Refugees from religious homeschooling

[essentialsaltes]

Great article on the 'Homeschool Apostates' -- kids raised in overly strict and/or abusive religious homeschooling environments who are not just leaving the movement, but banding together into networks to try to effect changes in the law and in organizations like the Home School Legal Defense Association.

And yes, I can't resist the Schadenfreude that one of the few social activities that these organizations supported was debate. The goal was that this "would create a new generation of culture warriors with the skills to “engage the culture for Christ.” "

Instead...

“You can’t do debate unless you teach people how to look at different sides of an issue, to research all the different arguments that could be made for and against something,” Stollar says. “And so all of a sudden, debate as a way to create culture-war soldiers backfires. They go into this being well trained, they start questioning something neutral like energy policy, but it doesn’t stop there. They start questioning everything.”
...
Swanson, who helped bring debate clubs to Colorado, said he’d seen a “significant majority” of debate alumni turn out wrong, becoming “prima donnas” and “big shots.” “I’m not saying it’s wrong to do speech/debate,” Swanson told his listeners, “but I will say that some of the speech/debate can encourage sort of this proud, arrogant approach and an autonomous approach to philosophy

Holy Cats, they start weighing all sides of an issue and thinking for themselves? What have we done?!?

(Yes, yes, I know a few of you out there in the friendosphere are homeschoolers (or homeschooled) but as far as I know, none of you are batshit insane.)

Comments

[smaugslair.livejournal.com]

This reminds me of my first step toward atheism. I wasn't home schooled, but in Catholic school 1st grade through high school. Freshman year, one of the mandatory classes was "Faith", and my teacher, Mrs Donovan, to whom I am enormously grateful, said it was normal to question your faith. I had thought it was not allowed, even sinful!