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From: bnapl@burdvax.UUCP (Tom Albrecht)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: "Secular Humanism" banned in the US Schools.
Message-ID: <2118@burdvax.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 13-Sep-85 10:49:38 EDT
Article-I.D.: burdvax.2118
Posted: Fri Sep 13 10:49:38 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 16-Sep-85 00:07:59 EDT
References: <1072@ulysses.UUCP> <607@hou2g.UUCP> <11384@rochester.UUCP>
Reply-To: bnapl@burdvax.UUCP (Tom Albrecht)
Organization: Burroughs Corp. - SDG/Devon
Lines: 66

In article <cybvax0.743> mrh@cybvax0.UUCP (Mike Huybensz) writes:
>[Cross-postings eliminated: who needs them?]
>
>
>One of the stong points of our society is that there is as much homogeneity
>as there is now.  I'm not in favor of reducing it by segregating children
>into idiologically pure institutions.  There's a great deal of value to be
>learned by exposure to the variety within our culture: that is one of the
>important homogenizing factors, that which makes us a melting pot.
>
>The number of "objectionable" things taught in public schools is extremely
>small.  There are already two established routes for those with objections:
>private schools, and "sunday" schools.  My RC parish provided free schooling
>on saturdays in RC beliefs for those students who didn't pay to go to their
>regular school.
>
>Finally, I view public standards for schools (including private schools)
>as an important check on the power of parents in favor of the rights of
>their children.  Frankly, I consider some of the indoctrination and
>practices at some private schools as illegitimate as sexually abusing
>your own children.  For this reason, I'm not enthusiastic about encouraging
>private schooling.  I'd much rather see tools for enforcement of quality
>in public education (such as successful suits against school districts
>that provide poor education overall, just as suits have been successful
>for segregation.)
>-- 
>
>Mike Huybensz		...decvax!genrad!mit-eddie!cybvax0!mrh

Is it better to indoctrinate children according to some mythical, public
standard?  Believe it or not, parents have a right to determine what type
of education is best for their children.  Numerous state and federal courts
have upheld that right (including the Supreme Court).  Indoctrination is
the very reason why we chose to remove our son from public school and are
now educating him at home.  We didn't like the way he was being
indocrinated in the public school.  It's not just a matter of what
materials are being used in the classrooms.  It involves the whole "I don't
care" attitude of the public school mentality.  Mediocrity is only a symptom
of a much deeper problem.  The problem is the egalitarian mindset of public
educators.  Equality is an excuse for laziness.  If a teacher has thirty
students in his or her classroom, the easiest way to get through the day is
to assume they are all on the same academic, social, and physical level, rather
than trying to treat each child as an individual. They don't understand that 
each child is special and unique in some way.  In public schools we have the
worst form of segregation; academic segregation.  Put the fast learners
with other fast learners so they can relate.  Group the slower children
together so they can all limp along at their own pace, never being
challenged to become better, just survivors.  They're almost treated as if 
they were born that way and there is nothing the poor teacher can do about it.
"Let's just make do with what we have and get through the school year."  That 
seems to be the moto of most school systems.  (I hope those caring teachers 
will forgive me for my sweeping generalizations.)

I don't want that for my children.  It want them to be challenged with the
idea that they can do anything.  They're not some number; some name on an
attendance sheet.  They are unique persons and my wife and I will do all that we
can to insure they get the very best education available.  For us it means
providing the education ourselves.  "Homeschooling: it's not just a job, it's
an adventure!"


-- 
Tom Albrecht 		Burroughs Corp.
			...{presby|psuvax1|sdcrdcf}!burdvax!bnapl

Communism is to government what astrology is to science.


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