Comments on: What TRUE exploitation of children looks like

By: JJ

JJ — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:01:39 +0000

Sounds like she isn’t the only one who is getting worn down a bit by School. The schedule just blots out the sun, doesn’t it?

By: Lynn

Lynn — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 21:41:18 +0000

JJ: “I can “give testimony” that it’s also possible to entirely unschool comparative religion to a very high level”

Yes, your daughter is a brilliant thinker. :)

So far, at my daughter’s school, the work has been shockingly simple. I planned to supplement anyway, but, I’ve got my work cut out for me. Plus, I didn’t factor in how exhausted she’d be at the end of the day (as Nance was saying, too). :(

Gotta go. I drive afternoon carpool, don’tcha know :P

By: Lynn

Lynn — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 21:29:49 +0000

JJ,

Yes, how could one make sense of slavery and war without considering religious motives? :)

By: JJ

JJ — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 21:24:58 +0000

Of course she “came out” as a self-proclaimed atheist right after she started learning about all the religions. Not the school system’s learning objective, no doubt! I think she was 14 or 15. Now she is applying to start a chapter of the Secular Student Alliance at her university . . .

By: JJ

JJ — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 21:23:05 +0000

I can “give testimony” that it’s also possible to entirely unschool comparative religion to a very high level, even if you don’t know much about it yourself. See Favorite Daughter. ;-)

By: Lynn

Lynn — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 21:18:26 +0000

I recently glanced over the comparative religious history section in my daughter's 6th grade social science text and liked that the subject matter is treated responsibly. As long as the teacher behaves himself, I'm happy it's there. I'm most concerned about "Bible Curriculum" (that has been in Texas news lately), which is a complete farce, masquerading as a remedy to religious illiteracy. I've even blogged about it before.

By: JJ

JJ — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 21:16:15 +0000

Unless you do privilege one over all the rest. Or maybe it’s more like teaching different schools of philosophy?

By: JJ

JJ — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 21:14:53 +0000

I think of it more like teaching about the different cultures and customs (including slavery and war) that people have believed in and perpetuated in different cultures and times. You don’t teach kids to accept any of those beliefs much less all of those beliefs, by teaching that other people believed it.

By: NanceConfer

NanceConfer — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:38:11 +0000

I dunno. I get uncomfortable with the insistence that we need to acknowledge, and teach our children, that different religious perspectives are (equally?) valid. Or is it supposed to be that different perspectives toward religion are valid? How about a heavy dose of science for the first twenty years. Then let’s see how susceptible the kids are to religious zealots.

Nance

By: JJ

JJ — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:49:59 +0000

Meming of Life wisdom about schooling religion as pro-freedom education rather than anti-freedom indoctrination:

Religious parents can take advantage of whatever religious education is offered at church but have the detriment of a single, limiting point of view. Nonreligious parents reverse the polarity—the responsibility for the religious education of their children is primarily theirs, but unhindered by an organized doctrinal system, we have a greater opportunity to bring multiple perspectives to bear. And we must. Children who are ignorant of the elements of religion will be easy targets for religious zealotry and will be hobbled in their own free decisionmaking. Ignorance is impotence. Knowledge is power.