Oh, lordy! Now the education of young minds is politicised. "Give me a child when they are 6" I guess a future generation of unquestioning Republicans is the aim. That it should be wrapped up in such blatantly false argument - forgive me while I vomit...
Oh, lordy! Now the education of young minds is politicised. "Give me a child when they are 6" I guess a future generation of unquestioning Republicans is the aim. That it should be wrapped up in such blatantly false argument - forgive me while I vomit...
Yes, the Trumpublicans are turning up the politicization of young minds. But education has always been politicized.
Educated in Maryland public schools, slavery was taught in a mundane, matter of fact part of history... minus the details about how brutal it was. That was politicized history classes, brutality was deemed unimportant, it was deemed unnecessary to shaping young minds. That changed in 9th grade with an amazing civics teacher who taught outside the box. Lucky for me, he transferred to my high school and I was in his class again in 11th grade along with more lesser known history facts.
Pure GOP racism is Trump. Democrats were no better. Worse for decades. Guilt of racist whites inspires logical expectations and all sorts of issues and stuff. Bedt case This process will take generations and patience. No excuse or justification for the passive white idiot savant of American history peddling the best facts on Substack when Q and A might inspire just behavior and constructive embarrassment.
The nuns in my Catholic school taught me very well to be "unquestioning." It has haunted me to this day. Thankfully, having discovered Letters from an American and all the subscribers with their comments, I am starting to break free. Thanks, Constantine.
I have a friend who was thoroughly beaten regularly - and with some pleasure - by the Dominican Brothers. This not only turned him against Catholicism, but *all* organised religion!
This was the late fifties/early sixties. My mother was left a widow when I was only 4 years old. She thought her daughters would be "safe" in a Catholic school while she was at work. I was never aware of what it cost or how she paid for it. We were not wealthy, that I know!
I was actually referring to the costs to the recipients of Catholic education, but your point is valid as well. I have no clue what the tuition is these days, but I do know that the family I mentioned below do not have all the toys that many of their peers do...
And, their kids play sports, take music lessons, and serve as altar boys.
Many of my LEO friends are sending their kids to the Catholic private school(s) here in Eugene (they have been open fully the entire school year of 20-21). The only ones that I know of that are Catholic are raising their three boys in the church as well as the school system... (their Mom, who married one of the kids who was a law enforcement explorer and is now the acting Captain of the patrol division, was a graduate of the local Catholic HS that I met when she was the catcher for their softball team 30 years ago.) I think it is equal parts conservatism and contravention of pandemic policies on most of their parts.
Don't know what they're up to these days, Ally, as I have been a card-carrying heathen ever since those days! All around the barn to say they are very effective at suppressing independent thinking.
That's so brutal. And unnecessary - in fact counter-productive.
I had a Catholic education in the Fifties and Sixties. There was certainly a fair amount of indoctrination in my primary years, but the nuns who taught me and priests who put up with me as an altar boy all had my best interests at heart. In fact (embarrassing), my first crush (age 10) was on my Grade 8 teacher - Sister Josephine. She herself was 21 at the time I found out later and went on to become Mother Superior.
Secondary school coincided with the volatile part of the Sixties. I had numerous teachers who encouraged us to think for ourselves. Catholicism was never questioned, but neither did I ever feel it was rammed down my throat.
Twenty years later I found out some of the horrors committed by Catholic priests and nuns in indigenous residential schools - a chamber of horrors in Canada - as well as in parishes. It stunned me. I had shifted away from Catholicism as it didn't seem rational to believe in God. But because I had enjoyed a happy childhood, I was left deeply at odds with the incongruities I now faced. I think it's where I first really internalized how human beings can be so deeply repugnant and evil and at the same time can rise to the noblest heights. Sometimes it can be embodied in a single individual.
The Church has so much to answer for. Yet I still wish I had the stirrings of belief in me. I'd go back.
I lived in and around a Catholic nunnery (Missionaries of Charity) for 6 months as a full time AIDS volunteer. The sisters had opened up their house/convent as an HIV/AIDS hospice.
I came to love the dedication to service that I saw embodied not just by the nuns, but by the congregation who gave of their time to support the work.
At the same time, I saw firsthand the terrible price that their strict belief system/personal unfinished childhood trauma unleashed on deserving men who didn't deserve to die. It was a stark contrast in opposites and has left indelible memories with me.
Most 'service' organizations do more harm than good, the Catholic Church is among them.
The world reaction to AIDS was unconscionable. We are always a hair’s breadth away from lapsing into the comfort of a morality play. Group think is so safe and so devastating for those the group turns on. The AIDS crisis was, in the truest sense of the word, a shaming period for humanity.
As for the Catholic Church, it has represented both the excesses of sin and the shining example of redemption with equal favor over the centuries. Rarely within the same person unfortunately.
Too bad those nuns weren't influenced by some Jesuit priests! They are encouraged to question everything. Luckily my brother was going to Gonzaga University while I was attending my all girl catholic high school. He lived at home his sophomore year & he challenged our mother's blind faith a lot!
Funny thing, our mother went back to school years later & got her BSRN from GU but to this day has blind faith. Not so much her 8 kids....well maybe 1 of my brothers.
White supremacist objections to better education for non-elite children go back a long way in this country. There was a new round of it as part of the “movement conservative” takeover, under the false as usual label of ‘teacher responsibility.’ Load the teachers with paperwork and the students with standardized tests, to cut down on time for teaching critical thinking.
Oh, lordy! Now the education of young minds is politicised. "Give me a child when they are 6" I guess a future generation of unquestioning Republicans is the aim. That it should be wrapped up in such blatantly false argument - forgive me while I vomit...
Education of young’s minds has always been politicized.
This is a full embrace of the latest Republican attempt to turn teaching history into a culture war.
Yes, the Trumpublicans are turning up the politicization of young minds. But education has always been politicized.
Educated in Maryland public schools, slavery was taught in a mundane, matter of fact part of history... minus the details about how brutal it was. That was politicized history classes, brutality was deemed unimportant, it was deemed unnecessary to shaping young minds. That changed in 9th grade with an amazing civics teacher who taught outside the box. Lucky for me, he transferred to my high school and I was in his class again in 11th grade along with more lesser known history facts.
Pure GOP racism is Trump. Democrats were no better. Worse for decades. Guilt of racist whites inspires logical expectations and all sorts of issues and stuff. Bedt case This process will take generations and patience. No excuse or justification for the passive white idiot savant of American history peddling the best facts on Substack when Q and A might inspire just behavior and constructive embarrassment.
The nuns in my Catholic school taught me very well to be "unquestioning." It has haunted me to this day. Thankfully, having discovered Letters from an American and all the subscribers with their comments, I am starting to break free. Thanks, Constantine.
I have a friend who was thoroughly beaten regularly - and with some pleasure - by the Dominican Brothers. This not only turned him against Catholicism, but *all* organised religion!
Hey, Constantine. I myself switched to Heathen. All that's required is that I do unto others as I would have them do unto me. Vicious, I know.
Heathens' Herd
Indeed, TPJ!
I can only imagine the costs of Catholic education.
This was the late fifties/early sixties. My mother was left a widow when I was only 4 years old. She thought her daughters would be "safe" in a Catholic school while she was at work. I was never aware of what it cost or how she paid for it. We were not wealthy, that I know!
I was actually referring to the costs to the recipients of Catholic education, but your point is valid as well. I have no clue what the tuition is these days, but I do know that the family I mentioned below do not have all the toys that many of their peers do...
And, their kids play sports, take music lessons, and serve as altar boys.
Many of my LEO friends are sending their kids to the Catholic private school(s) here in Eugene (they have been open fully the entire school year of 20-21). The only ones that I know of that are Catholic are raising their three boys in the church as well as the school system... (their Mom, who married one of the kids who was a law enforcement explorer and is now the acting Captain of the patrol division, was a graduate of the local Catholic HS that I met when she was the catcher for their softball team 30 years ago.) I think it is equal parts conservatism and contravention of pandemic policies on most of their parts.
And yet, Catholics aside, folks in the Eugene area have elected some fine, dedicated progressive Dems to the state legislature.
Don't know what they're up to these days, Ally, as I have been a card-carrying heathen ever since those days! All around the barn to say they are very effective at suppressing independent thinking.
That's so brutal. And unnecessary - in fact counter-productive.
I had a Catholic education in the Fifties and Sixties. There was certainly a fair amount of indoctrination in my primary years, but the nuns who taught me and priests who put up with me as an altar boy all had my best interests at heart. In fact (embarrassing), my first crush (age 10) was on my Grade 8 teacher - Sister Josephine. She herself was 21 at the time I found out later and went on to become Mother Superior.
Secondary school coincided with the volatile part of the Sixties. I had numerous teachers who encouraged us to think for ourselves. Catholicism was never questioned, but neither did I ever feel it was rammed down my throat.
Twenty years later I found out some of the horrors committed by Catholic priests and nuns in indigenous residential schools - a chamber of horrors in Canada - as well as in parishes. It stunned me. I had shifted away from Catholicism as it didn't seem rational to believe in God. But because I had enjoyed a happy childhood, I was left deeply at odds with the incongruities I now faced. I think it's where I first really internalized how human beings can be so deeply repugnant and evil and at the same time can rise to the noblest heights. Sometimes it can be embodied in a single individual.
The Church has so much to answer for. Yet I still wish I had the stirrings of belief in me. I'd go back.
I lived in and around a Catholic nunnery (Missionaries of Charity) for 6 months as a full time AIDS volunteer. The sisters had opened up their house/convent as an HIV/AIDS hospice.
I came to love the dedication to service that I saw embodied not just by the nuns, but by the congregation who gave of their time to support the work.
At the same time, I saw firsthand the terrible price that their strict belief system/personal unfinished childhood trauma unleashed on deserving men who didn't deserve to die. It was a stark contrast in opposites and has left indelible memories with me.
Most 'service' organizations do more harm than good, the Catholic Church is among them.
Your experience was a mixture of empathy and enmity, Stephen. Hard to reconcile, for sure.
The world reaction to AIDS was unconscionable. We are always a hair’s breadth away from lapsing into the comfort of a morality play. Group think is so safe and so devastating for those the group turns on. The AIDS crisis was, in the truest sense of the word, a shaming period for humanity.
As for the Catholic Church, it has represented both the excesses of sin and the shining example of redemption with equal favor over the centuries. Rarely within the same person unfortunately.
I would say that the excesses of sin and the shining morality exist in all of us. It takes a saint to allow predominance of one over the other.
Eric, 20 years later notwithstanding, it sounds like yours was a more balanced experience, which is good!
Too bad those nuns weren't influenced by some Jesuit priests! They are encouraged to question everything. Luckily my brother was going to Gonzaga University while I was attending my all girl catholic high school. He lived at home his sophomore year & he challenged our mother's blind faith a lot!
Funny thing, our mother went back to school years later & got her BSRN from GU but to this day has blind faith. Not so much her 8 kids....well maybe 1 of my brothers.
My cousin went to Gonzaga, BetsyC. I guess some of us were/are more susceptible to indoctrination than others?
White supremacist objections to better education for non-elite children go back a long way in this country. There was a new round of it as part of the “movement conservative” takeover, under the false as usual label of ‘teacher responsibility.’ Load the teachers with paperwork and the students with standardized tests, to cut down on time for teaching critical thinking.
Yes.
It's an attempt to UN-politicise the education of our young.
I realise that - but the GOP want to make the understanding of history according to *their* "values"