When I grew up in Pittsburgh, the city and surrounding area were blanketed with Catholic parishes and associated grade schools, such that needing a bus to get to school was generally not necessary. There was a grade school within walking distance of your home, no matter where you lived.
My grade school (Sacred Heart) had eight grades (no kindergarten) with about 120 students per grade, co-ed. Of the 60 boys in my 8th grade class, about half were accepted to the regional Catholic HS, "Central Catholic" ("CCHS"). CCHS was taught primarily by Christian Brothers, who were prohibited by their charter from teaching girls, so it was all boys. It had grades 9-12, and each grade had ten classes of 40 students each, rendering a desired headcount of 1600 students, 400 in each grade. There was some attrition (both my brothers failed out), and each class graduated about 350 students. I graduated in 1967, exactly in the middle of that class.
Parenthetically, during my four years at Central and in the many years since, I have never heard a single story - even a rumor - that any student at Central was abused by anyone, Christian Brother, priest, or otherwise. And the same is true about Sacred Heart. One priest who was at Sacred Heart while I lived in that neighborhood was accused of kissing a woman in the parish. That's it. He denied it.
In any event, here are some recollections about Central:
In recent years, the school has taken a lot of heat for "recruiting" non-Catholic Black athletes to help them dominate in sports. They do, and they do.
My grade school (Sacred Heart) had eight grades (no kindergarten) with about 120 students per grade, co-ed. Of the 60 boys in my 8th grade class, about half were accepted to the regional Catholic HS, "Central Catholic" ("CCHS"). CCHS was taught primarily by Christian Brothers, who were prohibited by their charter from teaching girls, so it was all boys. It had grades 9-12, and each grade had ten classes of 40 students each, rendering a desired headcount of 1600 students, 400 in each grade. There was some attrition (both my brothers failed out), and each class graduated about 350 students. I graduated in 1967, exactly in the middle of that class.
Parenthetically, during my four years at Central and in the many years since, I have never heard a single story - even a rumor - that any student at Central was abused by anyone, Christian Brother, priest, or otherwise. And the same is true about Sacred Heart. One priest who was at Sacred Heart while I lived in that neighborhood was accused of kissing a woman in the parish. That's it. He denied it.
In any event, here are some recollections about Central:
- There were only a few boys at Central who did not go on to college. A couple went into the service and I suppose some did not, but everyone in my circle of friends went to college.
- Need I say, there was no bullshit at Central. If a student was disruptive he was expelled, often without a second chance.
- Interestingly, in my group of friends we did not do well in college. I failed out after one year, as did many of my classmates. (I later got my degree and a law degree, and became a corporate attorney).
- Our sports teams did not dominate the competition, but were always among the top teams in the top classification in Pennsylvania. This is not surprising with 1,600 boys, all having above average academics.
- We were usually the top school academically in the region, when measured by 1600 SAT scores, National Merit Scholarship Finalists, and other similar measures. At the same level was a City school, Taylor Alderdice, which was the high school in our largest jewish neighborhood.
- A LOT of my classmates ended up working in government and retiring from government. I worked for DoD for 5 years after 3 years in the Army.
- During my four years at the school there was not a single basketball player who could dunk a basketball. There was not a single player over 6'4" tall. (Dunking was against the rules at the time, but still...).
- No professional athletes from my class of '67. One guy had signed a contract to play baseball, but permanently injured his knee in his last year of college.
In recent years, the school has taken a lot of heat for "recruiting" non-Catholic Black athletes to help them dominate in sports. They do, and they do.
