Reply #144: It was quite awhile ago, but I bet the same thing goes on today.

[Ladyhawk]

I attended fundy school until 1985. A lot of the same teachers are still there, so I doubt much has changed. There are "science" textbooks solely devoted to debunking evolution.

When I got to college (a liberal Christian college), I was surprised that the biology teacher there believed in evolution. He just thought god directed it. A lot of my ideas were being challenged simultaneously. One of the first ideas that I liked was that women should have equal rights. My fundy school taught that women should be subjected to men. I started asking why, especially when many of the men I knew were abusive and stupid. There certainly weren't any males that could compete with me academically in high school and only one who was my equal in college. It really pissed him off that I usually scored a handful of percentage points higher on tests and essays. When he finally edged past me by a few percentage points on one test, he celebrated as if his favorite team had won the Super Bowl. I found it amusing. :)

This kid (Todd) had been accelerated through school and was younger than the rest of the Freshmen. He was a brilliant musician. He had a lovely tenor voice and could sight-read anything on the piano, but it pissed him off that Ladyhawk usually scored a few percentage points higher than he did on papers and tests. :) It also pissed him off that my politics at the time were very conservative. (It took awhile to get rid of the fundy brainwashing.) In the long run, I outscored him academically and graduated valedictorian. He was a very, very close salutatorian. Of course, he got recognized for more achievements than I did. I was not considered when the school chose those most likely to succeed. He was chosen, along with several other musicians. It turns out the school was right. I have not "succeeded" according to the rules made up by this society.

I find it very interesting that I'm currently concentrating heavily on music, which was Todd's forte, so to speak. I've been thinking a lot about Todd lately. He'd be laughing at my clumsy attempt to perfect a Bach piece on the piano, but he might be impressed by how much my singing voice has improved. I've been thinking about adding a music minor or major to my academic repertoire. During high school I was discouraged from pursuing music, but I realize now that I did have the talent. In college, I was terrified of anyone hearing my voice. This made voice lessons a chore for my instructors.

I can do it now. I can sing in front of others: Star Vicino <---recent recording of a piece I sang at a recital. I can play the piano, too, although I am no virtuoso. Weird how life works, ain't it?