Christian think tank compares graduates of public and private schools

Survey finds faith is lacking for some

Ray Pennings presents the findings of a study comparing graduates from
Catholic independent schools and public schools Sept. 20 in Langley.
Owen Kato / Special to The B.C. Catholic.

The B.C. Catholic has a story about a recent study that found Catholic school graduates view the role of faith in the public square similarly to public school graduates:

Cardus, a Christian think tank that focuses on bringing faith into public life, conducted the study, called "A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats." It covers grads from schools in all provinces except Quebec, which the report covers separately.

The study compares graduates now ages 24 to 39 from government-run public schools with grads in the same age group from various kinds of schools: Protestant private schools, non-religious private schools, religious home schools, Catholic separate schools (government-funded), and Catholic independent schools (private with some government subsidies). Catholic schools in B.C. are independent.

Graduates were compared on a wide range of topics in addition to religion. However the study gives little information about what their actual responses were; it just reports how other grads compared to grads from public schools.

In total, 1868 graduates were surveyed, but only 23 Catholic respondents were from B.C. In addition, the results were controlled for family socioeconomic and religious background. The study revealed some interesting facts about faith in the public square.

"What struck me the most was that Catholic schools were the same as public schools in many respects," said Ray Pennings, the study's project leader and the director of research at Cardus.

Read the full story at The B.C. Catholic website.