Almost they persuadeth me (Southern Baptists and Government Schools)

TexanOnline The Southern Baptist Texan ^ | June 12, 2007 | Gary Ledbetter

[achilles2000]

...When I think of the Exodus story I can’t help but see Charlton Heston leading a cast of thousands out of a movie-set Egypt. One day there are millions of the Hebrew children in Egypt and a few days later, not one. The removal of Christian families from public schools will not be that way.

Think instead of an oppressed minority leaving a repressive political regime. A few get out early, others need a more urgent threat, others escape through some kind of underground rescue movement, dogs baying in the background. Some will stay too long. I’m convinced that we’ll leave, not as a denomination or as churches or even as a faith, but as refugees whose alarms go off according to different sensitivities. Eventually we’ll all leave public education or wish we had.

[Bluegrass Conservative]

What about Sunday School? What about Church activities. What about playing with the neighbor kids?

Let's be honest, where did you learn more about the "real world" . . . school or church?

[metmom]

If you think it’s school, you’re in for a big surprise. Church isn’t as different as you think these days.

[HKMk23]

FWIW, I think that every parent should read Gatto’s underground history before their kids reach school age. If that happened, our pubilc schools would be like ghost towns next year.

[Theo]

I was surprised someone on FR would bring up that old tired challenge to homeschooling, but then see you’re just having fun. Shame on you! :-)

[MayflowerMadam]

In my town, the Southern Baptist school ends with Grade 8, I think. When those kids move in to public schools, they score far above the ones who’ve been in public schools from Kindergarten.

[WKB]

how so?

I know there are some “Spirit Filled” Baptist
but I have always gone to rural Mississippi
SBCs. Everyone I have ever been in is dead
as a door nail. Barely get an Amen.
The AOG service was lively and very energetic.
To the point sometimes I felt maybe some were
being a little pretentious.
I told my brother after church that
us Baptist were at least sincere with our “deadness”

[GoreNoMore]

My children are homeschooled and I do less schooling than I did when they were in public or private schools. They attend a University Model School. You set up the homeschool and classes you want them to take can be taken at the UMS. These are classes taught by retired public school teachers or college professors. They have 15 to 25 children in each class. School is Monday - Thursday 8:30 to 12:30. The children meet for lunch, and have plenty of time for studies and entertainment.

The school does not punish the children, if the children are disrespectful they are sent to the headmaster and the parent is notified to come handle the situation. If they want to go to the bathroom, they get up and go. If it becomes a problem parents handle it. The parent can observe the class if the student is disrespectful, and cannot maintain maturity for classwork. The parent is the school, UMS are the subject teachers.

Parents are responsible for the children, they have to do their duty or find another location for the child to go. My children are doing wonderfully, my nephew tested the waters with the school and I cared enough about him to rein in his rebellious spirit. I observed the class everyday from November thru the end of the year. His crap stopped as well as his influence on some of the other children. Those that wanted to learn appreciated my commitment to my nephew. I’m probably the only one in the family he trust to discuss his future plans now that he’s out of school.

If parents do not encourage participation in the young years, the children are not going to want it in the later years. My children had babysitters maybe 6 to 8 times in their entire life. Any other time they went everywhere with my husband and myself. Yea it took time away from being the frolicsome husband and wife, but now that the girls are going to college and my son is in the 11th grade, I’ll have alot of time for frolic in the future.

Lucky for me, I have a husband that agrees with this accessment. The school system may be bad, but the parents allow it because they then do not have to be the bad guy to ensure correct behavior. Parents have turned over their responsibility to anyone that will take it, and for that their children will be the loser.

Stories:

My children were hanging with a child that did something without discussing it with their parents. The kids couldn’t understand why what she did was not bad, and her only offence was not talking with her parents first. I tried to discuss the matter and emotions started to flair. I just told them to hand me their drivers licence. Dumb founded they protested saying they had done nothing wrong. With that I asked, “Do you think Moses did anything wrong? Why did he walk 40 years around the mountain if he had done nothing wrong?”

Because of his associations with people that were not responsible, he was also punished and with that said I told them that because of their associations I believe that they should see life the way Moses had to.

24 hours later I gave them their license back, but that was 3 years ago and they are alot more protective of their associations. I got my point across.

Any of my childrens friends under my care are as if adopted for the time they are with us. I don’t buy for one in my care if all in my care can’t also receive. I treat every child thru my house as though they are mine. All the kids thru my house know that I care for them and feel secure knowing that I would do anything for them including punishing them if needed.

[JenB]

That’s an interesting model. How do you avoid liberal indoctrination, with all classes taught by college professor types I’d think that’s a concern.

I did a homeschool cooperative when I was a teenager. All our moms got together and taught various things a couple hours on Friday. It was a good way to get some enrichment courses. I liked it. I don’t know if we’d do something similar when we have kids though, my husband and I can teach a lot of subjects ourselves.

I really like the idea of actually teaching my own kids so I’m not likely to delegate as much as you, but it sounds like it works well for you.

[Hydroshock]

When it is your children you will fight for every advantage for then you can. My wife teaches in a public high school, that said we both agree that our girls will be sent to a private Catholic school.

[GoreNoMore]

The teachers were well screened, I want to post this website. It’s from MIT and has courses you can study that was great. I’m just found this and thought about starting my son on a physics course. They have many types of courses to audit.

http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/courses/courses/index.htm

I work full time as does my husband. The University Model School worked well for us, it allowed homeschooling and careers. The UMS school offered great courses, they set the structure and tempo of the class, and we were fill in instead of instructors. You can then fill-in as deep as you want your child to get

[Bluegrass Conservative]

Maybe it is a regional thing. I live in a rural area of Kentucky. Yes, we have some problems with public schools, but for the most part I have not seen them overreach too far here.

Maybe that gives me a skewed opinion.

[Hydroshock]

in many parts of TX, the schools are ceasing to be part of the English speaking world. That and the teachers are required to teach the state tests and not the subjects.

[Theophilus]

I will fight tooth and nail to make sure that public schools do not trample on my rights

For me, it's not about "my rights" it's about my children's souls. Even if the public schools were soaring monuments of academic excellence, entrepreneurial expertise, self reliance, free thought, inspiring creativity and civic virtue they would not be blessing enough for my children who will not walk in the counsel of the ungodly nor stand in he way of sinners nor sit in the seats of the scornful. The Law of God has no place there, by day or by night and even if it did there would be many administrators, teachers and students who would disregard it. The call, for Christians, is to love Christ, not just tolerate Him.

1 Corinthians 16:22
If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.

- Fellow Kentuckian

[Theophilus]

I will fight tooth and nail to make sure that public schools do not trample on my rights

For me, it's not about "my rights" it's about my children's souls. Even if the public schools were soaring monuments of academic excellence, entrepreneurial expertise, self reliance, free thought, inspiring creativity and civic virtue they would not be blessing enough for my children who will not walk in the counsel of the ungodly nor stand in he way of sinners nor sit in the seats of the scornful. The Law of God has no place there, by day or by night and even if it did there would be many administrators, teachers and students who would disregard it. The call, for Christians, is to love Christ, not just tolerate Him.

1 Corinthians 16:22
If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.

- Fellow Kentuckian

[GoreNoMore]

In the early years we went Montessori. That was the best thing we did for the children while they were young. This taught them to search for knowledge on their own, and allowed them the opportunity for group interaction. But parents have to be attentive to their peers even at a very young age. I kept them to busy to get involved with kids who’s parents were too busy and important to spend time with their children. My husband and I own a computer consulting company and we’ve always had to manage time between job, company and children. We set rules to get this done, ie: we could talk business at restaurants until the salads arrived. Then business stopped and the children had our attention. They learned from listening to our discussions and that itself was a valued lesson. Kids are great, before you have them make sure you are ready to give yourself to them. We didn’t go out of town without them, we didn’t go out weekends without them. The only time we didn’t include the children were on occasions were we were doing company activities and children were not included. They are wonderful and given to you, do not delegate your responsibility to anyone public or private. If you leave it up to the village, you’re going to get the idiot.

[carton253]

It comes from Acts 26:28 when Agrippa says to Paul: Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. At least that is the scripture I thought of when I read the headline.

[Bluegrass Conservative]

. . . they would not be blessing enough for my children who will not walk in the counsel of the ungodly nor stand in he way of sinners nor sit in the seats of the scornful.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but even Jesus went amongst the sinners, not the Pharisees.

[JenB]

As an adult! He wasn’t talking to tax collectors when he was eight.

There was a famous slogan running around homeschool circles when I was a kid: “When my son has the faith of Daniel, then I’ll send him to Babylon”.

[billbears]

But...but...but NCLB was to fix everything. And it was passed by a Republican so anything this guy says must be wrong.

As a former Southern Baptist, I agree with what this article says. But public education should be shut down for a myriad of other reasons, namely there's no Constitutional basis for it.

[Xenalyte]

And that would be correct, but “they persuadeth” is the same as “they persuades.”