Michael (Bates) Keilen Bump Watch

[JermajestyDuggar]

I wonder if Brandon got the Lego speech on his wedding day. Maybe that's the problem :-/

[Diana]

She had to deny again that she is pregnant in instagram...because of some birds eggs photo she posted that some people asumed was a pregnancy announcement lol

 

[HereticHick]

Here is Roane State's commencement program from last week:  https://www.roanestate.edu/webfolders/HUNSAKERJL/graduation/Commencement%20Program.pdf

Michael isn't listed (under her married or maiden name)

[Diana]

Well, thankfully it seems she isnt sad about the constant questions, to be honest i think they are trying, if not she wouldnt say "well wishes" dont you think?

brandon_michael_jn15@helga_do You needn't apologize. You didn't hurt me, I appreciate all the well wishes! Thank you!

She also answered about her career:

brandon_michael_jn15@cazidylynn@akshaya100 Liberal Arts with a minor in Medical Health Science

[Melissa1977]

Please,  can anybody explain me what's liberal art with minor in medical science? In my country arts and science are very different studies, you cannot mix it in the university. So what does a liberal art medical scientist do for a living?

[HereticHick]

I see in Michael's Instagram comments that she says she finishes her degree in July--looks like their summer term ends at the end of  July.  Unfortunately, Roane State's website says they only have 1 commencement ceremony a year, in May.

[JemimaPuddle-Duck]

2 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

I wonder if Brandon got the Lego speech on his wedding day. Maybe that's the problem :-/

What's the Lego speech?

[hollywood]

4 minutes ago, JemimaPuddle-Duck said:

What's the Lego speech?

The sex talk. Josh Duggar before his wedding said "oh, it's kind of like legos!" 

 

[faraway]

44 minutes ago, HereticHick said:

I see in Michael's Instagram comments that she says she finishes her degree in July--looks like their summer term ends at the end of  July.  Unfortunately, Roane State's website says they only have 1 commencement ceremony a year, in May.

I didn't see her program on the website. What kind of degree is that anyway? Doubtfully a full bachelor's, right?

[theinvisiblegirl]

2 hours ago, Melissa1977 said:

Please,  can anybody explain me what's liberal art with minor in medical science? In my country arts and science are very different studies, you cannot mix it in the university. So what does a liberal art medical scientist do for a living?

 

24 minutes ago, faraway said:

I didn't see her program on the website. What kind of degree is that anyway? Doubtfully a full bachelor's, right?

I don't know if she's doing online or not, but online she could be earning an AA in General Studies, which you could technically call a liberal arts degree. They have a certificate in something called Healthcare Documentation Specialist.

In person, she could earn an Art/Drama/Music degree through a transfer degree, which would mean she would have to transfer to finish that kind of degree at a four-year university, and, if that's the plan, she could be taking classes in Allied Health Sciences, Nursing, and Medicine (something they offer) with the hopes of minoring in something sciency at a four-year university.

[VelociRapture]

31 minutes ago, faraway said:

I didn't see her program on the website. What kind of degree is that anyway? Doubtfully a full bachelor's, right?

I'm pretty sure it's been stated she is pursuing her Associate's degree on a part-time basis - that way she was able to work as a Nanny and pay for classes as she went. I could be wrong about that though, so don't quote me! Lol!

[HereticHick]

She's studying online. Michael lives in suburban Chicago, Illinois. Roane State is in East Tennessee. About 800 km apart.

[faraway]

I am not in the US and not as familiar with the higher education system, but all of this does not sound kind of weird to me. What can she do with that degree? I doubt she will go for a 4-year degree. That would honestly shock me. Why is she even getting this, if she wants to be a stay-at-home mom and homeschool her eleventy children?

[nastyhobbitses]

3 hours ago, Melissa1977 said:

Please,  can anybody explain me what's liberal art with minor in medical science? In my country arts and science are very different studies, you cannot mix it in the university. So what does a liberal art medical scientist do for a living?

You're just taking classes in both of those things and earn enough credits to get both mentioned on your degree. At my university, that sort of thing was super common. I knew a Dance/Neuroscience double major (now works for a medical company, her senior project was on Deaf dancers), a Studio Art/Earth Science double major (senior project: paintings of cross-sections of the rocks she was studying; now getting a PhD in geology), an English/Biology double major (currently specializing in Disability Studies and Trauma Writing), and a Studio Art/Economics double major (I think he works for Google now?). I considered double majoring, but then I just chose a really interdisciplinary major (East Asian Studies, so basically Chinese language, literature, and history with a bit of China/Taiwan-focused Anthropology and Poli Sci sprinkled in there) and that was enough for me.

[JesusCampSongs]

21 hours ago, Geechee Girl said:

It seems to me the South gets a lot of flack here which is unwarranted. There are many people of various faiths who believe their Creator has a plan for their lives. It's presumptuous to paint people of a particular region as backwards.

 Thiiiiiiiiis. I've lived in southern Appalachia for the majority of my life, and while people here can be pretty backwards in some ways, it's not as awful as the media and people who aren't from here make it out to be. The stereotypes are really hurtful, to the point where I practically cried reading The Hunger Games because it was the first time I'd ever encountered my region and culture being portrayed positively in pop culture. It's hard to express what that feeling was like. 

Anyway, if you look at purple election maps, you'll see that the South isn't as red as people think it is. 

[Exjw2015deed]

2 hours ago, VelociRapture said:

I'm pretty sure it's been stated she is pursuing her Associate's degree on a part-time basis - that way she was able to work as a Nanny and pay for classes as she went. I could be wrong about that though, so don't quote me! Lol!

I'm literally quoting you sorry. Lol. 

But it could be a bachelors degree. Michael bates is the same age as me, so that means she had to finish high school in 2008. If she was taking classes part time since then, it's possible that 8 years later she could have enough credits for a bachelors degree. I know Kelly wanted all of her children to take at least one class after high school, so perhaps she took about 3 a semester. But we ll just have to wait and see. Erin has finished and I believe Tori is only a year away from finishing as well.

[HereticHick]

1 hour ago, JesusCampSongs said:

 Thiiiiiiiiis. I've lived in southern Appalachia for the majority of my life, and while people here can be pretty backwards in some ways, it's not as awful as the media and people who aren't from here make it out to be. The stereotypes are really hurtful, to the point where I practically cried reading The Hunger Games because it was the first time I'd ever encountered my region and culture being portrayed positively in pop culture. It's hard to express what that feeling was like. 

Anyway, if you look at purple election maps, you'll see that the South isn't as red as people think it is. 

District 12 Forever!!!!

[JillyO]

10 hours ago, faraway said:

I am not in the US and not as familiar with the higher education system, but all of this does not sound kind of weird to me. What can she do with that degree? I doubt she will go for a 4-year degree. That would honestly shock me. Why is she even getting this, if she wants to be a stay-at-home mom and homeschool her eleventy children?

Of all the eleventy billion things that are snarkworthy about the Bateses, this might be quite literally the least snarkworthy thing. I applaud her for getting a proper education, every if she never does use it to work outside of the home. Since when is it ever bad to pursue education just for the sake of it? Not to even speak of the fact that the better educated the mother/homeschool teacher, the better the children's education will likely be.

[elliha]

5 minutes ago, JillyO said:

Of all the eleventy billion things that are snarkworthy about the Bateses, this might be quite literally the least snarkworthy thing. I applaud her for getting a proper education, every if she never does use it to work outside of the home. Since when is it ever bad to pursue education just for the sake of it? Not to even speak of the fact that the better educated the mother/homeschool teacher, the better the children's education will likely be.

Agreed, being a homeschooling mom does require some learning to do it well. I think it is great if her children are given a good education and perhaps Michael also gets to do something that is her own thing even if it is "just" going to college to get a degree she will not use for an official job. I really hope she gets to have a couple of years to herself without kids, that will probably be more of a spur to not have 10-20 kids than anything we say here. Having child-free time as an adult married woman is more likely to lead to her saying no more after a couple of kids than most things. She will remember that it is like to not be a daughter living at home or a mother homeschooling and staying at home all the time. Even if she is going the route of the perfect submissive wife taking care of her husband she will at least have some free time now.

[nastyhobbitses]

11 hours ago, faraway said:

I am not in the US and not as familiar with the higher education system, but all of this does not sound kind of weird to me. What can she do with that degree? I doubt she will go for a 4-year degree. That would honestly shock me. Why is she even getting this, if she wants to be a stay-at-home mom and homeschool her eleventy children?

My mom was a SAHM starting in the mid 1990s after my sister was born. She has a BA, an MS, and a JD. But I guess she wasted all that time and money becoming an educated, free-thinking, well-informed woman who could support herself and her children should the need arise and provide her children with a good education and a strong role model, since all she does (up until a few years ago) is take care of her kids.

[faraway]

@JillyO I agree that a proper education is a good thing, but as in all things fundie I have my doubts if it really is that. If I am a fundie woman who wants to homeschool a whole lot of kids, I would get a teacher's degree. Of course none of them do that. I know it's fundies and we're talking on a low level here, but still. I also don't believe "anything counts". A degree from Clown College is probably worse than nothing, just more religious indoctrination. 

I just checked, her college only offers 2-year degrees.

[faraway]

11 minutes ago, nastyhobbitses said:

My mom was a SAHM starting in the mid 1990s after my sister was born. She has a BA, an MS, and a JD. But I guess she wasted all that time and money becoming an educated, free-thinking, well-informed woman who could support herself and her children should the need arise and provide her children with a good education and a strong role model, since all she does (up until a few years ago) is take care of her kids.

I never said that. Honestly, I don't even know why you compare your clearly very educated mom to fundies, who will never get close to this level of education.

[JillyO]

1 hour ago, faraway said:

@JillyO I agree that a proper education is a good thing, but as in all things fundie I have my doubts if it really is that. If I am a fundie woman who wants to homeschool a whole lot of kids, I would get a teacher's degree. Of course none of them do that. I know it's fundies and we're talking on a low level here, but still. I also don't believe "anything counts". A degree from Clown College is probably worse than nothing, just more religious indoctrination. 

I just checked, her college only offers 2-year degrees.

The thing is, though, that she is NOT attending Clown College. She is attending a secular, accredited college. So it's definitely not some kind of further indoctrination and from where I stand, that can only be seen as positive. Even if she's not exactly taking critical theory classes, she will definitely be confronted with ideas outside of her Gothardite world. It's not a case of "anything counts."

[nastyhobbitses]

1 hour ago, faraway said:

I never said that. Honestly, I don't even know why you compare your clearly very educated mom to fundies, who will never get close to this level of education.

I'm sorry, I misconstrued your comment. I took it to mean "why is she bothering working towards a degree/getting educated if she's not going to have a 'real' job", which set me off, having grown up in a house where learning for learning's sake was highly valued and being a stay-at-home mom didn't mean being a submissive, dumb Miss Susie Homemaker. I know that a two-year degree that's taking like 8 years to get isn't the same as a BA/MS/JD, but I will never look down my nose at someone who takes the time and effort to further their education. I also find that the move towards "why bother learning something if it's not immediately and directly applicable to a 9-to-5 job" very dangerous. That doesn't mean that everyone should go out and spend 4 years analyzing 2000-year-old Chinese erotic poetry or debating the finer points of Shakespeare's grocery list, but that sort of "learning stuff is useless if you're not going to directly contribute to the neoliberal economic system" talk is why universities' liberal arts, humanities, and social sciences departments are losing so much funding. Because people think that those things are useless.

[19 cats and counting]

If her education is the reason they're delaying pregnancy (assuming no fertility issues) than I give her a lot of credit.  

Considering that the Keilens are marinating in the Kool-Aid, the fact that she's getting an education while married and working (babysitting/nannying) really surprises me.  

As for education-- I don't think that Crown is worse than nothing.  Even though the school is in line with their beliefs, they are presented with ideas from someone other than a family member, and (sometimes) in a formal classroom setting.  This is a lot more than I can say for other fundie families (especially the daughters).