It may be some sort of enemy-of-my-enemy thing. I think it’s important to point out, however, that while what you say about Dopers is generally true, there are notable exceptions. There are those who, like Daniel Dennett — probably the greatest contemporary philosopher of atheism and physicalism — dislike bad arguments for views they hold dear. They completely understand that there is nothing at all unusual, untoward, or in any way unreasonable about the faithful viewing the whole world through the lenses of their faith. One does not have to be a Fundamentalist Christian to see God at work in every aspect of life and existence. In fact, for those of us who believe, it is quite impossible even to conceptualize an absence of God.
And I saw an entire stack of textbooks entitled something along the lines of “Chemistry for Christian Schools” in a used book store. I kinda wish I had bought a copy. (There’s a decent chance they’re still there.)
As long as the kids are being taught how to correctly calculate the area of a square or find the hypotenuse of a right triangle then it doesn’t really matter if a private school teaches that the aesthetic qualities of math and geometry reflect divine creation. That’s unfalsifiable, does not interfere with or contradict the substance of what is being taught and is part of the purpose of a religious education. To me bringing “God into the classroom” is only a problem in private schools if an attempt is made to deny known fact. Saying that the perfection of math reflects the perfection of God does not contradict anything known to be true about math. It’s a way to appreciate math, not a revision of it.
**Diogenes, ** nicely said.
This seems to be bordering on insult; I know religious people who find themselves able to imagine a world without their particular god. Do they not truly believe? I’m hoping this is just badly put.
Edit: Just to clarify, I know for example that your own view of the world demands that a God exists; thus it makes sense for you not to be able to imagine this world without a God. But I don’t think you can generalise that to “those of us who believe”.
Yeah, but they use transubstansiation. It’s cheating if you ask me. 
I shouldn’t have generalized at all without defining my terms. Though I’ve defined them elsewhere, not everyone has seen them, and people will define both God and belief differently. For me, God exists necessarily, and belief means reliance and trust born of experience. So yes, as you say, those who see things as I do can no more deny God than we can deny ourselves.
Ah, ok. Sorry to impugn you, then (and tbh I was only checking, you don’t seem the sort to widely insult).
Out of interest (and as a final hijack, sorry) what word would you use to describe that which is more commonly described as belief? IOW, a person who (I would say) believes in God but can imagine a world without it; what do they x instead of believe?
Not where I grew up. Catholic schools consistently outperformed the publics, by a large margin, despite significantly less per-student expenditures. An idle threat, if you were misbehaving, was that they’d transfer you to public school. I’m sure that’s in large part due to the fact that I grew up in a large city (Philadelphia), but public schools were havens for under-performing, under-disciplined kids, and I include the neighborhoods that were NOT inner-city, impoverished sections. I wouldn’t send my kid into the Philly public school system for any reason. Lunacy, in my neighborhood, was the horseshit that passed for education in much of the public school system. As long as we’re tossing anecdotes around.
And BTW, my science teachers would start the class with a prayer, then spend the rest of the period discussing pure science (when they weren’t hitting us ;)). No need to belabor the source of all this glorious knowledge; it was a given where I went to school (St. Lucy’s, St. Joe’s, LaSalle, God bless 'em all)…
I went to a bunch of different Catholic schools growing up. Some were very good, and some were not so good. The Catholic school closest to where I live now is one of the best in the area, and there are several Catholic High Schools around here that are among the best in the country.
I don’t know about so-called Christians schools, though. I believe they are generally Evangelical Protestant. The only experience I have is my niece (her mother is very religious) who goes to a “Christian” school in SoCal, and it seems to be quite good.
I differentiate between belief as an intellectual concession and belief as an experiential compulsion. I’d like to take credit for the distinction, but the truth is that I find it in the teachings of Jesus, Who differentiated between the belief of (some of) the Pharisees, and the belief He sought from His disciples — a clinging trust, or reliance. There are those who believe in an intellectual sense only versus those who believe from the bottoms of their hearts, to speak metaphorically. It’s sort of like the difference between a person who believes San Fransisco exists because he’s heard of it, and a person who believes San Fransisco exists because he’s been there. It is easy for the former to imagine a world without San Fransisco, but the latter person would have to deny a piece of his own existence to deny the existence of San Fransisco. People of various stripes rally around the flag of faith, and for many different reasons.
So, to answer your question directly, I would call that an intellectual belief, and the other a heartfelt belief.
ETA: I would also like to say that I like what **Dio ** said, and the way he said it.
I just wanted to clarify this - unschoolers actually do not follow a curriculum. It may not be for everyone, but it’s also not a lunatic-fringe, “let your child run wild”, neglectful scheme. Unschooling parents are highly involved in their childrens’ lives and strive to create a rich environment for them in the belief that living is learning, and you can’t separate the two. Sort of a “the world is your classroom, and every book ever written is your textbook, and every moment is filled with learning - so enjoy it” philosophy.
I do get this, and I think it’s a great philosophy to have in tandem with some kind of planned curriculum. Creating a rich environment is great, but I know that part of the philosophy is that the learning is child-led. If my education had been led by me, I doubt that I would ever have learned how to multiply & divide.
And I’m not sure that watching Oprah should be part of that rich environment parents are striving for.
No? You’d never want to bake Christmas cookies with Mom? Cause, I’m sorry, we need 3 and a half dozen chocolate chip cookies, and the recipe makes 2 dozen, so you’re going to have to figure out how much flour, sugar and eggs we need. And we need 7 dozen sugar cookies, but half need to be cinnamon flavored and half regular, and a third of each of those need to be frosted and a third sprinkles. The recipe makes 18 cookies. How many batches do we need?
When out, they get to figure out best prices per ounce, tax, change and tips. Want to redecorate your bedroom? Guess you’ll have to figure out the area of your floor for a new carpet and the volume of that vase to fill with glass beads, not to mention how many gallons of paint you’ll need and if the one that’s 20% off this week is a better buy or not.
That’s an unschooling math curriculum for ya. Fractions, addition, subtraction, percentages, multiplication, division and frosting. Who wouldn’t love that?
Uh…not me. But that’s not really the point of what I was saying. The point is that there will most likely be some important concepts that don’t get covered, because it’s too free-flowing, and because there are bound to be some subjects that the kids just isn’t interested enough to focus on if they don’t have to. And who can know if parents who are unschooling are really putting as much math into those cookies as you just did? Some may do so, some of them probably don’t.
The family profiled in the article I read is just one family, but there was no mention of any kind of math, or what the parental sense of organizing is to be sure that subjects are covered, even if in a “fun” way. This is not to say that they aren’t doing it, but if I was unschooling, and was giving examples of how I come up with subjects for teaching, watching Oprah is probably not one I would choose to mention to the reporter…I’d probably try to come up with some examples that show that the kids are actually learning something.
I went to a regular school, and if something didn’t interest me, I still ignored it. I got my high school diploma and everything. It’s not the end of the world if someone doesn’t learn something they will never use.
If I come up against a task that I don’t know how to do, I learn how to do it. It’s not impossible.
Back on topic, I am having a hard time accepting that a school can brand itself “religious” and “private”, and proceed to teach completely irrational garbage that does more harm than good. The curriculum described in the OP essentially prejudices a child against rational thought and problem-solving and represses inquisition. That’s a form of psychological scarring, imo.
From the information provided by the school:
Is anyone familiar with this accrediting agency? I am familiar only with the Southern Association of Schools and Colleges for this area. I don’t know if they would normally accredit private church schools or not.
The accrediting agency is important when the graduate applies for certain jobs or especially when she or he tries to get into college.
Other than that, I am not concerned. It is not my business how the parent chooses to have the child educated. They must leave public schools alone and I will leave their private schools alone. They too live in a free country.
My dogma ate my homework.
Texas requires no acredidation for private schools. In fact, it is illegal for the government to oversee anything taught in a private school in texas. I home school my kid, and therefore by law I run a private school with one student and the government has no oversight whatsoever.
Seriously
All I had to do was send a letter to the school board telling them to pound sand.
Now, I have an incredibly smart kid…he pretty much teaches himself. And both my parents are grad school professors. But I shudder to think what kind of inbreeders are trying to do this.
And worse, the fact that anyone can open a school and pretty much teach anything they want.
I love texas…but some times I hate texans.
Brother, I can relate! And you’re in the sophisticated environs of Fort Worth, God Alone only knows whats going on in Waco!