parochial school (UNCLASSIFIED)

[paul johnson]

paul johnson

Growing up in Chicago during the 40 and 50s there were parochial (read
Catholic) and Hebrew schools.  Never ever heard of a Jewish school
called parochial, even though almost every one I knew was aware of the
definition.
     Retired here in Arkansas, Christian Academy is code for white, but
to digress, Christian here is code for something I don't fully
understand.  Living in Illinois, Wisconsin and Florida if you asked
someone what religion they were you would get answered with  that named
the sect that they belonged to.  Here a standard answer is "'I'm a
Christian"  Said with just a whiff of aggression, Somewhat like a Cuban
in Miami.
     My guess is that around here Christian means, Republican, right to
bear arms, anti abortion and anti union; plus church going.

On 4/5/2011 9:54 AM, Charles C Doyle wrote:
> Isn't that simply because until pretty recently nearly all "religious" primary and secondary schools in the U.S. were Roman Catholic?
>
> In the South, the burgeoning of Protastant parochial schools strangly coincided with the racial integration of public schools . . . .
>
> --Charlie
>
> ________________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Mullins, Bill AMRDEC [Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL]
> Sent: Tuesday, April 05, 2011 10:40 AM
>
>  From Sunday's _Huntsville Times_:
>
> "Administrators at a Huntsville parochial school say that efforts to
> discuss buying one of the city's public schools have gone without
> response from the school system, despite a financial crisis that will
> force the closure of several schools over the next year.
>
> Officials at Whitesburg Christian Academy and its parent, Whitesburg
> Baptist Church, say they have gone so far as to discuss the idea with
> the realty company handling the sales of four currently empty school
> buildings."
>
>
> Obviously, the writer is using "parochial school" to refer to a school
> with a Baptist background.  I, until this very day, thought that
> "parochial school" meant a school run by the Roman Catholic church.  OED
> says "a school established and maintained by a religious body", but
> several of the cites seem to imply that only a Roman Catholic school is
> parochial.
>
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