Posted on 08/11/2008 11:41:00 AM PDT by Big Guy and Rusty 99
I recently recieved a welcome letter from my daughter's teacher. My daughter is going into kindergarden at a catholic school. The letter included the phrase "learning how to help save the planet" which of course means global warming. My wife and I believe that global warming is a hoax built on junk science.
I don't want my daughter brainwashed by this liberal bullcrap. what should I do?
That was my first thought. "Saving the planet" could also mean spreading the Gospel.
My daughter went to Catholic School from kindergarten through twelfth grade and currently attends a very conservative Catholic College. Like society as a whole, the faculty at the Catholic Schools that my daughter attended were made up of conservatives, liberals, populists, centrists, libertarians, and socialists, and she was never brainwashed into socialist/liberal ideology. In my opinion, the most important aspect of any education is learning how to think critically and objectively. Exposure to divergent points of view and differences of opinion are an important part of this process. Send her to the Catholic School, and with good parenting, you really have nothing to fear.
My suggestion to him was to not assume what 'this' was. For all we know, based on what was stated, the person who wrote this meant 'save the world' by spreading God's love. After all, this is a Christian school. The advice was to first find what 'this' means before making the decision.
Private Catholic schools are now enemy camps? Jeeze
05 signup calls an old-timer a troll? That’s rich.
Thanks Wayne. Take care.
No, it isn't.
(To those keeping score at home: this is exactly how deep Petronski's pro-Rome arguments get.)
First take a deep breath. Your child will never learn everything in school just the way you would teach it. The only way to guarantee that is home schooling, and I agree that is not for everyone.
BE thankful she is going to a school where Jesus Christ will be the center of what she is taught (if that is not true, find a different school immed)
Then regularly ask her what she is learning, if you disagree teach her your point of view and why you think differently than the teacher. She will have to be exposed to different points of view and learn to make her own decisions. But remember this is kindergarten. I truly doubt global warming or anything else they teach will have any more impact that learning to color between the lines.
Hope this helps. Dont loose the forrest for the trees.
You make a good point. No use in overthinking the issue at this early stage of the game.
It’s more common than you think. I checked out my local Catholic school, good reputation, walking distance, etc. I asked to see the curriculuum and after some demurring (”You’re the first parent who’s ever asked”) I discovered they taught wishy-washy religion, new math, whole language, “environmentalism”, and drug awareness from the second grade.
I inquired how often curriculuum came up for review and what input parents got, thinking I could put up with it in the early grades. The response was: “We like our curriculuum very much, and only teachers and administration have any involvement in these decisions anyway.”
Which, of course, was my cue to turn tail and find a real Catholic school a fifteen minute drive away. It teaches whole Catholicism, real math, phonics, and critical thinking. They even worked out cheaper in the end, as their steep sibling discounts are a considered reflection of Catholic teachings on openness to life.
Our school gets their curriculuum from Kolbe Academy in California, which also runs a homeschooling program.
http://www.kolbe.org/home.php?cat=0
Are you laboring under the misconception that this kind of material will come home with her?
It won't. and for the most part, she'll be into another mind-set, like, it's after school, it's play time.
These things are instilled in their young minds subliminally, for the most part.
I and another father had a fun way of handling it - right in their face - you don’t teach this to my child EVER or it’s law suit city!
_________
And when you walked away, they laughed at you behind your backs. Deservedly so, from my perspective. Threatening to sue a private/parochial school over what you are paying them handsomely to teach. That’s rich.
Fair enough. But the issue is in no way the relative strength of their or my faith, but our respective (and mutually-exclusive) faiths’ basis. In no way am I the issue; the Bible will say what it has always said long after I die, if the Lord doesn’t come first.
The issue of how to answer the question, “How can a man be right with God?” is not a squabble. It is THE question.
The Bible gives one answer, Rome gives its contrary.
That matters — and that’s just one issue.
He's wrong, of course — on that topic, as well as a great many others — but being wrong isn't the same as doing wrong. While I enjoy poking fun at BibChr's stern pronouncements "ex cathedra" here on FR, I just don't see any hatred behind his anti-Catholicism. We should vehemently oppose his mistaken doctrines, of course, but always with good humor and charity.
If she is obviously part of the 'cult'....then ask....'Well...if you are proclaiming that the science is clear behind Global Warming...is it safe to say you also be teaching Evolutionism and Darwinism this year based on that same kind of science?"
I would want to know! LOL!
No, it isn't.
How is the Catholic Church not Biblically faithful?
I would speak with the teacher and ask her exactly what her curriculum includes. If the teacher wants to teach about conservation and appreciating the earth there should not be a problem. G-d didn’t give us the Earth just so we could trash it, right? It makes sense that we should treat it with respect, as we are stewards of the earth and the life in it. However, if her curriculum does include lessons on global warming. If it does, demand it be changed or switch schools.
I would also keep in mind that teachers are constantly put upon by parents who take things the wrong way, often with incomplete information. Most educators, particularly low paid, but highly motivated Catholic educators, try to do a good job and work very hard. Every smart, responsible teacher has learned to be politically correct and at least somewhat balanced in presenting a point of view. There are a few idiots, but only a few in my experience.
Too often, I’ve seen angry parents treat teachers in a very shabby way. They can be condecending too. Usually, their anger is misdirected and misguided.
The public schools are far worse and not just on this issue as I'm sure you are aware.
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