In the blogosphere VJACK posted Atheist Homeschooling which ushered quite a response from many different viewpoint. 20 posts down, a homeschooling mom supplied a link to her blog where she replied to VJACK in Homeschooling Concerns Baseless. Not to be confusing, but this was my response to a piece of her post…
I just want to address this one paragraph.
Alasandra said:
“Funnily enough the opposite argument (it could be argued that a CHRISTIAN parent who homeschools might be doing his or her children a disservice by depriving them of the opportunity to learn how to navigate the challenges of living as an CHRISTIAN among a largely secular/materalistic populace) is often made in reference to religious homeschoolers who feel the public schools are a cesspool of secular humanism. Homeschoolers do not live in splendid isolation. We meet all sorts of people from various backgrounds merely by going about our daily lives.”
1) ‘Funnilly’ is an adverb that serves little or no purpose in the sentence. Just had to get that out of the way.
2) Christian parents in America need not worry about helping their children navigate about a secular world. Only 16% of Americans openly profess no religion. That is only the ones who feel like they won’t be persecuted or made fun of by saying they don’t subscribe to mystical fantasies. Christians seem have the upper hand in America (so far). A few examples: Mormons have even been able to block homosexuals from receiving the same civil liberties as heterosexuals. In the state of Arkansas it is unlawful (according to the state’s constitution) for an atheist to hold public office or testify in a court of Law. Discrimination abounds against atheists and I agree with VJACK that children who decide to be atheist have many social challenges to face by not labeling themselves to a religion.
Alasandra goes on to say:
“It’s also ironic that VJACK assumes that his children will share his atheist beliefs, but then I suppose he intends to brainwash or indoctrinate them with his beliefs.”
Most parents assume that their children will follow their own world view. Religious folk are most at fault for this. In the Christian faith parents and god-parents take a promise at his baptism that they will indoctrinate the child with the religion. It is very rare for a person to switch faiths as an adult, which makes childhood indoctrination for religion a vital means to maintain their numbers. Atheists hold the premise that nobody so far has all the answers. Information and knowledge seeking are held in high regard for the atheist because saying “we don’t know” and having the humble approach to life’s puzzles requires one to be open to science, new ideas and ways of thinking. This is the kind of world view that an atheist encourages her children to adopt. The religious parent on the other hand imbues in their child a sense of certainty about a mythical being and set of human rules attached to that mythology. This encourages the child to be externally motivated by the religion and not internally motivated by their own self worth and sense of right and wrong.
Next time I suggest Alasandra back up the statements made with sound arguments, evidence. The current method of pointing fingers does little to advance the discussion.
To continue the discussion:
I too was enrolled in homeschool coops, took “classes” from other parents than my own and started taking college courses at two local schools when I was 17. However, my education was still largely controlled and censored by my religious parents. Academically I was prepared for college, but socially I was shamefully ill equipped. In a school setting, children are provided with perspectives and knowledge from a very wide pool of minds. These minds DO have opinion and varying teaching styles. That is what provides students with internally motivated methods of information evaluation. They learn to take things with a grain of salt and be investigative instead of believe everything that is tossed into their brains.
The peer pressure I experienced as a child from my homeschooling friends was not equal to that of public school children. Everyone I knew was indoctrinated with the same religion, shared the same ethnicity and had vary little variance from child to child. There was little or no exposure to people or ideas that differed from what my parents believed or were. I was allowed to participate in the soccer team from the local public school for a number of years. Socially, I was very different than those girls and I knew it, I just couldn’t figure out why at that age.
I do not oppose homeschooling as a valid educational choice. Everyone is entitled to raise their children as they please so long as they children are not harmed by it (physically). As a child I liked being homeschooled because I got done with the school hours before the other kids, I could do school in my PJs, and I didn’t have to deal with the peer pressure from school. My parents liked homeschooling me and my sister because it gave them full control and censorship from reality. Looking back, I know that those reasons for liking homeschooling were terrible reasons that caused damage that I spent a few years of college undoing: the social inability and religious indoctrination smothered who I really was. As a child, I of course choose the candy bar over the broccoli when it came to my education.
When it boils down, my parents steered me to be externally motivated and not internally motivated. From my experiences I have decided that if my children need their public school material supplemented, I will do so in addition to their regular schooling. Whether they excel or need a little extra help, supplemental material can be provided at home aside from regular school.
Many children from religious families are psycologically bullied by their parents to believe in whatever religion the family subscribes to. Children should be allowed to make up their own minds about mythology and religion without fear of ridicule from their parents. Guide, then step aside.
For any parent, I highly recommend reading “Raising Children Who think for themselves” by Elisa Medhus
