There is an article in Salon this morning about Home Schooling which I though was quite good, as it was written from the point of view of a Brooklyn Liberal father whose twins are being schooled at home for, what seem to be, non-religious reasons. I think that’s great, but it doesn’t jibe with what most of us think about when we consider Home Schooling.
A couple of years ago, home schooling was pushed by the religious right in order to avoid the teachings in public schools which were closer to Darwinism and scientific method. This was the major thrust of “Creation Science” as an educational discipline.
If you don’t know what Creation Science means, here is a number by Roy Zimmerman:
OK, this is America and people can believe anything they want. And they can make sure their children learn the things they believe as well. But it is worth considering why a majority of Europeans (the last figure I saw was 83%) are non-believers as opposed to 9 to 12% of Americans, and they are amazed at the fundamentalist beliefs that affect our country’s education and politics. One of the sources of these European opinions are expressly brought out by a pair of TV comics called The Chasers. A sample (called “Do you believe he Bible is true?):
I think what made much of Europe believe (or not believe) the way they do was the effect of World War II in bringing folks to the real truth: there was no God there to protect them as their cities were devastated and their civilization was destroyed. We, on the other hand, with the exception of Pearl Harbor, were left intact and wealthy by the war, which supported the God-is-on-our-side concept (as well as the time between capitalism and religion as a money making prospect).
Anyhow, to sum up, education, religion and home schooling have developed quite a few links in our culture which often works against us… and has a lot to do with whether or not we can put up a real fight against all the political stuff affecting us now.
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