Has anyone attended both ? What were the big differences that you noticed ?
I started off going to a catholic school in a lower class neighborhood in california. It was very strict,The nuns were dressed in their black habits and all wore army boots and always carried something in their hand to hit an unsuspecting student,usually a ruler. We had to eat lunch outside on picnic tables and they would not let you leave until your tray was empty. Well, I can't stand green peas,my parents couldn't get me to eat them and there was no way one of those vicious penquins was going to get me to eat them.
I began stuffing them into the cracks of the picnic table, by the end of the
year there wasn't one table that had an open crack in it,they were all caulked with my peas. Confessions were always interesting, There were two connecting little booths, and when a light came on outside of one,that would
mean the father was ready to hear your sins. You could never see him because there was a screen between both of you,all you could see was
his silhouette. Once we had this priest filling in for our regular priest,
Father Kilrain from Ireland,He had the thickest Irish accent I ever heard.
I was walking down the hall with a friend of mine and I saw these nuns
talking to this black priest, I said, " who is that ? " My friend said, " You should know,you confessed to him,thats father kilrain " That was a shock
because there just wasn't any black kids in that school, all the kids had names like, Hernandez, Murphy,Sanchez,O'Shaughnessy. I was lucky as
far as catholic school went,I only had to serve two years, I think they deemed me too incorrigible. So we moved to another state and I was
unleashed on the public school system, where all the kids called me
by my last name. That took a while to get used to, Catholic school
kids were instructed to call each other by their first name. Another
difference I noticed was all the noise in school, before,during and after class.
In catholic school, the only sound I could hear was church bells,people singing
" Michael rowed the boat ashore " or the occasional sound of a nun
stomping down the hall in her army boots. There was a lot more freedom
and a lot less discipline in the public school. One time the teacher grabbed
a hot wheel car out of the hands of this kid, and went to put it in her desk,
the kid runs up to her and slugs her in the back as hard as he could. I
thought, " boy,is he going to get a beating " All she did was yell at him
to get back in his seat and that he would get his car back after school.
If that was a nun, she would have practiced her kung fu on that boy.
My opinion on the difference or which is better, public or catholic ?
They are different, but its like apples and oranges. A kid is going to turn
out a certain way because of the parents, not the school he goes to.

I wonder if my peas are still wedged in those picnic tables ?

Never went to a private school, and after reading your description, I'm glad I didn't. lol

When I went to Public School, I went into a Multi-Handicapped Class and we took field trips to the airport, downtown, the library, the west side market, and museums to name a few.

In the 4th Grade, I went to a Lutheran School, so there were no Battle-ax Nuns or silence. But we did have to wear uniforms when I was in the 5th Grade and I had some good teachers there.

When I went to Public School, I went into a Multi-Handicapped Class and we took field trips to the airport, downtown, the library, the west side market, and museums to name a few.

In the 4th Grade, I went to a Lutheran School, so there were no Battle-ax Nuns or silence. But we did have to wear uniforms when I was in the 5th Grade and I had some good teachers there.
Thanks for reminding me about the uniforms, that was another difference.
There also was no Pledge of allegiance, just prayers before class.

Thanks for reminding me about the uniforms, that was another difference.
There also was no Pledge of allegiance, just prayers before class.

We had the pledge of the U.S. and the Christian Pledge.

I pledge allegiance to the Cross,
Of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And to the Faith for which it stands,
One Nation, God Eternal,
With Mercy and Grace for us all.

tiredmike, my situation was pretty similar.
I was in Catholic school from Kindergarten to 5th grade in Brooklyn, NY and then when we moved to New Jersey, I went to a suburban public school for Jr. High and High School. The term 'apples and oranges' is very accurate here, for one thing as I mentioned I was at each school during different age ranges in my life. My Catholic school was famous for strictness, and yes we did learn the three R's very well there, I have to say. And the public school district I attended in New Jersey was considered, rightly so, one of the best in the nation, so I received a good education there. There were good and bad aspects of both the Catholic school and the Public School. Looking at the plusses from both, I'd say I benefitted from the best of both worlds. I can't say that one was all good and the other all bad.

Ah, the nuns. You really don't begin to appreciate them and their strictness until in hindsight.

I only ever went to Catholic schools (all-female from age 9 onwards), but they weren't really strict, and most of the teachers weren't nuns... I had nun school principals, and they were pretty strict... I don't think I had a nun teacher that I really disliked... I remember a male high school teacher we had who used to smoke with us at lunch side, along the side of a school hall... That's something you could get away with during the '80s, but now a teacher would likely never work again getting caught doing that lol...