Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Another reason I homeschool

I remembered last night as I watched the news, why I homeschool.

As I was sitting discussing with my dh what we were going to do with our kids and their unkindness to one another, a news story came on the TV. We stopped talking to watch. You can read about it here, it is a very short article. Or you can watch the video here.

I don’t know what I think about it. I don’t know if it was a wise decision on the teachers and administrators part. I don’t know how I would feel if I were a parent of one of the “Jews” but here is what I did think…

WHAT KINDS OF KIDS ARE WE RAISING IN THIS COUNTRY???? These 9th graders could not even get a simulation of the holocaust without causing a mini holocaust to happen in their little world. Does anyone else see the irony here? It was PRETEND; a learning experience for the kids, and it turned into the same kind of behavior and attitudes that lead to the holocaust in the first place. It is a simple attitude of intolerance, an attitude, which turns into a small action by one person, then two, then ten, then an entire generation.

I can’t help but think that this is the result of raising our kids in packs. We have entire generations that were raised in packs, in daycares and in classrooms with 30 or more kids. We have an entire generation of kids who didn’t get the benefit of moms at home when they were preschoolers, and moms at home to greet them when they came home from school. They start in daycare, then go to overcrowded classrooms, then to afterschool activities, then home to stare at the TV or computer, then to bed only to start the process all over the next day. There is no place for individuality, no place for personal conviction. It is a lifestyle of go with the pack or be devoured. We have raised them in packs and are astounded when the act like wolves.

Don’t get me wrong, my kids have attended various Mother’s Day Out programs, they have been in Sunday school classes with their peers. I know we have generations before us that went through the public school system and did okay, but honestly I think this is the first generation that has been raised, from infancy on, in a group. Many come home to an empty home or stay at school for after school programs. There is no one there to help them think through behaviors and think individually.

I know this is controversial, and I have probably offended many, but I just can help but be scared for my children’s generation when I read news articles like that one.
It is time to go and spend some time in prayer and Bible study with my kids about how to treat one another. Thank you Jesus that I have the freedom, privilege and time to train my kids to follow Him, not the pack.

3 comments:

Halfmoon Girl said...

Wow, amen to that! I am thankful for the privelege of actually raising my kids too!

Hen Jen said...

bravo! you hit some concerns of mine. Really bad idea, taking a bunch of kids that are known to be cruel and intolerant already and then add in this element of pretend hatred, what are the adults thinking?

Shauna said...

I see your point and agree to some extent, but regardless of what generation we're part of or how we're raised, we live in a fallen world and sin comes from within. I don't think the results of this misguided experiment are ironic but rather to be expected. Being kind to others doesn't come naturally (why would Jesus have spent so much time talking about loving others, including our enemies, if it were easy or part of our natural inclination?), and when you give someone an excuse not to be, this is what happens. JMHO.