Comments on: Can I tolerate my son’s religious education?

By: Early Retirement Extreme

Early Retirement Extreme — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:55:45 +0000

From the age of two I was told about Santa Claus both by my parents, and children’s TV shows. I knew that he wore a red outfit, lived somewhere up north and that he would distribute presents each xmas if I had been good. I even knew some of the spiritual chants such as jingle bells and I remember wearing special head gear as part of the ritual too (some kind of red pointy hat). However, at the age of six I was getting disillusioned about the whole thing. Santa had never brought me anything but toothpaste, school bags, and other boring “gifts” regardless of how good I had been. Being somewhat precocious, this led me to believe that maybe Santa wasn’t keeping an eye on me or worse .. maybe someone just made it up to make me behave nicely and perhaps Santa didn’t even exist. I think the other kids caught on as well. Later on in school, I was taught about God, who lived in a nice place called Heaven and that one would go there if one had been good. There were songs to sing and also special headgear to wear. I figured by analogy that this was just Santa for grown-ups, so it was hard for me to take the teaching seriously. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, …

By: Jane

Jane — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 15:51:06 +0000

I’m another of those who is of the opinion of I won’t worry. I grew up Catholic in Catholic schools from age 3 through college minus Kindergarden. (For some reason the local catholic schools didn’t have it back then and my college was not focused on religion but was founded by the good old Jesuits) I am not an overly religious person but basically call myself one step above agnostic. However, two areas of “religion” that I find valuable from my education. What I remember most about my religion classes were the moral lessons not the ones of doctrine. #2 religion is allowed to be a part of the discussion. Why is this important? My father was a public school history teacher and one of the comments he had about his job that always struck me was the fact that he felt he could never really bring religion into the argument at all. I’m not saying teach the bible but he always felt he couldn’t bring it up at all. (For example, talking about the Death penality without being able to bring in if it’s morally wrong on religious grounds.) Also at least with Catholic Schools a lot of it depends on the school. In 11th Grade for church history class I did a report on the worst popes in history, someone else on how the church used to ban books for stupid reasons, etc. If you are worried about how “catholic” his education will be if you keep in catholic schools ask his future teachers for lesson plans and/or borrow the textbooks they should give you a good fell for what is being taught and if it “disagrees” with your beliefs.

By: How To Start A Day Care Center

How To Start A Day Care Center — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 08:39:29 +0000

Initially, you should find out how much demand there is for day care centers in the area where you want to start the business. After satisfying yourself that you’ll have enough customers you then need to consider.

By: Retired Syd

Retired Syd — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 16:42:50 +0000

My feeling is there is no amount of religious education that cannot be overcome by simply growing up.

By: Rachel @ Master Your Card

Rachel @ Master Your Card — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 09:05:08 +0000

I gues syou have to decide whether you can afford the more expensive schooling that is not Catholic or whether you want to risk being in a school with a worse education record. In your situation I woudl go for the Catholic school too. I was brought up as a Christian, stopped believing at 9, started again at 11 for a few years and then stopped again. I went to sunday school and church until I was about 6. My school taught Religious Education and we had religious assembilies once a week. I feel that it has been very useful having a knowledge of Christinity even though I choose not to believe in it. It means that when I attend church for weddings etc I knw the hyms and understand what is goig to happen. I also have evidence to back up my arguements for not believing in God. I think it is fair that children are taught about religion so that they can choose themselves what to believe in and this is a way that they will get that education.

By: Living Off Dividends & Passive Income

Living Off Dividends & Passive Income — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 06:25:22 +0000

I went to a catholic school and we’re not even christian!

I think I turned out better for the high quality education I received. I think religion is a good addition to have to your overall education. If you’re dumber than a box of rocks, it doesn’t matter which religion you follow.

By: Four Pillars

Four Pillars — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 03:40:17 +0000

Excellent discussion.

If I could add one more thing – Steve and Bebelah: once the new baby comes along, little Buddy’s future religious beliefs are not going to be a high priority.

Mike

By: Chief Family Officer

Chief Family Officer — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 03:03:07 +0000

Interesting topic, and one that my husband and I have discussed too. We tend to have pretty broad religious views ourselves, so we’ve decided that a little religious education from a sect that we aren’t a part of would be okay as long as the core values are the same. For example, I would object to my kid learning that hitting someone is okay. But not if he’s told, “Jesus teaches us not to hit other people.” And we can discuss the nuances at home. I actually think some exposure to religion is a good thing, so that by itself doesn’t bother me. I think that as long as you and your wife emphasize the values aspect, and teach your son that people have different beliefs, everything will be fine. Good luck!

By: dawn

dawn — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 02:56:44 +0000

My boys went kindergarten through 6th grade at a Catholic school. We then switched them to public school, so they could start middle school with the rest of the kids. Our choice for the religious school was due to a poor quality elementary school in our neighborhood. Not particularly for the religious education. But I have to say it was an excellent experience. There was such a sense of family and community in this school. They were also able to focus on a lot of things public schools aren’t always able to address. For example – character, morals, and values. It was a nice support system to what we as parents were trying to teach at home. Hubby & I are Christians – but also have a huge respect and thirst for knowledge of all the world’s religions… (I don’t think God has one particular zip code). O.K. drifting off point there – so fast forward… the boys are 20 & 23 years old now. Neither one identifies themselves as Catholic & neither one attends a church. But both have a strong belief in a higher power. And they do tell me that they are happy we had them go to that school. So long story short – I think the positives outweigh the negatives at a religious school, especially balanced with good communication with the parents.

Personally I think your point on “You having to figure out what you believe,” is the relevant thing. Having kids kind of force us to define ourselves clearly… otherwise we turn into the “Do as I say – Not as I do,” type of parents…

You’ll be fine & your son will too… it’s all about the love! If he is surrounded with love – he’s a blessed little guy!!!

By: Steve (Brip Blap)

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 02:31:38 +0000

Thanks everyone! That’s an interesting reaction, because I get the general impression that everyone’s saying “don’t worry.” I tend not to worry THAT much. It shocked me the first couple of times I heard my son repeat things like that, but then again he talks to Elmo, too, so his judgment is suspect.

I think Working Rachel had a very good point, which is that we should teach him about our beliefs to counter any strong indoctrination and that leads to a VERY important point: my wife and I have NO strong beliefs FOR or AGAINST religion. My wife, a product of the Soviet Union, has a vague distrust of religion that has been built in since birth by the state. I was turned off by my immersion in my mid-20s. But both of us have since come around to a belief in the New Thought movement, which is most jokingly summarized as believing in The Force.

That is not exactly a burning passion belief to counter Catholic education, is it? But I’m OK with it. I need to make my own beliefs more apparent to myself first before I start worrying about what anyone else is picking up, probably.

I really do appreciate the great feedback – I hope everyone else thinks it is as interesting as I do to hear everyone’s opinions!

By: Hops

Hops — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 23:26:36 +0000

Echoing all above me, I would say that it’s no big deal. If you’re concerned that your kid is becoming indoctrinated, well, you’re his father! You can counteract that.

By: Aura

Aura — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 22:55:39 +0000

My parents sent me to religious day care and school from when I was 3 till when I was 13 because they thought public institutions were full of violence and didn’t pay enough attention to kids. I didn’t enter the public school system until high school. During that time, I attended about 5 different institutions (not all the same religion).

So, from personal experience, I would say that what I learned in school didn’t have any impact on my way of thinking until about 7th grade. Ironically, it wasn’t until I was in (public) high school that I started giving serious consideration to religion, and the people I met during college had the most influence on my personal beliefs.

You should keep on sending your kid to that day care place. He’ll probably get more attention there and thus be a happier kid, regardless of what he’s exposed to.

By: coddigus

coddigus — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 22:13:42 +0000

Let him keep going souinds beneifically personally and economical to me. You might worry about his religion absorbtion but really, it’s not a big deal as long as the parent is open-minded to the child. I grew up in a Mormon family but by the time I was 5 we had stopped going to church, throguh presumably, we all still were Mormon. My dad never made any forceful impression on believing in any religion or idealogy. In fact he made it a point for me to discover whjat I believe on my own.
Yes he would say he hoped I chose a form of Christianity cause that is what he primarily believed in, but ultimatly he realized you cannot force someone to be something that they are not. You can’t force them to believe in viewpoints that are not theirs, least not forever.

The worse thing that could happen is your child becoming Catholic. Which, they’re pretty cool cats at times (Jews are the coolest.) I’m suddenly feeling like I’m full of prejudice. OH NO.

lol Nah kidding kidding. But I seriously love Jewish ancient history.
Off topic.

Have a good one Brip Blap
-Greg

By: Solar Yard Lights

Solar Yard Lights — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 20:48:31 +0000

I’d say it does matter, but it’s not a bad thing. All in all those religious schools do stay within a guideline and since your coming from you must slightly know what he’ll be taught.
I do believe he is too young to start actually being converted and he will probably grow up to be a free thinker if his father and mother are so.
IMO I don’t think it would have any negative effect on your child and if it’s a good environment for him then go for it.

By: plonkee

plonkee — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 20:31:04 +0000

At the pre-school age, it’s not that important in the great scheme of things. He’s going to find out who baby Jesus is eventually anyway. It also seems to have prompted you to consider what you do want, so that’s good.

As he gets older, I’d say that it depends entirely on whether everyone else in school is Catholic. If they are, then it will be hardcore indoctrination (which many/most people later leave behind anyway). If not, it’ll be fine. Religious studies is after all an academic discipline.