Another instance of fundie "creep"

[GenerationCedarchip]

There's a nondenominational Christian school near me, and I've been noticing a creep of fundie-ism into their curriculum(which they advertise). First they switched history textbooks from Houghton Mifflin to A Beka. Now they're working in Apologia Science, and in high school, they are having Godly Man and Godly Woman classes. The one for guys sounds like a VF intern application and the women's class has lots of "God's Princess" type discussion mentioned. I've also been told by a teacher there that new this year they will be reading some of Nancy Leigh DeMoss' writings on "true womanhood."

For a school that emphasizes its college prep credentials, the lurch to fundie-dom is disheartening to watch. Granted this is only anecdotal, but from what friends elsewhere report, this is happening in plenty of private schools.

[silvia]

How... creepy. Seems to parallel what's happening in today's Republican Party. The mindset is the same: "If you don't flash your extremist credentials [creationism, anti-abortion, complementarianism, and whatever else], you're not REALLY one of us."

I wonder if this drift might convince some parents who'd otherwise homeschool to put their kids into a parochial school? Given the popularity of religiously-based homeschooling among Christian fundamentalists, I can see there being a market for schools that parrot the extremist party line.

[Ariel]

For a school that emphasizes its college prep credentials, the lurch to fundie-dom is disheartening to watch. Granted this is only anecdotal, but from what friends elsewhere report, this is happening in plenty of private schools.

They can kiss those college prep credentials buh bye. Has there been a drop in enrollment along with this shift towards fundyness? I know lots of non-religious people who send their kids to religious schools because they provide a better education. They would pull their kids out pronto.

[lexiloumarie]

What I've seen locally is that the religious schools who creep farther and farther right have experienced the decline before the change not after. I'm thinking of a local smaller christian school known for being tougher than the public option. They've crept right as parents who can't afford it any longer pull their kids. It leaves only the devout to attend, and a competition to be the most christian of them all.

[bookiewookie]

I wonder if this drift might convince some parents who'd otherwise homeschool to put their kids into a parochial school? Given the popularity of religiously-based homeschooling among Christian fundamentalists, I can see there being a market for schools that parrot the extremist party line.

Not if the Maxwells have anything to do with it! Lorraine from All Are Precious In His Sight attended a homeschool convention where Steve and Teri were speaking and apparently Teri said something along the lines of “If you are thinking about homeschooling, but you’ve decided that you’ll “research†for a year while you send your children to the local private Christian school down the street, you are DISOBEYING God.†:pink-shock:

allarepreciousinhissight.com/2012/09/so-how-do-you-know.html

Let's not forget that Lorraine is "homeschooling" her kids in name only - neither she nor her husband do any teaching. Instead, she makes the single mom who lives on her ranch do it full-time in exchange for a place to stay. The single mom is getting the short end of the stick, for sure.

allarepreciousinhissight.com/2011/02/our-homeschooling-journey.html

[dawbs]

What I've seen locally is that the religious schools who creep farther and farther right have experienced the decline before the change not after. I'm thinking of a local smaller christian school known for being tougher than the public option. They've crept right as parents who can't afford it any longer pull their kids. It leaves only the devout to attend, and a competition to be the most christian of them all.

This is what I've seen too.

Which means my options for my kid are public or....public. There basically aren't any private schools local to me that aren't fundie. There never were many, but theyr'e fewer and fewer.

[Loveday]

What I've seen locally is that the religious schools who creep farther and farther right have experienced the decline before the change not after. I'm thinking of a local smaller christian school known for being tougher than the public option. They've crept right as parents who can't afford it any longer pull their kids. It leaves only the devout to attend, and a competition to be the most christian of them all.

This is sort of what happened to the school my kids were attending when they were very small. We had enrolled them in a Southern Baptist elementary school, K-3 through fifth grade, very back to basics with a good curriculum that actually taught evolution as well as creationism (unusual, I know, but this was nearly twenty years ago). All went swimmingly for awhile, and then the school was purchased from the church by another school because that school wanted to expand its reach into another city. The principal of said school was much more fundamental than ours was, and he began to eliminate things from the curriculum that he didn't approve of, and began requiring all parents to sign a faith statement and show proof that we were active members of our churches. He also raised the tuition. We put up with it for a year--DS was in third grade, DD in first--and then we left. Partly because of the curriculum change, partly because of the astronomical tuition increase (the principal would tell everyone we had to sacrifice for our children's education: sell that second car! sell your boat!--what boat?--move to a cheaper house! all the while he was driving a Lexus and wearing heavy gold watches and rings), and partly because suddenly, as Catholics, we weren't good enough. We weren't 'saved.' Oddly, that had never been a problem before; even some of the staff were Catholic and had their children at the school. But now we were beyond the pale, we had to be converted or forced out. We left, put our kids in our parish school where they probably should have been from the start, and watched very carefully as they were given a really excellent education which stood them in good stead when they went to public high school. Meanwhile, the Baptist school eventually closed because so many others pulled their kids out as well, and now it's a little preschool and kindergarten, run very nicely by the church. Unfortunately, the Lexus-driving principal went back to his main campus and made it one of the larger and more successful fundie Christian schools in the area. :roll:

Giant Wall o' Text there just to say this trend started years ago and is getting worse and worse.

[GenerationCedarchip]

What I've seen locally is that the religious schools who creep farther and farther right have experienced the decline before the change not after. I'm thinking of a local smaller christian school known for being tougher than the public option. They've crept right as parents who can't afford it any longer pull their kids. It leaves only the devout to attend, and a competition to be the most christian of them all.

That's the weird thing with this school. They used to be fairly mainstream but as they creep right, they seem to be building a waitlist rather than losing students. Granted, they are the only Protestant school in town that I know of. There's a nondenominational school that many are leery of because the academics are reputedly a bit lax and there are several Catholic schools. Not a lot of choice, which I think is helping them get away with it. Then again, as we've mentioned before, it sure seems like fundie ideas are creeping mainstream in many churches, too. Around here, it seems like every mainstream Protestant church has suddenly started a "Titus 2" group.

[lizziesmom]

There's a nondenominational Christian school near me, and I've been noticing a creep of fundie-ism into their curriculum(which they advertise). First they switched history textbooks from Houghton Mifflin to A Beka. Now they're working in Apologia Science, and in high school, they are having Godly Man and Godly Woman classes. The one for guys sounds like a VF intern application and the women's class has lots of "God's Princess" type discussion mentioned. I've also been told by a teacher there that new this year they will be reading some of Nancy Leigh DeMoss' writings on "true womanhood."

For a school that emphasizes its college prep credentials, the lurch to fundie-dom is disheartening to watch. Granted this is only anecdotal, but from what friends elsewhere report, this is happening in plenty of private schools.

What is more appalling to me is that this is also happening in plenty of private schools.

[already hungover]

It happens everywhere, I think. I went to PUBLIC high school. We had a presentation about staying "pure" until marriage. They kept saying, "Girls, don't you want to wear a white dress on your wedding day?" We were all locked in the gym listening to this BS. It was awful and not the only presentation of its kind that I had to sit through.

[Ariel]

It happens everywhere, I think. I went to PUBLIC high school. We had a presentation about staying "pure" until marriage. They kept saying, "Girls, don't you want to wear a white dress on your wedding day?" We were all locked in the gym listening to this BS. It was awful and not the only presentation of its kind that I had to sit through.

Please tell me this happened like 50 years ago..... :shock:

My school went the route of saying absolutely nothing.

[already hungover]

Please tell me this happened like 50 years ago..... :shock:

My school went the route of saying absolutely nothing.

I'm sorry to tell you this, but it was in 2004. In 2006 we had one about how there's only one thing we need blah blah blah and then at the end that "one thing" turned out to be Jesus. The worst part wasn't the content, it was that the teachers and principals "stood guard" at the doors so we couldn't leave and had to listen to that shit.

(I think in 2005 they took a break from the Christian theme to offer a presentation about dangerous teen driving, complete with photos of the mangled, bloodstained cars of kids who had gotten killed in horrific car accidents. A much-loved student had died in just such an accident only a few days before.)

[pookel]

Let's not forget that Lorraine is "homeschooling" her kids in name only - neither she nor her husband do any teaching. Instead, she makes the single mom who lives on her ranch do it full-time in exchange for a place to stay. The single mom is getting the short end of the stick, for sure.

allarepreciousinhissight.com/2011/02/our-homeschooling-journey.html

:shock:

Holy shit.

I had fully intended to come home from Serbia, integrate Chrissie into Agape Academy, then serve alongside Stephanie in whatever ways she needed help. But God never planned for me to do that. He planned for Stephanie to be the full-time teacher at Agape Academy, and He planned for me to focus 100% on our family. Wow! God knew what He had in store for our future, and He had already figured out how He would provide for our family while we focused on getting Chrissie's medical treatments, her hospitalizations, and eventually her 31-day battle until she went to live with Jesus. Stephanie was here, as a volunteer, to not only handle all of the educational requirements of our children, but also serve in our home and on the ranch, taking care of all of our kids while we were away so much of the time.