Bible Humper

Is that really a danger? I can't see rich christians sending their kids off to a sub-par school just for the sake of sheltering them against evil science.

I also think that most christians either don't give it much thought or don't agree with these kinds of radical measures.

The average participant would thus more likely be the low income rural folk that tend to constitute the vast bulk of the hardcore fundy congregations.

cydonia

Just let them take their kids to religious schools, that way they won't have any problems. They have the right to raise their kids believing in boogey men, and they shouldn't have to pay tax dollars to support their kids learning there are no boogey men when their whole life is about fighting boogeymen. They should be able to take the money they would normally pay to a public school and throw it into RapturedTomorrow™ Christian Academy. It's their money and kids.

[ August 26, 2002: Message edited by: cydonia ]</p>

oneofshibumi

The religious fanaticism has already grabbed hold of our public schools. We cannot ignore them anymore! They are trying to pass their mind-viruses by infecting our educational institutions. Their rallying cry, “Ignorance to all, then God will bless you.” You judge!

Evolution: they believed evolution should be either wholly eliminated from biology textbooks, or at least taught on par with creationism;

Slavery: they testified that slavery was portrayed "too negatively" in history books;

Working Women: these same groups tried to eliminate a picture of a woman carrying a briefcase because women in the workplace ran counter to their idea of "family values";

Minorities: these groups tried to eliminate books that included what they believed to be "too many" pictures of minorities; and

Health Education: far-right groups lobbied to censor a line drawing of the female breast from health textbooks.

Ignorant people raising ignorant children make them vulnerable to any type of lie. Eventually will pay for neglecting this problem while it is still manageable.

1. Social Studies, down the toilet
<a href="http://www.tfn.org/issues/sboe/textbooks/ss02/index.html" target="_blank">http://www.tfn.org/issues/sboe/textbooks/ss02/index.html</a>

2. Science Books
<a href="http://www.tfn.org/issues/textbooks/index.htm" target="_blank">http://www.tfn.org/issues/textbooks/index.htm</a>

ohwilleke

Do you just say good riddence? Or do you say, this is horrible, those kids need some opportunity to escape parental educational neglect?

Jamie_L

The portion of taxes that goes to public schools is not intended to support your children while in school. Otherwise people without school-age children would pay fewer taxes.

We pay for public schooling because educating the general population is something that benefits the country. If people using private schools don't have to pay that portion of taxes, should people who don't own boats not have to pay the portion of their taxes that supports Coast Guard rescue operations? Should people who grow their own food have to pay the portion of their taxes that supports the FDA? Should people who pay their own medical bills have to pay taxes to support government-funded vaccination programs? Etc.

Taxes are paid to provide for the services that maintain the functioning of then government and the general welfare of the society. It's not an ala carte system where you can pick and choose.

Jamie

Bible Humper

Ideally, I would go for option number two. Considering the situation in the U.S. these days, I'd be going for and satisfied with option one.

Better to lop off the toe today than the whole leg later on.

Radcliffe Emerson

Yes, me too! I lost it....

2tadpoles

What makes you equate home education with educational neglect? Our founding fathers received their educations at home....

Believe me, kids don't need to spend their days in a government warehouse in order to learn. Many people (myself included) feel that schools do far more to hinder real learning than to promote it.

Turning a child's education over to strangers is, IMO, the epitome of parental educational neglect.

Personally, I think that the public school system is a sinking ship that no amount of money will fix. I also don't see why a school should receive money to "teach" children who aren't there.

Why aren't you concerned about all those who put their children in private school? They pay twice, too (tuition and taxes). Yet there has been no "tax revolt" among them, as far as I'm aware.

"What's Wrong with Public Schools?"
<a href="http://www.hometaught.com/public_schools.htm" target="_blank">http://www.hometaught.com/public_schools.htm</a>

"School is Dead...Learn in Freedom!"
<a href="http://learninfreedom.org/" target="_blank">http://learninfreedom.org/</a>

"The Six-Lesson Schoolteacher"
<a href="http://www.cantrip.org/gatto.html" target="_blank">http://www.cantrip.org/gatto.html</a>

excerpt:
"....Good people wait for a teacher to tell them what to do. This is the most important lesson of all, that we must wait for other people, better trained than ourselves, to make the meanings of our lives. It is no exaggeration to say that our entire economy depends upon this lesson being learned. Think of what would fall apart if kids weren't trained in the dependency lesson: The social-service businesses could hardly survive, including the fast-growing counseling industry; commercial entertainment of all sorts, along with television, would wither if people remembered how to make their own fun; the food services, restaurants and prepared-food warehouses would shrink if people returned to making their own meals rather than depending on strangers to cook for them. Much of modern law, medicine, and engineering would go too -- the clothing business as well -- unless a guaranteed supply of helpless people poured out of our schools each year. We've built a way of life that depends on people doing what they are told because they don't know any other way."

Ab_Normal

Without meaning to, Frogsmoocher pressed one my big red hot buttons.

1) Homeschooling requires a stay at home parent, something which is economically difficult at best for anyone other than a highly paid professional. My husband and I managed to arrange it so he could stay home for about five years, but it was very hard financially.

2) I have observed that my daughter is more willing to learn something from a stranger than from her parents. It could be a problem with our relationship, but my husband, who volunteered in school, noticed the same thing with the other parents working in class.

3) My daughter is in a public school program which REQUIRES 90 hours of parental involvement during the school year. (The number of parents who blow this off is another rant entirely.) I don't just send my daughter off to school and leave it at that - I am involved in her education. I suppose we agree that education is not just what happens inside the schoolhouse walls.

I will agree with you that the current state of public education is sad, and frightening. It's too authoritarian for my taste, and too skewed toward producing good little employees that don't ask questions. But I believe that public education provides an important public good. And I'm going to keep my child in the public schools until it's clear to me that I'm doing her more harm than good.

frostymama

Good. Maybe they will stop pushing for "Creation Science" in public schools around here.

I have my own issues with homeschooling. What happens when the kid has fundy parents (like mine) who refuse to teach their kids science or history if it doesn't line up with their religious beliefs? Their poor kids end up learning that the Earth was created in 6 days, evolution teaches that grandpa was a monkey, and that Abraham Lincoln was killed becaused he indulged in sins like dancing with his wife and going to the theater. I'm serious. This crap was in my textbooks.

[ August 29, 2002: Message edited by: frostymama ]</p>