Is this the religious equivalent of a parent making the kid smoke a carton of cigarettes at once, to turn them off smoking?

This practice is very common among immigrant/non-Western communities. Oftentimes an educational institution with a religious background offers the highest quality and most prestigious education. In addition, while they might not have the same religious views as the institution, these parents often value the conservative social values that these institutions espouse.

Where I'm from the catholic churches offer the most prestigious high school educations because their cost is similar to college. They in no way offer a better education, it's just a paywall to keep your kids surrounded by like-minded society.

All you have to do to determine whether a school is there for the purposes of educating young people or acting as a buffer against desegregation is to compare the racial composition of the school's football and basketball teams versus the racial composition of the school's general population.

Once you get outside of religion classes and church services, Catholic schools tend to be pretty strong on the fundamentals. (Especially Jesuit schools)

When I went for HS, literally the only elective was Art, and for any student in honors courses, it wasn't an elective: you didn't take art because all of your time was in academic courses except for gym once a week. Don't get me wrong, I think electives are valuable and wish I'd had the opportunity: I'm just describing the educational priorities of that type of school. However they also need revenue, so the ones that remain these days are generally a little more friendly in allowing for an individual's interests.

Or they want a good education I recall my mum saying that if we had stayed where I was born, they would have tried to use my Grandfathers (ex headmaster in another school ) to get me into King Edwards.

That is THE King Edwards Tolkien's Alma mater and is normaly first or second ranked in the UK.

Haha it could very well have been that! In reality what happened is that we lived in a small town (in Mexico, called Campeche. Late 80s and 90s) and the only quality schooling at that place and time was catholic schools.

A carton would be challenging. As a dumb smoking teenager I competed to smoke a whole pack and even then it made me quite nauseous. Took about 5 or 6 cigarettes back to back.

It depends on the religion. Some are just better at applying religious teachings to lifestyle than others.

In my opinion, Catholicism (for all it's good qualities) is too theoretical and abstract. It's easy to walk out of church without any real takaways that you might apply to your ordinary life.

Catholicism is so mired in needless hierarchy and ceremony that it severely inhibits any genuine value it might provide.

It hit home as a teenager during Easter Sunday mass. A priest enters the church, wearing his extra religious garb, a crucifix is carried behind him. The procession take several steps, the worshippers then kneel down and immediately stand back up. Several more steps, then kneeling and standing. Then several more steps, then kneeling and standing.

The third time I stood up I felt like it was outside my body looking at myself. Following the crowd with absolutely no idea why or the meaning behind it. To me, I looked like an idiot. My father was religious his entire life, so afterwards I asked him what the ceremony represented, he had no idea. I went to church less and less after that.

Unfortunately this is an example of exactly what CederMills said above about failing to properly teach the faith. There is an incredible amount of meaning imbued into every moment of a Catholic mass, and the more of it you understand the more engaging it is to attend and participate.

Earlier this year I attended a 90 minute "walkthrough" of the mass where my priest explained the structure and meaning of a normal everyday mass. At the end of it he had still only scratched the surface, but it was probably more explanation than most (ex-)Catholics ever receive on the topic.

Yet such information is incredibly lacking and hard to find. You would think the Vatican and similar would have all this information ready to be digested by people interested in learning, yet it's incredibly hard to find if it's available.

Unfortunately we Catholics often try to 'dumb' down our theology and liturgical training to make us seem more approachable like protestant churches. This acheives the opposite of the desired effect: the 'motions" begin to feel pointless. Ritual is important in human life, and symbols are important. But without good education, the symbols and rites are empty. Which it seems like what previous commenter was experiencing at Easter Mass. Granted, it's entirely possible even after learning the meanings that they would all still seem unattractive to commenter. But at least he wouldn't be missing a key element.

I think religion is primarily cultural and based on traditions. A lot of people do not go for their faith, only cause they are used to it. I wonder how many people stopped going because of the pandemic, then realized they didn't miss it.