Part of my thinking is that because I went to a catholic school, I was not socialized like most kids are. I had my own way of having to dress or ask because of school. For example, I had to wear uniforms everyday and had to have proper shoes or we got into trouble. I also had to go to church every week as a class and we had to have a part in the mass every couple of weeks. We were not allowed to swear or chew gum in class. The school had very high standards and a low tolerance policy. Going to that school definitely made me a part who I am today. Whether that be my religious beliefs or how to act.
It was hard once it got around seventh and eighth grade because by then I was getting bored of going to church. I never had a say on if I wanted to go or not., it was mandatory. To add to that, I never got the choice on what I wanted my religion to be. My parents chose that for me. Because I was grown up into the religion, it still is what I believe to this day but I have had my doubts in the past.
When it came time for high school, i was put into a public school. This is when reality of what being a teen was really like came to play. Going to a catholic school, everyone has the same rules and we all had to dress the same. I graduated with 22 kids. My graduating high school graduating class was over 1000. My first day of public school was one that I will remember forever. It was the first time I got to decide what I wanted to wear. I had no idea what other kids would dress like. The catholic school was one floor and one hallway. Imagine my surprise when my high school had three floors and multiple hallways. I have never felt so out of place.
In class we learned about how the social conflict theory sees religion. It sees it as religion serves elites by legitimizing status quo and diverting attention from social inequality. I disagree. I think my religion made me socially unequipped for high school. I was the weird kid in class because it was all new to me while these other kids who all graduated eighth grade from public school, already knew what it was like. I really do believe my being in catholic school and not public, made a huge difference socially. I eventually found a solid group of friends who helped me adjust, but by then I had stopped going to church and was able to make my own choices.
For more about St. Dominic Catholic school, you can click on the link http://www.stdominicschool.org/home. I looked up how many other catholic schools there are in Illinois and on there are over 120 school. If you want to look at other catholic schools you can look here http://www.catholiclinks.org/schoolsillinois.htm.
