In 2017, the Orlando Sentinel published a powerful three-part series about unregulated and unaccountable voucher schools in Florida, called “Schools Without Rules.” In Florida, voucher schools receive $1 billion each year of taxpayer funding.
In 2018, the Orlando Sentinel published an article about the textbook companies that supply teaching materials to voucher schools and homeschoolers. Their books incorporate religious values into their content.
Prominent among them is the ABeka company in Florida.
Their textbooks reflect a religious approach to science, history, and other subjects.
One of the largest suppliers of materials for private schools and home-school students across the United States is affiliated with a small Christian college in the Florida Panhandle.
Abeka, formerly known as A Beka Book, is named for Beka Horton, who along with her husband, Arlin, founded a small Christian school in 1954 and Pensacola Christian College in 1974…
Today, Abeka Academy Inc. takes in $45.6 million in revenue — $6 million less than its reported expenses of $51 million — according to the nonprofit’s tax documents for the financial year that ended May 2017.
Abeka, along with the Bob Jones University-affiliated BJU Press and Accelerated Christian Education Inc., is among the most popular curricula used by Christian schools that take part in Florida’s $1 billion voucher program, which pays for children from low-income families or those with special needs to attend private schools.
Though the Hortons retired from the college in 2012, Abeka carries on the couple’s legacy of what it calls a “Biblical perspective.”
For example, the company describes its teachings in the subject of history this way: “We present government as ordained by God for the maintenance of law and order, not as a cure-all for humanity’s problems. We present free-enterprise economics without apology and point out the dangers of Communism, socialism, and liberalism to the well-being of people across the globe. In short, Abeka offers a traditional, conservative approach to the study of what man has done with the time God has given him.”
The Orlando Sentinel described the curriculum in Christian schools that are funded by taxpayer dollars:
Some private schools in Florida that rely on public funding teach students that dinosaurs and humans lived together, that God’s intervention prevented Catholics from dominating North America and that slaves who “knew Christ” were better off than free men who did not.
The lessons taught at these schools come from three Christian publishing companies whose textbooks are popular on many of about 2,000 campuses that accept, and often depend on, nearly $1 billion in state scholarships, or vouchers.
At the Orlando Sentinel’s request, educators from Florida colleges and school districts reviewed textbooks and workbooks from these publishers, looking at elementary reading and math, middle school social studies and high school biology materials.
The social studies books downplay the horrors of slavery and the mistreatment of Native Americans, they said. One book, in its brief section on the civil rights movement, said that “most black and white southerners had long lived together in harmony” and that “power-hungry individuals stirred up the people.”
The books are rife with religious and political opinions on topics such as abortion, gay rights and the Endangered Species Act, which one labels a “radical social agenda.” They disparage religions other than Protestant Christianity and cultures other than those descended from white Europeans. Experts said that was particularly worrisome given that about 60 percent of scholarship students are black or Hispanic.
The newspaper story contains illustrations that appear in the textbooks, showing humans and dinosaurs co-existing.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Voucher schools are not only schools without rules, they are schools without accurate science. Who knows what type of other nonsense they are teaching? Sending public money to these ill informed private vendors is a waste. I hope that support for these so-called scholarships dwindles. Wells Fargo and some others have pulled support from these religious schools since their policies allow them to discriminate against LBGT people. I hope other companies realize their involvement with these so-called scholarships will cost them more from a loss of consumers than a gain in tax credits. These “scholarships” are being used to work around the state constitution. They are bad policy and even worse education.
By the way Pensacola Christian College just added a new building on its campus. It seems to be a growing school.
Tired of those failing public schools? Want to send your child a true Akashic Academy where he/she/they can receive nourishment for the mind AND the soul?
Then enroll him/her/them in Enlightened Master Bob’s AYAHUSCA SCHOOL FOR LITTLE COSMIC VOYAGERS.
Here at Enlightened Master Bob’s, your child will learn how he or she can skip breakfast, lunch, and dinner and draw nourishment directly from Father Sun in our Solar Temple.
We offer complete holistic health training, using our proprietary textbooks on the Ethereal Body, including uncapping and aligning children’s Chakras so they can download DIRECTLY from the Mother Ship the Cosmic Light necessary for the coming Transformation from Earth-bound Homo Sapiens to Interdimensional Beings.
In our history classes, students will learn all about Atlantis, Lemuria, Camelot and Glastonbury, the Black Rock Desert, and other places of Places of Power throughout the Ages.
Students will also learn how to protect themselves against the forces of the Evil Galactic Emperor Xenu and his band of shape-shifting reptilian aliens from Alpha Draconis.
But don’t delay! Soon, as our galaxy move into proximity to the Pleiades, the vibrational tone of the entire planet will rise to such a pitch that we will either undergo Ascension or explode, and everything depends—the FATE OF THE PLANET–on how many young Lightworkers we can bring into Alignment and Cosmic Consciousness before then!
Of course, all this is absolutely FREE because you can use your Ohio State Voucher to pay for it.
And best yet, all classes taught by the Spiritual Wives of Enlightened Master Bob himself!!!!
cxs: AYAHUASCA, as our galaxy moves
I am extremely interested in putting ALL of my 10 children in the Akashic Academy. I understand that the cosmic radiation is becoming too strong in public schools. I know that putting ALL of my children in this school will be a protection from cosmic radiation and it will reinforce my idea of all of them reading about how mankind used to ride dinosaurs.
I want my kids to learn the truth about our history. None of the public schools tell kids the truth about cosmic radiation and the Akashic Records. Some public schools even refuse to warn children about the devil, or Satan, that is planning to take over the whole planet.
I want only the truth to come out. How are us citizens going to be able to fight the aliens that are now situated on the planet Saturn? How are we going to fight the aliens that now are overcoming the moon? We need truth and a Space Force which is why I demand that Trump stay as our president.
I am SO happy that the Akashic Academy is now in existence. Now, it needs to have many more schools, at least 100 in every state. That is the ONLY way to fight for truth, Justice and the American way. [I also used to watch Superman. He is a favorite of mine. Maybe the Akashic Academy can teach children how to fly like he did. Now that would really be an achievement. Think about it Bob.]
I”m done but realize that I want ONLY the truth to manifest itself. How else are we going to become an enlightened citizen who knows that Superman really flew and that aliens are soon coming to seize our homes?
If you must keep them in public schools, please, please, please make sure that they are wearing their tin foil hats!!!! We don’t teach flying (that’s definitely a college-level subject), but we offer Levitation for Beginners. –Enlightened (and Manifest) Master Bob, sending you healing energy
Good call on the Space Force, btw! A short-term fix.
And yes, Satan. The second to worst of the Alpha Draconian Shape-Shifters!
They will need lead or cement hats to protect them from cosmic rays as “tin” (aka aluminum) foil does next to nothing.
I think the cement hats would be particularly apt (capped, too) in this case. Needed Thickness depends on the energy of the cosmic rays you are trying to stop and the density of the material used as shield.
Now, if you were talking about electromagnetic radiation (like brainwashng microwaves beamed from Bernie Sanders campaign headquarters), aluminum (and even tin) foil would do the trick , cuz aluminum is a very good conductor of electricity and just as the metal screen on the window of a microwave oven shields you from the microwaves, so would a tin foil hat. In fact, it could be a tin screen hat, provided the holes are not too big.
Hope that helps someone somewhere.
Of course, the heads of some of these folks are already dense enough to stop even the most energetic galactic cosmic rays, so perhaps no shielding is necessary after all.
And personally, if I were these folks, I would be more worried about protecting my kids from T Rex, but maybe the cement hat might work for that as well, particularly if it were part of a full cement body suit.
Dear SomeDAM Poet: I want you to realize just how serious this matter has become. A full body suit of cement MIGHT work but it is doubtful. The only solution is to attend the school of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, if they ever get their act together and build a school.
You see, I am very protective of my 10 kids. I want the best for them. I have rejected Bob’s school because only levitation is taught in elementary school. I want my children to learn how to fly like Superman. I believe the ‘School of the Flying Spaghetti Monster’ would prove to be very adequate for my basic wants.
I do hope that Bernie Sander’s gets the message out to save public schools. He is good but he doesn’t see the problem of cosmic radiation and the damage that it does to ALL children who attend public schools.
I also want my kids to learn how to play the basic instrument that the indigenous people of Australia play. The haunting music of the didgeridoo can then fill the air in my neighborhood.
Believe me, as someone who was educated as a physicist, I realize this is a very serious (dead serious) subject.
Bernie needs to hire some competent health physicist s in this case. Perhaps he could establish a new cabinet position : Secretary of Cosmic Rays, although that might be subsumed under Secretary of Energy
Or maybe Bernie could create a Secretary of Didgeridoodoo cabinet position in order to cover all the bases.
The only requirement for the position, of course would be that the candidate can play the didgeridoo.
I wonder if Betsy DeVos can play. Seems like her kind of instrument.
Sister Carol, Brother SomeDAM. Enlightened Master Bob hears your peevish, sometimes insolent objections and ignores them as the bull does the gnat, for he understands in his infinite mercy and grace that an acorn is not yet and oak and that youthful rebelliousness is really nothing but a cry for instruction in the Path. Know that in the larger, interdimensional scheme of things, with its multiple time tracks running multiple realities and sometimes simulations of realities, there are many paths, all valid, all true, from the limited perspectives of those on those stuck like wagon wheels in mud into those realities, those simulations, on those paths, in those perspectives. So, yes, despite what courts may say, Pastafarianism, Dudism, WIcca, Scientology, Papuan Pig Goddessism, and other ways are all TRUE AS FAR AS THEY GO, which, however, is not far. There is only one path to ascension, and that is through me, Enlightened Master Bob (EMB), the Architect of this System of Realities, which you can think of as like so many Russian dolls, stuck one within the other. Let me put it this way: do you wish to be stuck within a Russian doll forever, or do you wish to see the Light? And please note that there are still openings for positions as EMB’s Spiritual Wives, though that portal is closing fast due to the understandable demand.
Don’t know about being stuck in one (isn’t that what MedAlert is for? I’m stuck inside a Russian doll and can’t get out”) But there is a very famous saying that a Russian doll in the hand is worth two, (or three (or four (or more))) in Siberia.
And please note, Sister Carol, that we are running a special, this week, on our Quantum Consciousness Training (TM). Also, please note that while a court has ruled that Pastafarianism is NOT a religion, the highest court on the vibrational plane where people think there exists a United States has not ruled on Dudism, Wicca, Scientology, Aum Shinrikyo, OR Akashic Kakistonics, the current Revelation from EMB. So, our schools are, in fact, eligible for Ohio state vouchers that will cover ALL your ten children, and there are still openings in EMB’s Ayahuasca School for Little Cosmic Voyagers. It is so spoken.
And BTW, don’t listen to SomeDAM. His mind veiled/polluted by “Science.”
Bob Shepherd: “So, our schools are, in fact, eligible for Ohio state vouchers that will cover ALL your ten children, and there are still openings in EMB’s Ayahuasca School for Little Cosmic Voyagers. It is so spoken.”
Dear EMB: Thank you so much for the enlightening message. One thing is wrong, however. I live in Indiana. Do your vouchers include daily airfare from Indiana to Ohio? I certainly want to take advantage of this wonderful deal.
This is DEFINITELY your opening to Ascension, Sister Carol! Lightworkers are even now establishing Ayahuasca Schools for Little Cosmic Voyagers in Indiana to take advantage of the state’s Indiana Choice Scholarships. Thank you, Governors Mitch Daniels and Mike Pence!
Says the fellow who offers a course in Quantum Consciousness (which is a real thing, by the way, at least if we are to believe physicist Roger Penrose, at least)
Quite frankly, a lot of what is passed off as physics these days is little better than religious mumbo jumbo.
But maybe it’s just me. I’m old school and require experimental confirmation of claims.
But the difference, of course, is that you, SomeDAM, are smart enough to understand that current scientific understandings are provisional and, at the margins, speculative, and that this is in the nature of science and what makes it different from the teachings of cults (though certainly there are cults that emerge from science, such as Behaviorism and Lysenkoism). And, of course, you understand that the Lucretian/LaPlacean billiard ball universe is no longer the standard model. I, myself, have no problem with speculation THAT IS UNDERSTOOD AS SUCH, as long as it is grounded in, warranted by, what we currently think we know from replicable observation. Penrose is fascinating and frustrating at the same time. I would be interested in hearing what you make of him. I took a stab at The Emperor’s New Mind, but I must say that some of it I did not follow at all. I’ve long thought I should buy a copy of his The Road to Reality and make another stab at this.
Bob Shepherd: There are many things which humans don’t know. I have been a student with a Cherokee Shaman for around 6 years and am privilege to some of that information.
That’s wonderful, Carol! I have long believed that indigenous peoples, not subject to the Western, Neo-Platonic splitting of everything down the middle, had it going on. Heaven is not in some far-off place. It is all around us and accessible in vision. Thanks for your delightful, hilarious comments on this thread. Such joy! And, seriously, much fulfillment to you on your path, which is sane enough to grok our membership among the tribes of our other animal brothers and sisters.
As Browning’s character put it in one of the best poems ever written, “Andrea del Sarto,” our reach should exceed our grasp. But we should understand what we’re doing there, ofc.
Vouchers do cover flights, but only on Scamerican Airlines.
Bob, if you did not follow only some of the Emperor’s new Mind, i would dare say that you are probably doing better than most of us who tried to read it.
Penrose is a very smart fellow but some of what he says is very far out there and the worst part is there is no experimental way to decide just how far.
But on stuff other than Consciousness (be, string theory, multiverse, even details of the big bang), Penrose seems to be firmly in the “show me the evidence” camp.
He even wrote a book entitled Fashion Faith and Fantasy in the New physics of the Universe
It is quite likely that I am ignorant enough, SomeDAM, not even to have understood, at times, that I was not understanding. I must say that these speculations by people with exceptional minds, like Penrose’s, intrigue the heck out of me. I had hoped not to grow as old as I am and still be so ignorant, but I have come to understand that the horizon keeps expanding outward as one approaches it, and I accept that. Grudgingly, but I do.
There is not one shred of evidence for one of the most widely touted theories of modern physics: string theory.
But there is actually some pretty simple evidence against.
Anyone who has any experience with strings, ropes, cords, hoses and other flexible extended objects knows that when left to their own devices (in a junk drawer, for example) they quickly become a tangled mess and it takes a lot of effort (ie, energy) to UNtangle them.
The relevance should be obvious. If the Universe were made of strings, i would venture to say that by now (after 14 billion years in the equivalent of a junk drawer, the strings would be hopelessly tangled up in a tightly “sound” ball with virtually zero chance of having any sort of independent , ordered entities like galaxies.
Then again, perhaps the fact that the junk drawer is expanding is the way out of the tangled mess outcome.
Smarter minds than mine must ponder this question.
I am just thankful that my own junk drawer is not expanding (only the amount of stuff in it) or it would have swallowed up our house by now.
You only have ONE drawer for junk? How large is it?
I took a year long course in Quantum mechanics in college and must admit that I did not understand a single thing that was said or written on the board , with the possible exception of “Nobody understands Quantum mechanics” (Richard Feynman)
One of the things that has long bothered me, Carol, is that white, Western understandings of the religions of the indigenous peoples of the Americas were always corrupted by being viewed through the neo-Platonic, Christian lens of the separation of everything into a lower, debased, objectified material world and a separate, higher, spiritual one. So, there are all these collections of supposed Indian myths by white, Western, often amateur anthropologists that misunderstand everything at very fundamental levels. Because most peoples of the per-Colombian Americas did not have written languages, there are few places to which one can go to drink from an unpolluted spring. One of these, and doubtless my favorite sacred text, is The Soul of the Indian, by Ohíye S’a, aka Charles Alexander Eastman. For those on this thread who do not know of him, Ohíye S’a grew up among the Santee Dakota Sioux and then received an education as a Western-style physician. He wrote this book to try to explain Sioux religion to whites. It was published in 1913, and it’s breathtaking.
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/340/340-h/340-h.htm
And then, of course, there is the also breathtaking Black Elk Speaks.
Bob Shepherd: Thank you, I will want to read that.
As I said, there is SO much that isn’t known. Everything in the universe is known to shamans. They are absolutely amazing people.
What a shame that white people still consider them inferior and ‘heathens’. Native Indians have been horribly mistreated throughout our history, and they still aren’t given the respect and dignity that they should be receiving.
I suspect, Carol, that this book will feel to you like coming home. It did to me.
Lloyd, we only have one drawer that is called the junk drawer.
But practically speaking, our entire basement and garage probably qualify as junk drawers. I have spent a lot of time recently trying to address that, but have made little progress. Junk seems to expand to fill the available space so no matter how much junk you throw out, it always seems you have the same amount.
Nos that you mention it, Lloyd, it occurs to me that the junk drawer actually has swallowed our house
Looking at the image provided, it appears that pants predated robes and togas. /s
It is criminal that this material is actually being taught to children, and being paid for with public dollars. SMDH
LOL!!!
From the Giorgio Armani version of the Bible, God created (straight-legged) pants on the Seventh day (Hemesis 1:3), bell bottoms on the Eighth (Hemesis 2:1) and shorts on the Ninth (Hemesis 2:4)
Hope that helps.
SomeDAM Poet: It is God’s commandment that ONLY women should wear long pants. Men, should wear shorts and trans people should be able to choose which they want.
It is a biblical story that ALL people who were created by God should wear anything but togas and robes.
Hope this makes things clearer. [I think I need to go back to bed.]
My understanding of the Bible is that men wore long flowing gowns and, I infer, women wore nicely tailored pants-suits. Men wore sandals and women wore sneakers.
No by the command of God, women were most certainly NOT to wear shoes of any type (not even flip-flops. Or thongs as they called them before the name took on a different meaning) as they were supposed to be barefoot — and pregnant — at all times from age 12 until they died.
SomeDAM Poet: The place for ALL women is in the home being subservient to ALL men. The only country that has this correctly is Saudi Arabia where women can’t go out without permission of the man of the house. Women are to be covered from head to toe with black material and only have their eyes available for men to see.
My earlier posting about wearing long pants was totally misleading. Women should only wear black material over their whole bodies since they are way too lusty and men are attracted to even their eyeballs.
I still say that the only good student is one who attends the “School of the Flying Spaghetti Monster’. He is the one true god that everyone should worship. He understands the place of women is at the stover cooking spaghetti. Man’s job is to eat spaghetti.
Amen to the religious teaching of the holy Spaghetti Monster. May his fame and glory spread to all the countries of the world.
I believe that aviator or welders goggles worn over the burka would help men avoid their understandable and totally warranted desires.
The welders goggles would have the added advantage of allowing the women to observe solar eclipses in the unlikely event that they were ever allowed outside, that is.
SomeDAM Poet: I totally agree that welder’s goggles would work fine. Now some boutique stores should come up with goggles that have flowers or brightly colored decorations to make them more feminine.
Of course, it is possible that these decorations would make men more attracted to women. What do you think? Should women wear really ugly goggles to keep men away?
Definitely no flowers.
Aldo, a welders oxyacetylene blowtorch in the hands of each woman would keep the men at arms length.
NB, Sister Carol. EMB’s Spiritual Wives are not required to wear human vestitures/habiliments AT ALL!!!! Though accessories such as ankle bracelets are actively encouraged for their joyful role in the Ras Lila–the play of the Manifest.
Bob Shepherd: So now I can walk freely with NO clothing. I don’t really know what to say about that. It does get below freezing outside during the winter and perhaps a coat would be a bit nice. I also like to wear shoes. Are shoes forbidden? I have some sandals but snow doesn’t feel right with them.
I don’t want to go against your fantastic religious beliefs. Are you sure that cosmic rays never enter your school?
I remember someone [SDP] saying something about wearing a cement protection.
Personally, I prefer something to wear. I don’t want to frighten the men away.
In deference to the silly beliefs of nonmembers, Spiritual Wives may, of course, wear whatever they want in the world at large, but it has been discovered that the wearing of clothing in the presence of Enlightened Master Bob interferes with direct absorption of his healing energies.
Bob
You are starting to sound suspiciously like Sun Myung Moon
an interesting line on SNL last night where someone asks “McConnell” if he will be ashamed of how history sees him and his actions and the character responds by saying that where he comes from they write their own history
LOL
Those publicly funded, private sector, for-profit, religious “schools without rules” are the faux Christian counterpart to the brain hacking, brainwashing Madrassas that Saudi Arabia funds, all over the Middle East.
Let’s not forget that 15 of the NINETEEN 9/11 hijackers were citizens of Saudi Arabia that were probably educated in some of those Madrassas.
If the US Supreme Court rules in favor of the Montana case to publicly fund religious schools, expect the Saudis to take advantage of that ruling to open their Time Bomb classrooms across the United States. And some of those U.S. public funds that flow to religious schools without rules will be used to help destroy the U.S. We will be paying taxes that end up funding the end of our Constitutional Republic by faux Christians and/or faux Muslims.
And Donald Trump is “their” Chosen One.
I swear, Lloyd, if they do rule against the separation of church and state in this case and in favor of requiring states to fund private religious schools, I’m going to go to Ohio and start Enlightened Master Bob’s AYAHUASCA SCHOOL FOR LITTLE COSMIC VOYAGERS. Let’s see what the Fundies think about funding that!
Rotini Linguine Pastafarian High School? Wiccaleaks Halls of Ivy? Papuan Pig Goddess Prep?
Federal Court Rules Church of Flying Spaghetti Monster Not a Religion
April 19, 2016 Last week, a federal court ruled that Pastafarianism—the religion of those who profess belief in the deity of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM)—is not a real religion.
…………
Dang. I also wanted my 10 kids to go to their school, if they opened one.
Bummer! who will decide what is a legitimate religion?
Who will decide? Donald Trump. He has a history of making every decision for his business and that helps explain his many business failures.
Dudist Day School?
Maybe I’ll go with the Pastafarian thing. So many names to choose from. Pappardelle Putanesca Pastafarian Prep. Cavatelli College. Arrabiata Academy. Sciallatelle Pastafarian Seminary.
How about Flat Earth Dyno for a Walk High School?
“Who decides what is a legitimate religion?” And “on what basis for they decide” are actually very serious questions.
One (not I, of course) could argue that every major religion started out as a Flying Spaghetti Monster religion. Some of the traditions of the major religion rival and even exceed anything the Pastafarians practice.
Catholics (and probably other religions as well) even employ a “smokey ball” at their most sacred ceremonies.
Not sure if the Rastafarians use that, but if they don’t, they should.
Correct, SDP. I was raised in a mixed Cath/Prot family, but early leaned to the Roman side: Nothing tops the smoky ball swung over the heads of congregants.
Catholicism is clearly less advanced than Rastafarianism, or the former surely would have burned more than just incense in the smokey ball.
The Catholic Church used to “burn” women at the stake.
Not sure whether the smokey ball tops people reading from ancient scrolls found in caves.
I consider this a perfect time to watch as public money is denied specific schools. If the practice of funding religious schools begins, opponents of such a thing should start all manner of schools repulsive to conservatives. The most perfect would be a school that preaches kindness and peace. Conservative jurists will tie he selves in knots over that one.
If such a school existed in America, you can be sure that it would be summarily dismantled — peace by peace.
After all, wasn’t it none other than Jesus who said “Blasted are the peacemakers”?
He must have been referring to the “Colt Single Action Army, also known as the Single Action Army, SAA, Model P, Peacemaker and M1873, a single-action revolver with a revolving cylinder holding six metallic cartridges.” Thanks be to all the Gods for Google.
Blasted are the Peacemakers
Blasted are the peaceniks
Blasted are the poor
Blasted are the beatniks
Blasted through the door!
Blessed are the killers
Blessed are the guns
Blessed are the spillers
Blessed are the huns
Another gem, SomeDAM!
Alternet recently posted an article that explains the contradiction In the Christian Rights’ strident support for Israel while at the same time being anti-Jew. The explanation is end-of-times theology. The article’s author unfortunately shows a lack of awareness about the the Catholic church’s relatively recent rejection of pluralism, modernism and democracy and, its alliance with the Christian Right.
Culture vultures, religious toadies, private deformers, and Christian right apologists. Wonder how many characters will appear in the year 2020.
All signs from God that the End is nigh.
The End Times”
The end is nigh
You lucky guy
The End is near
So have no fear
The End will solve
Our every woe
And will absolve
The ones who go
Almost time to board the Mother Ship!
From one of these outstanding Orlando Sentinel reports, which I highly encourage everyone to read. Thanks, Diane!
“Private school teachers and principals, for example, are not required to have state certification or even college degrees.
“One Orlando school, which received $500,000 from the public programs last year, has a 24-year-old principal still studying at a community college.
“Nor do private schools need to follow the state’s academic standards. One curriculum, called Accelerated Christian Education or ACE, is popular in some private schools and requires students to sit at partitioned desks and fill out worksheets on their own for most of the day, with little instruction from teachers or interaction with classmates.
“And nearly anything goes in terms of where private school classes meet. The Sentinel found scholarship students in the same office building as Whozz Next Bail Bonds on South Orange Blossom Trail, in a Colonial Drive day-care center that reeked of dirty diapers and in a school near Winter Park that was facing eviction and had wires dangling from a gap in the office ceiling and a library with no books, computers or furniture.”
After graduating college, I taught one year in a private, church-sponsored school. I needed a job and couldn’t find one in my subject area. I had a 4th/5th/6th classroom at the school. We used the A Beka curriculum. There was a time allotted each week for Bible studies, but the lessons were much like what you would find in any Sunday School type setting with lessons derived from common stories found in the Bible. I did not find any of the controversial ideas specifically mentioned in the article above. Dinosaurs never appeared anywhere in my curriculum. Then again, I was in an elementary/intermediate classroom. So many of those topics would not have come until later grades. And, this was 30 years ago, so the curriculum may have changed drastically in those years and taken on a decidedly different focus from what I used at the time.
What I did find was a rigorous curriculum that was actually far more challenging than what was being used in public schools at the time. For example, I had one student who wanted to participate in some extracurricular activities that our school did not offer simply because it was a smaller school. She withdrew and enrolled in a local public school. After only a couple months, she returned. What we were doing in our 4th grade classes at the private school is what she was doing in her 6th grade classes in public school. She was completely bored and completely unchallenged. Her parents felt that she was not getting the education in public school that she had been getting in the private school. So the family returned.
Granted I did not search out all the textbooks used at all of the levels in the school, so I can’t speak to what was in all of them or what is in them now. But, at the time, I found the academic material to be challenging and rigorous and appropriate. Our school, however, did not receive public funding. Therein lies the difference between the school where I taught and the schools mentioned in the article. Of course vouchers probably didn’t even exist back then. But the school was funded strictly by the church and tuition. We also did not turn students away. We took them as they were and as they came to us. We had many students who had been turned away by public schools because of expulsion or sent to alternative schools because of poor choices. And parents brought them to us in hopes of finding help and a place of acceptance. We had some troubled students, and we never turned a single one away. Did that make our lives easier? Absolutely not. But we took them as they were.
My point is that we should not lump all private schools into the same category. Nor should we vilify every private school. There are good ones and bad ones, same as public schools. If parents want to seek an alternative to public schools for their own children, they should have the right to do that. Should public funds be used to fund that? Absolutely not. And that is what the debate here should be centered on. I am dismayed at some of the banter I read here. The debate should not be about philosophical differences in religious points of view. Those are going to exist. And frankly, if we want to continue to live in a free society, we should welcome those differences and be grateful that they do exist. The debate should be focused on the use of vouchers and public funds for private schools which is the only thing really at issue here. If these schools were not accepting public funds, there would be no real debate. If we want to discuss and debate intellectually and expect others to take our concerns seriously, we should stick to the topic and not ridicule others. Isn’t that the criticism we have of some of our current leaders now? We must be careful not to follow suit.
I’m appalled to learn of Christian schools that teach hatred for blacks, gays, Jews, and Catholics. I’m appalled to lean of Yeshivas that don’t teach English or secular studies.
So long as they remain private, parents can choose this sort of (mis)education.
But to indoctrinate children in religious view on the public dime is appalling.
Any religious school that takes vouchers should be subject to state curricula, state tests, and civil rights laws. And their teachers should be certified.
In Florida, high-school dropouts cane be hired for teach in state-funded voucher schools.
Can a religious school have “high academic standards” when its teachers are high school dropouts?
I would venture to say that any school that teaches hatred is truly NOT a Christian school in the first place. Those schools are essentially extremist schools the same as we find in other countries where hatred is taught. Too many folks in our country are taking comments by our “leaders” as permission to hate others. And that does not represent the foundation of America OR true Christianity.
If we are to have private schools in this country, they should remain that. Private. And public funds should not be used to fund them. Period.
But in reality, the public/private debate is only one symptom of the dumbing down of education in our country. Already in our state, the mandate that all teachers must receive their Masters degree has been taken away. And if you have served in the military, you don’t even need to have a teaching certificate to teach in our state! I support and respect our military, but military service does not make one a teacher! Would they want me as a civilian to serve in the military simply because I had been a teacher? NO! I would be ill equipped without proper training to perform the duties required. Likewise, anyone who walks into a classroom should have proper training and certification to be equipped for the job that we do too!
So the lowering of rigorous standards isn’t only confined to religious or private schools. Likewise, indoctrination isn’t limited to private or charter schools either. If the Koch agenda is to be followed, and that seems to be what our politicians are attempting to do, there will be a degree of indoctrination in all of our schools. I find the dumbing down of education in this country appalling as well. But we must fight it as much as we can. We must continue to teach our students that they CAN rise above their circumstances. And we must seek political leaders who believe that too!
Religious schools teach that liberalism and democracy are enemies of
God’s will for the people.
“So many of those topics would not have come until later grade”
Indeed. The reality of Fred Flintstone’s pet dinosaur Dino is something that only older students can appreciate.
I know I didn’t believe it until I was in high school.
I wasn’t referring to dinosaurs not being age appropriate. I was referring to evolution, abortion, gay rights, Catholicism, European history, and other topics mentioned in the article that were not present in the 4th/5th/6th grade curriculum that I taught at the time I was in that school. Perhaps some of those topics came up in the curriculum of other grades, or perhaps they just weren’t part of the curriculum 30 years ago. I don’t know. I was just relating my experience. In reference to dinosaurs specifically, they were never mentioned in the curriculum that I had in my classroom. I never taught a lesson on dinosaurs one way or the other. So Fred Flintstone’s legacy was safe with me.
I wasn’t referring to dinosaurs not being age appropriate. I was referring to the belief that dinosaurs and humans coexisted not being age appropropriate for the youngsters.
Is am in full agreement there.
Young kids are simply not ready for the idea that Fred Flintstone had a pet dinosaur.
What were Hanna and Barbera thinking when they created that for young kids?
Redfored,
Limiting the discussion to vouchers ignores the rise of theocracy in American governance. The theocracy creates the voting base for the Republican Party. If it is as I suspect that theocracy built a political alliance with billionaire, social Darwinists, it is dangerous to isolate one attack in their war against the poor and middle class and the social safety net. American theocracy opposes pluralism, modernism and democracy.
Espinosa v. Montana is but one SCOTUS case that will follow after Leonard Leo’s stacking of the courts with conservatives. William Barr said religion should be introduced at every opportunity.
Hey y’all. SomeDAM Poet and Bob Shepard and all of you creatives who have been allowed another romp in Diane’s blog… converted into an Imaginarium.
You have missed the job opportunities and intrastucture needed for these Dino-friendly schools
Check out the jobs at Answers in Genisus, just across the river from Cincinnati, and enjoying tax breaks from the state of Kentucky.
Unburden yourself and get yourself a job. This is where you can see exactly how dinosaurs would fit on a full scale replica of Noah’s Ark. https://answersingenesis.org/about/jobs/
Thanks for the tip, Laura!!!!
Politicians in Indiana never give up. They brought out a new standardized test and found out that it was so hard that now they have to not let the test count for two years since half of the schools would have received a D or F and teachers wouldn’t be getting their performance pay awards [bonuses].
I wrote a letter to state Senator Niemeyer [R-IN] and state Representative Chyung [D-IN].
…………………………………….
[NWI Times] Testing ‘hold harmless’ for Indiana schools and teachers headed to governor
Hoosier schools and teachers are set to win a two-year “hold harmless” from the negative consequences in Indiana law tied to poor student performance on the state’s new standardized exam, known as ILEARN.
The Indiana House voted 90-0 Monday to advance Senate Enrolled Act 2 to Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb, who has promised to sign it into law.
It passed the Senate, 49-0 last month.
Under the plan, schools will be assigned the A-F letter grade they received during the 2017-18 school year for both its 2018-19 and 2019-20 accountability rating, unless the school otherwise earned a better grade.
Without the hold harmless, more than half the schools in the state would have received a D or F rating — in an election year — and numerous educators would be ineligible for performance pay awards that partially are linked to student test results.
Holcomb initially recommended the hold harmless in September after he learned the ILEARN pass rate had plummeted compared to the state’s former standardized test, known as ISTEP.
Records subsequently released by the Indiana Department of Education show barely in 1 in 3 Hoosier students earned passing scores on both the ILEARN math and English exams…
https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/testing-hold-harmless-for-indiana-schools-and-teachers-headed-to/article_8787bbf2-ac87-5fe4-b972-48ebdaf118d8.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=user-share
Fight is on to save Chicago Virtual Charter School, Illinois’ first and only remote learning public school: ‘It’s not perfect, but it is the only one we’ve got’
FEB 04, 2020
Sitting in front of matching laptops in their Old Town apartment, Chicago twins Cheridan and Auguste Farmer tuned in to their fifth grade language arts lesson, which featured a fictional set of twins named Dory and Lory.
The teacher’s voice sounded from the school-issued computers, explaining how the passage provides insight into Dory’s thoughts: “She doesn’t like to be identified as Lory. She is her own person.
But the 13-year-old virtual school could now be one vote away from closing.
The Chicago Board of Education decided in December to rescind Chicago Virtual’s charter, citing low academic performance. Though tens of thousands of Chicago Public Schools students attend charter schools, Chicago Virtual’s was one of several charters the board has revoked in recent years, including Frazier Preparatory Academy, also in December. The board voted at its January meeting to renew 31 charter campuses, but only after some board members posed tough questions about the schools’ accountability and transparency.
Yet despite the troubles at Chicago Virtual, teachers and families aren’t ready to give up on the school, which has filed an appeal with the Illinois State Board of Education, as has Frazier. If Chicago’s Virtual’s appeal is granted, the school could stay open, authorized by the state rather than CPS…
The school serves a diverse student body: About 60% of students are black and about 21% Latino. Seventy percent are from low-income families and 12% have special needs, according to CPS. They practice many faiths, and the school prides itself on accommodating religious observances…
Stokes took over as chief executive officer after the board terminated CEO Cheryl Pruitt last August. Pruitt, who held that post for about 16 months, also faces pending charges of theft and official misconduct related to her previous job as superintendent of schools in Gary. Pruitt’s attorney, Scott King, told the Tribune that Pruitt “denies any guilt” and blamed the charges on a faulty audit…
The Chicago Teachers Union even filed a lawsuit trying to stop Chicago Virtual from opening, arguing that it amounted to taxpayer-funded homeschooling, in violation of state law. But the school won approval from the Illinois State Board of Education in a 5-4 vote….
The school has an $8.1 million budget for the current school year, most of which comes from local and state taxes, according to CPS budget documents….
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-chicago-virtual-charter-school-cps-online-learning-20200204-ghegwerqpjcbxlmwov6jmtbzwm-story.html
Looks like taxpayer funded home schooling to me. $8.1 million dollar budget and it has the second lowest lowest rating of any CPS charter elementary school and the lowest rating of any CPS charter high school.
I talked with a midwestern teacher whose job is to submit the paperwork required of those who homeschool. She said that those in her position are discouraged from verifying what parents claim is happening in the home.