OT: Homeschooling
Karen C - California
fundamentalist Christians, as I have a good friend who is non-Christian and
chose to home-school for several years when she found that her small Southern
town was cramming religion down the kids' throats in class. Her daughter came
home frightened that "Mommy, we're going straight to hell because we don't
believe in Jesus!" The school board saw nothing wrong with it since "everybody
but you is a god-fearing Christian"; she decided it was easier to home-school
than to sue.
She and I had a long talk about it -- she's a bright woman, but never attended
college -- and concluded that she would home-school only till her daughter got
past the impressionable age and then the girl would return to school. She
herself admitted that she wasn't qualified to teach certain high school
subjects, like science, and did not want to deprive her daughter of learning.
Her only goal in homeschooling was to protect her daughter from the teachers
who preached Jesus in the classroom at an age when the girl wasn't able to
understand that there is no "only religion" and that it was perfectly
acceptable to be a non-Christian. When her daughter went back to the public
school this year, she performed above-grade-level on most of the exams, and had
been exposed to many ideas that her peers were not (world literature, law,
comparative religions, etc.). Most of her classmates may never learn that
there's any religion other than Fundamentalist Christian until they've gotten
jobs that take them away from the immediate area, and with the upbringing
they're getting, they are not likely to be accepting of the differences.
However, I work the library book sale every year and get to talk to a lot of
mothers who are looking for inexpensive books for homeschooling. Although
there are a number who are intelligent and apparently college-educated
(including a few former professional teachers), there are also a large number
who come across as being barely literate themselves. Invariably, those
semi-literates are the ones looking for books which are religiously acceptable,
depriving their children of some of the greatest art works because the
painting/music/literature isn't God-centered. (I have heard homeschoolers
reject Shakespeare because God is not central to his writing.) Needless to
say, the children are therefore prevented from learning that there are
scientific theories such as evolution or The Big Bang, are prevented from
reading any history books which indicate that the world has been around longer
than the 6000 years supported by the Bible, etc.
I don't think homeschooling should be used to deprive children, but to enhance
the quality of their education by providing things the public school system
does not (whether that's one-on-one attention or additional exposure to areas
the child is interested in). Refusing to let children know that there are
other ways of thinking besides the narrow-minded philosophy preached in church
does them a disservice.
Our science teacher prefaced his lecture with "Your priest has taught you God
created all the animals, which is one belief. The scientific community has
another belief, called evolution. I am not here to tell you that either is
100% correct. When you have learned about both, you may make your own
decision." Those who believed in the inerrancy of the Bible accepted that they
needed to be exposed to other ways of thinking, and asked questions showing
they were trying to reconcile the two. The rest of us accepted the idea that
what we have now has evolved from the original animals with God's help and
guidance in the process. We were considered to be competent, rational beings
who could understand that there can be more than one theory, co-existing, and
to sort things out for ourselves, without either the priest or the science
teacher telling us "my way is the only way and his way is absolute rubbish."
Certainly a home-schooling parent could slip in a reference to evolution as a
scientific theory while backing it up with a statement that "our church doesn't
agree", or let their student read Shakespeare or look at non-religious art and
follow that up with an explanation of why the church thinks there's something
better. There's plenty of art with fully-clothed people which is acceptable to
young eyes -- not all non-religious art is nudes.
I just don't agree with exposing students ONLY to one way of thinking ...
unless you're afraid that by making them aware that there are alternatives,
they will choose one of the alternatives instead of the one you'd like them to
(which would certainly raise some questions in my mind as to why a more
open-minded person would choose something other than what I'd spent the past 18
years telling them was Right). I have been exposed to a number of
non-Christian religions, and while I feel they all have their good points and
valuable philosophies, my parents never ever doubted that I would continue in
the one they taught me. Although I no longer participate in organized
religion, I still think of myself as a member of the denomination I was raised
in, simply because I haven't found another I agree with more.
--
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KDLark
school and have seen many "homeschooled" kids return (for various reasons).
Some of them were advanced learners and doing great. Others were held back by
parents who were not educated or dedicated enough to take on the task. Some
were taught in creative, interesting ways; others by videos and workbooks down
the wahzoo.
My daughter is in public school, in demanding honors program -- she will get a
year of college credit if she finishes, and a free ride through college, paid
for by the state of Florida. A few years ago her SAT scores (she took it in
seventh grade) gained her recognition from Duke University, and a big write up
in the local paper. What can I say? I was always supportive of her, and tried
to make sure she had the best teacher (as a school employee, I had this "perk"
-- but the best teacher she ever had was in third grade, when I didn't know who
to pick). Would she have done as well had she been homeschooled, or had
attended a local private school (all our private schools are religious, by the
way)? I don't know, but I think so. She's way focused.
Whatever school a kids goes to, you have to get in there and advocate for your
child WITH (not against) the school. And no, I don't think you are doing a
child a favor when you keep him or her in complete isolation from other ideas.
What happens when a kid who's been told there is no such thing as dinosaurs (as
a home schooler in my former Sunday school class proudly announced) gets to
college and gets nailed with all the evidence to the contrary? Well, he's
going to believe his mother lied to him about them -- and then he'll wonder
what ELSE she lied about, as well...
For those who believe that public schools should be Christian because the
majority of the pupils are Christian, I always ask them how they would feel if
their child attended a school where the majority of the kids were Hindus, and
their children were receiving Hindu indoctrination, or feeling that they were
being snubbed because they weren't Hindu? The most virulent of these folks
always assert something like: "But that's different; we're right and they're
wrong." Which isn't the point at all...
Katrina L.
Nathalie
Karen C - California <kmc...@aol.com.LuvXS> wrote in message
news:20000829200451...@nso-cm.aol.com...
> I just don't agree with exposing students ONLY to one way of thinking ...
> unless you're afraid that by making them aware that there are
alternatives,
> they will choose one of the alternatives instead of the one you'd like
them to
> (which would certainly raise some questions in my mind as to why a more
> open-minded person would choose something other than what I'd spent the
past 18
> years telling them was Right). I have been exposed to a number of
> non-Christian religions, and while I feel they all have their good points
and
> valuable philosophies, my parents never ever doubted that I would continue
in
> the one they taught me. Although I no longer participate in organized
> religion, I still think of myself as a member of the denomination I was
raised
> in, simply because I haven't found another I agree with more.
Although going to a normal school my father insisted on home schooling me as
well, because (as he said) their are topics you cannot be taught adequately
at school. He instilled in me a great appreciation of classical music, which
I still have today, and he said that such topics as teaching religions are
done in such a limited manner so he introduced me to people with
non-christian religions. This has allowed me to be open and appreciative of
the diversity of lifestyles you can find on earth. My father also made it a
priority for me to be aware of issues of law. I can still remember hours
spent as a child in his office, reading his law books from when he was
studying law at the Amsterdam University. I would read a text and then would
be able to ask him questions about its meaning if I did not understand what
the text says. It instilled a high respect for the law in me... and I am not
only talking about Dutch law here, but also English, Antillean, American,
international, and French and German, as well as civil, military, and
commercial law, and others). I am in no way professing any expertise (though
my father has got qualifications in all of them), I am just saying that it
allowed me to analyse the differences...
My father is and roman-catholic by birth and so am I, but my father said to
me when I was 13 years old that I choose another religion if I did not want
to be a roman-catholic anymore. I know what catholics are going to say...
ooh you can't do that, you are a catholic from your birth to your death. But
then I present my father's argument. He said it is not the child with their
free deciding what religion to be but the parents imposing it. So now I have
chosen to spend the rest of my life as a pagan, because its philosophies are
more suited to my needs...
As for home-schooling, I would prefer to home-school my children when I got
them, especially because I would not want them to be exposed to
chrisitianity when I want to bring them up in a pagan lifestyle.
Nathalie
Tina Kambarian
got
> them, especially because I would not want them to be exposed to
> chrisitianity when I want to bring them up in a pagan lifestyle.
>
> Nathalie
>
father who exposed you to so much and allowed you to choose your own way. I
figured you would give your own children the same choice. Interesting...
Tina K.
Nathalie
Tina Kambarian <dnt...@gte.net> wrote in message
news:pmbr5.2563$En4.1...@dfiatx1-snr1.gtei.net...
> I was surprised to read that last part after how highly you spoke of your
> father who exposed you to so much and allowed you to choose your own way.
I
> figured you would give your own children the same choice. Interesting...
Yes I will... they are people with a mind of their own and you gain their
respect by giving them the opportunity to choose how they want to live. Of
course this way of doing things is not everyone's cup of tea, but when I
have children my DH and I have decided that they are allowed to make their
own choices. We will tell them what we feel is the pros and cons of a
particular situation and then they can decide the path to take, even if it
means making mistakes. My father always said "A child learns more from their
mistakes then endless lectures". I have made mistakes in my live and my
father made me learn to live with the consequences... I hope this makes
sense...
Nathalie
John & Liz Hampton
> Whatever school a kids goes to, you have to get in there and advocate for your
> child WITH (not against) the school. And no, I don't think you are doing a
> child a favor when you keep him or her in complete isolation from other ideas.
snip
> Katrina L.
I agree with you. I work in a rural community with a small elementary
school which goes from K - 6, For the higher grades, the kids go into
Medford, which is about 15 miles away. Because the school has LOTS of
parental support, and even non-parental support from some of the volunteers
in the "SMART" program (Start Making A Reader Today), the children from this
school do VERY well when they move up to the higher grades. My mom wasn't
always a stay at home mom while my sisters and I were in school. She ALWAYS
made times for conferences, though, and both parents paid close attention to
what we were doing in school and how the teacher was teaching. They didn't
expect or demand that we received all "A"s, only that we did the best we
could in each particular class. They made that clear to the teachers and
worked WITH our teachers to make sure we were getting the best we could out
of our education.
The Medford School District has started a program this year of working
WITH homeschoolers to make sure that the children of the area are receiving
the best education they can. Many kids in this area float in and out of
schools - home schooling some years and using the schools in others.
One problem I've noticed in some home schooled kids is that, unless the
parents are devout library users, the children have no idea how the library
is organized. While the school children are visiting the school (or public)
library and learning about "alphabetical order" and the dewey decimal
system, the home schoolers sometimes don't have the slightest idea that the
books are in any kind of order. They also sometimes grow up with no idea of
how to act in a formal group of their peers or how to "control a crowd".
One of our student 4-h leaders was homeschooled. Since she had never been
in a classroom setting, she had had no example of watching the different
methods teachers use to control a large group of children. She never could
seem to get the kids to settle down and pay attention to her until her mom
came in and helped. I never even would have thought of that aspect of
"classroom" education if I hadn't seen it for myself. :-))) I wonder what
else I learned in school that I didn't realize I was learning.
Oooops. Sorry to ramble. I guess I better go feed the dogs. :-))
Liz from Humbug
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