Things I learned in Catholic school I never thought I'd appreciate... until now

Don’t sneak out with a boy; introduce him to your parents!

I had my first boyfriend when I was fourteen, and I was terrified. It was highly prohibited in my school — an exclusive school for girls — to entertain boys who wanted to initiate courtship within campus vicinity. I couldn’t take him home either, because I knew my parents would FREAK-OUT. I had to weigh my options, and decided that sneaking around with him after school (i.e., walking hand-in-hand just outside of school, still technically within school vicinity but not inside the school) would be the smartest, safest thing to do. 

Nope. I still got caught.

And by my father, no less.

I wasn’t exactly grounded, although I did get a long lecture about trust and honesty, especially when it came to boys. My parents didn’t believe in grounding us, but they were pretty good at making us feel like crap with the ‘I’m so disappointed in you’ lecture. Dad said it would’ve been easier had I just introduced him to them. 

This was us, post-secrecy.

So, I did. And everything else went smoothly after that... until we broke up a few weeks later. Hi, Rey! We're still friends. :-)

Male teachers are not all that. 

I had a major crush on my Geometry teacher. I thought he was so intelligent, humble, kind, and looked so much like the Paddington Bear. 

My Geometry teacher.

I bombed math my entire elementary and high school (and college) life, but I did okay in Geometry, because I wanted to impress him. 

I would say 98% of our all-girl school population had at least one crush on a male teacher. But later on I learned how silly that really was, just because having men anywhere within a block from our campus was such a rarity. I would look back and cringe — not at my Geometry teacher because he still remains pretty awesome in my book — but at some of the more popular male teachers who weren’t really all that great.

When you spend more than a decade of your life and all your formative years in an all-girl school, boys become such a novelty that they are regarded with so much unnecessary prestige. It’s pretty tragic.

Take Home Economics class seriously before it’s too late. 

I failed sewing. I botched crochet class. I gave diarrhea (to myself) when I attempted to make chocolate ice cream from scratch. My nanny made most of my art projects. Now that I’m a wife, I realize the true value of Home Economics whenever my husband’s jeans get caught in the dryer or when I need to adjust the hem of my dress. My husband is even better at sewing than I am!

A quick infographic on things I suck at.

Less is more. 

In school, simplicity wasn’t just a suggestion — it was an actual school rule. We had very specific expectations about how to wear your hair and what color clips and hair ties are appropriate (i.e., white, blue, and black. Sometimes, you can get away with brown). No jewelry except for small stud earrings. No nail polish. No heels. No frilly socks. And absolutely no make up.

Puberty was especially hard for me because, like most women (and men), that was when I felt like I was at my ugliest. That was when I really felt the need for a cute, pink bow on my hair, drop earrings that moved when I turned left or right, a decent manicure, a little bit of a heel, and for the love of God — concealer! But I couldn’t, because vanity would basically get me in trouble with the school director. Yikes.

And she was a nun.

Double yikes.

I hated vegetables.

Now, I celebrate the same kind of simplicity I once hated when I was that Catholic school girl. I love no-make-up days, I despise high-heeled shoes, and my favorite thing to wear is black. I now see elegance in simplicity, not frustration or boredom. Simplicity is actually pretty darn beautiful after all.

Hard work pays off. 

I was a lazy kid in school, but mostly because I was constantly unmotivated. I had very low self-esteem and thought that being surrounded by brilliant classmates made me even less of an achiever than I already was.

Me in high school.

The thing is, my school was so strict and traditional that they still didn’t give me a break, no matter how depressed I got for feeling stupid. Through the years, I hated that. I hated the fact that I wasn’t given positive reinforcement and encouragement in school. I hated the fact that I always felt like I was punished with a really sucky grade no matter how hard I tried.

So, I just stopped trying.

Looking back though, I am thankful for this brutal honesty and the non-negotiable to work your ass off if you want to earn a certain grade. And although I still don’t agree with the culture of negativity I experienced -- where encouragement and positivity were kept at a minimum, and consequence and punishment were pretty much routine -- I now value setting a higher standard for myself, and for my students, now that I am a teacher myself. It’s just that I see myself as more child-friendly and ‘progressive’, if you will; not rigid and overly strict. Change the bad, keep the good.

I realized that, even though I keep promising myself that I would give my future kids a much more positive, liberating school environment one day, I still undoubtedly carry with me some valuable things from Catholic school. I guess, in the end, I will always be a Catholic school girl at heart. I spent eleven years there after all.

Wait a minute... I earned my bachelors degree from a Catholic university, too! Make that fifteen years. Wow.