My parents were so insistent that my education would be better in the local catholic junior high. The classes were smaller (my grade was 23 kids) and “it’s just better!” When I got back into public school for high school I was so fucking behind it was crazy. I got caught up because I worked hard but it was a struggle and I would have been behind forever if I hadn’t had the drive to study a lot on my own. I never really understood what the problem had been until I got married and found out my MIL is a teacher at a catholic school instead of a public one because she can’t pass her teaching certifications (she can’t do math above an elementary school level) and the catholic school isn’t required to hire certified teachers. That explained a lot about my education...