where tuition costs as much as $17,300 a year – administrators are already taking steps to buy cheaper school supplies, save energy and reduce gas consumption in school vehicles.
I can’t help feeling that Faturechi was playing for an unsympathetic audience reaction by mostly highlighting Country Day School and Jesuit High School (my alma mater) in his report about area families having trouble paying for private school. That’s the only explanation I can find for his relegating Cristo Rey High School to the bottom of his piece. Cristo Rey exclusively targets low income students, who pay for their education by working at local businesses. Some of those businesses are having to pull their support for Cristo Rey, Faturechi reports, which is hurting the school’s bottom line.
The Sac Rag 
“We have four kids, and they have to wait more time for new clothes and shoes,” Aviles said. “As a family, we’re all doing sacrifices for my daughter. You keep those grades up, and we’re going to do the sacrifices.”
Well, have fewer kids, and then I’ll feel sorry for you. You don’t hear me kvetching about the high payments on my four cars (all with giant v-8s, ‘cept for the one v-12, so my gas payments are outta sight!), and I wouldn’t expect you to help me with ’em. And DON’T say “sell one”- you wouldn’t ask Aviles to sell one of her kids, would you?
LikeLike
Isn’t Cristo Rey’s tuition lower than Country Day’s? I thought CR catered more to lower-income families, and so it is more interesting, to a bourgeoisie like me, to see the high-end school face the crunch (in the same way that it’s interesting that luxury retailers, which can usually count on rich people staying rich, are discounting their goods in these times).
LikeLike
Dan: that’s what I meant.
LikeLike
I suppose one could always go to public schools, which on average have environments just as safe (or unsafe) and reported test scores just as high (or low) as private schools, contrary to popular opinion.
Most of the Catholic schools have just as diverse (except for the same-sex thing) an environment as public schools, at least, which is nice if you want your kids to be exposed to people different than them. Of course, the diocese relates that less than 5% are non-Catholic, so I guess it depends on whether you define diversity ethnically or religiously. I think many private schools do provide an excellent education at a premium, although I know that my own mixed-race non-Catholic child would probably not feel very comfortable at one.
LikeLike