College is a waste of time, education is overrated.

[OkToBeTakei]

I read this on a comment in response to a review of the Maxwell book.

It is not quote worthy. It is not a new view among the fundie homeschoolers.

Further education is a waste of time. It is an evil government way of making you spend money for no reason. Blah blah.

I get more and more annoyed every time I see this. Never mind the absolute 'girls as homemaker' thing. They will bring up their boys to be 'manly' to support the family, to provide, without debt. But this without the benefit of a higher education? I am all for vocational careers. Not every person in the world is cut out for academia. BUT..

Is your child the next Alexander Fleming?

Is your child the next Marie Curie?

John Logie Baird gave you the choice to decide that TV is evil.

How would you live without your car?

That fetus that is a human? From conception, how did you know about that?

Electricity?

This list could go on and on. Feel free to add to it. They are leeches. This annoys me about them more than most things. They are so happy to live in a world where others who they despise make their lives possible. They feel no urge to add to it. Take, take. Yet that is what they like to accuse others of.

One of their precious Quiver could have the cure for cancer? OH no chance. God forbid you try to ACTUALLY help common man. It does not fit with their GODLY programme.

Help other people? No that does not work either. UNLESS you happened to be a scientist, a medic, somebody who took the time to be useful, but you are just there especially if you are female to be derided. How dare you? But you know, you will be used anyway. When it suits.

My favourite.

Internet. OMG who invented it? Your blog? Your 'puter? Your Ministry? That's convenient.

You are users. You contribute nothing. You intend to contribute nothing.

Leeches.

[Inky]

Your police force? Most forces prefer higher education. Even firefighters in large cities have education beyond highschool. The nurse in the NICU? They are condemning their children (those who choose to go out and get a job) to a life far below that which they might aspire to. And that can lead to a lot of discontentment as an adult.

[mkitten]

Hello fundies! Please do the rest of the world a favor and give away/do not use the following:

1.) The Internet.

2.) Electricity

3.) Indoor plumbing

4.) Twinkies

5.) Cars

6.) Anything and everything that was not around before the mid-1800's.

7.) Modern medicine is excluded from this list for all children and pregnant women.

Since you are unwilling to contribute to the progress of humanity, why should you continue to reap the benefits of that which you and your ilk have not sown?

[Seven Severn]

Hello fundies! Please do the rest of the world a favor and give away/do not use the following:

1.) The Internet.

2.) Electricity

3.) Indoor plumbing

4.) Twinkies

5.) Cars

6.) Anything and everything that was not around before the mid-1800's.

7.) Modern medicine is excluded from this list for all children and pregnant women.

Since you are unwilling to contribute to the progress of humanity, why should you continue to reap the benefits of that which you and your ilk have not sown?

I'll add Math to the list or anything that uses anything beyond addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

[JesusFightClub]

This makes me raging. Absolutely raging.

I've said before, I am an absolutely frustrated academic trapped in a low grade bureaucratic job and facing the threat of the sack. If that happens, my next, er, choice will be "shelf stacker". They're always hiring.

I've got a good degree from a good university. My degree dissertation was in political violence. I have a thesis idea on the Continuity IRA and the Real IRA. Makes no fucking difference. My future is photocopying and post-it notes saying "Can you fix the printer NOW PLEASE" until I am 68 and if I fall victim to the cuts (looking likely) to sleep on my brother's floor again until I save enough money from my supermarket job to pay rent once more on a tiny flat somewhere.

That's going to be my entire fucking life. This is not what my childhood dreams were all about. I was voted "Most Promising Student". Guess where that went.

But at least I have some kind of job skills. Fundies don't even have that. I can say plaintively "But I have an audiotyping speed of 70 wpm and extensive experience in [long list]" and get some kind of low level job. Fundies are going to lose out on that.

(Sorry to sound bitter and twisted. Some days it hurts more than others.)

[Aisling]

Feel for you, JFC. My OH has been trying to get back into uni to do a postgrad for years now, and I'm currently keeping everything crossed to get into a PGCE next year, otherwise I'm fuckityfucked. Everybody knows somebody who has come out with a first in Law or something, who has signed on the day after graduating.

....

University is still totally worth it though. It's always going to be something to be proud of. Poor fundies. They don't get to talk about sexuality in Shakespeare/sexuality in Seamus Heaneys' poetry/sexuality in Chaucer

[julie paradox]

....University is still totally worth it though. It's always going to be something to be proud of. Poor fundies. They don't get to talk about sexuality in Shakespeare/sexuality in Seamus Heaneys' poetry/sexuality in Chaucer

Maybe that's why they're obsessed with it? ;-)

[RosyDaisy]

All I can say is fuck you, Maxwells! You have no fucking clue what life would be like without colleges/universities and what their graduates have achieved. We would still be living in the damn dark ages. So again, fuck you!

[Aisling]

Maybe that's why they're obsessed with it? ;-)

Definitely. Some of my class mates started off fresh from the convent school, by the end of their course they're reaching for the Ben Wa love balls. :D

[ILoveJellybeans]

Theyre really limiting their childrens potential in life by not letting them go to college. There are so many jobs that require a college education, and more knowledge is always a good thing.

[ADoyle90815]

All I can say is fuck you, Maxwells! You have no fucking clue what life would be like without colleges/universities and what their graduates have achieved. We would still be living in the damn dark ages. So again, fuck you!

Fundies would love it if we returned to the dark ages. To that, I also say fuck you!

[mkitten]

Theyre really limiting their childrens potential in life by not letting them go to college. There are so many jobs that require a college education, and more knowledge is always a good thing.

If fundy families are using exclusively religious material (with no chemistry, biology, etc.) to "teach science" they are basically denying their kids the equivalent of a high school level education.

[Jana814]

I agree with you! I think that is their way of making sure they only believe what they are taught!

[Anxious Girl]

It seems that fundies would rather give their $ to their cult of choice, rather than to their children's college/trade school/university of choice to further their education. It alsom seems that fundies want to live in a world where Christians only take care of other Christians who suck up the most to the cult. Is that what Jesus taught? They probably do it to gain a higher status in their cult circle, instead of doing what Jesus preached, which is sad.

[Jana814]

It seems that fundies would rather give their $ to their cult of choice, rather than to their children's college/trade school/university of choice to further their education. It alsom seems that fundies want to live in a world where Christians only take care of other Christians who suck up the most to the cult. Is that what Jesus taught? They probably do it to gain a higher status in their cult circle, instead of doing what Jesus preached, which is sad.

Agree with you!! They only want to associate w/ "like minded people" and they probably think that anyone else that does not think the way they do their is something wrong w/ them.

[keeks21]

If fundy families are using exclusively religious material (with no chemistry, biology, etc.) to "teach science" they are basically denying their kids the equivalent of a high school level education.

I agree. I was raised pentecostal fundie and I wasn't taught science this year I started a university entry course and I was planning to be a Dietitian. I learn't all about biology and chemistry and WOW my eyes are opened up to the beauty of the world and cell biology. I kind of knew all this stuff was out there (hello TV and internet) but never thought of searching it out after we left the church. I'm now going to be a Molecular Biologist.

I'm 25yrs old and I will be entering university for the first time as a 26yr old so there is hope fundie children you can get an education after you leave.

[OkToBeTakei]

I just wanted to post FUCK you!

They just use and abuse. They live a life created by education they use. But have no intention of adding to .But you know..We are all wrong.

I'm ok with that. I do not wish ill on them. But I will give my child the chance to aspire to being a life changer. Maybe that is not her path. But I will keep that path open. I have nothing against homeschool. I have issues with control though.

Mary Maxwell could have cured Cancer.

Solomon Anderson might have made Apple look naive.

Any one of them might be the best Tennis player, best Swimmer etc. I am not about being the best. But why not at least see? OH that is because you are all about you. I don't care about how many kids you have. What you say. It is all about you. They are collateral.

But they will never get the chance.

[OkToBeTakei]

I agree. I was raised pentecostal fundie and I wasn't taught science this year I started a university entry course and I was planning to be a Dietitian. I learn't all about biology and chemistry and WOW my eyes are opened up to the beauty of the world and cell biology. I kind of knew all this stuff was out there (hello TV and internet) but never thought of searching it out after we left the church. I'm now going to be a Molecular Biologist.

I'm 25yrs old and I will be entering university for the first time as a 26yr old so there is hope fundie children you can get an education after you leave.

Have the best time. Be happy! Make a difference.

[DistantStar]

It's not just college they're missing out on -- I am of the opinion that the "everybody should go" thing just isn't true, there are whole fields where you do need to go to some sort of school but not necessarily college. What's more important is that they deliberately stifle their own and their kids' curiosity and desire to learn. You don't have to go to school to keep learning.

Particularly as they are so damned devout -- they are deliberately shutting out learning about the world/universe/whatever that they believe God made. How can that possibly be seen as a good thing? Especially since they won't admit that if it wasn't for all that backlog of knowledge they would be so screwed. They wouldn't exist. Fundyism is modern.

[FlorenceHamilton]

My undergrad degree is in Biology. Cell Biology rocked my world. I struggled through Calculus because I needed it to get my degree/go to med school. About 2 years ago, I started looking at the Geometry of the universe and Math Theory became Art to me. Go figure.

Education is ALWAYS good. It is great if it leads to a good job, but it is still wonderful if it leads to expanding your mind to new things throughout your life.

[keeks21]

just realised how many spelling and grammar mistakes I made on my post and I can't edit it. Ugh.

I blame the 40degree (104 farenheit) heat in Australia today.

[OkToBeTakei]

My undergrad degree is in Biology. Cell Biology rocked my world. I struggled through Calculus because I needed it to get my degree/go to med school. About 2 years ago, I started looking at the Geometry of the universe and Math Theory became Art to me. Go figure.

Education is ALWAYS good. It is great if it leads to a good job, but it is still wonderful if it leads to expanding your mind to new things throughout your life.

How would you feel if that was stifled?

[FlorenceHamilton]

How would you feel if that was stifled?

I would feel imprisoned.

[YPestis]

I'm not so much upset that they are anti-college as much as it is an anti-learning attitude. Maxwells have a fear of exposure to new ideas. It's like they know in the back of the their head that there are stuff that will challenge their dogmatic beliefs. Safely ensconced in their world, they can continue to pretend that life is exactly as they are taught.

It is also hypocritical that the Maxwells still use hospitals and see doctors and use the internet and buy computers, yet they deprive their own children of the very tools that makes these things possible. I guess they assume that people made all these discoveries and inventions by sitting at home and reading textbooks (written by others who also wrote textbooks)? Oh well, the Maxwells will continue to live as they do until someone has a mental breakdown and/or dump the family for a real life.

[Bloo]

I don't mind that they don't all go to college- that's not for everyone. There are other options- trade schools, apprenticeships, the military. But these fundies get NO CHOICES. I mean, I doubt they would even be allowed to become ministers.