What are the odds that Kara Burton and her 20 year old boyfriend

[JohnnyRingo]

had Christian backgrounds and met through a home-school network?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10028966/

I've nothing against good Christians, but is today's trend toward incubating children through repressive isolation for their own good, or is it creating a generation of resentful offspring unable to interact in real life society?

Or are they perhaps an exception and a coincedence?

[Demit]

1. Since the article states that's how they met, the odds are very good.

It also states that one of Kara's interests was her Christian faith. And her name is Borden, and the boyfriend is 18. Did you read the article before you linked to it?

[JohnnyRingo]

11. Oops... I went out last night and posted this just before I went to bed

If I'd waited until this morning's hangover I might have got it right.... or probably not even posted it.

[Demit]

12. oof, a Tuesday morning hangover. That's rough.

Extending your weekend, eh? :)

[Maddy McCall]

2. My son is homeschooled to keep him out of the grasps of the...

Southern Baptist fundies who hold teaching and administrative positions at his school.

And there is a new wave of liberals in the south doing the same thing as I.

I could tell you stories that would frighten you--about the state of education in my state. For instance, teachers read bible stories to children. Any child who doesn't want to participate is only allowed to lay his or her head on the desk. And then the children are tested on the bible stories. All the children, including the Muslim one (the one who was forced to sit in the principal's office, as if he were being punished, for fasting during Ramadan). And the kids have to answer interpretive questions about "salvation," "redemption," and so forth.

God forbid you oppose this "instruction." Your kid is then ostracized and bullied by the teachers.

And so is the state of education in Mississippi. That's why my son is home with me now.

[ClintonTyree]

4. Sweet Jesus.....

I had no idea it had gotten that bad. How can they do that? TESTING on bible stories? That is seriously fu#%ed up! They're teaching religion in public schools, I thought that was against the law? Man, I don't blame you for homeschooling your kids. I know it's probably not feasible, but have you considered moving to a more open and sane area of the States?
I moved to Florida from New York 4 years ago. I lasted two years and am now back in New York. The cultural gap was extraordinary, it was like living on another planet. Coming from a Liberal area I felt isolated and under attack at all times by bible thumping cretins who insisted in meddling in my life. I RAN from Florida, I had to escape.
Best of luck to you and I hope your kids appreciate what you're doing for them. They may not at the moment but later in life they'll reflect upon it and realize what a sacrifice you've made for them.

[Maddy McCall]

5. He begged me to take him out of school. The final straw...

was a teacher's aid pinching and twisting his tricep, leaving an orange sized, black and blue bruise on the backside of his upper arm--and her nails broke the skin. He was ten when it happened. As a result of all of this, he suffered emotionally--I won't detail it all here. Anyway, after the abuse, I went to the principal. I went to the superintendent--all to no avail. Instead of fighting them, I chose to preserve our sanity and take my kid out of school.

I could tell you so much about our experiences with this school. The elementary office secretary told me that my son "would get along much better if he'd just go to church." I set her straight. I told her that, first of all, she was treading into a private area of our lives in which she had no business, neither professionally nor personally. Second, I told her that, unless she was snooping or gossiping, she had no way of knowing what our religious beliefs and church attendance was like, since we didn't wear our religious affiliation on our sleeves. That was the beginning of the end--and this happened when my boy was in kindergarten.

The sad thing is that all of these kids are being taught by women (no male elementary teachers at all) who feel it is their mission to become teachers, so that they can enter the vile public schools to reform them and bring God to the children. They think of themselves as professional martyrs. I heard one say, "If I want to pray with a child, I'll pray with him. Damn the laws."

For that, our children's education suffers.

I have a year until I finish my dissertation, at which time, the world is wide open for my son and me. Now, don't get me completely wrong--I love the climate, the food, the better parts of the culture here. I'm close to New Orleans and Natchez, so there are plenty of fun things to do. The public schools really suck, though. (And the private ones were founded during integration, so they are lily-white "Christian academies." ) No choice, here.

But the school systems here are a total loss, at least in my area of the state, where Southern Baptists rule supreme.

[Bridget Burke]

7. I'm sure there are better public schools--even in the South.

I'm speaking as a Texan with a (semi-rural) public school education--beginning in the 50's. We had Christmas programs--which everybody but the 7th Day Adventist kids enjoyed. And I may have heard a prayer at the occasional assembly. (But why did they add words to the Our Father? Why didn't they EVER say the Hail Mary?)

But we didn't have religion shoved in our faces.

When you're "free"--check out the cities or, perhaps, college towns. That way, your kid can get a better public school education & you both can enjoy the best of the South. Like not freezing your buns off every winter!

[sendero]

10. And people dis Texas..

... trust me, if any of that crap happened here - the lawyers would make the principal, the teacher and everyone involved wish they were working at WalMart.

[fasttense]

6. Not all Southern schools are that bad.

I pay tuition to send my kids to a local city school in TN(the county schools are very poor and lack the facilities of the city schools). There is no religion taught there and though there are some crazy fundy students, they haven't infiltrated the teachers yet. The fundies here are very much against education so they don't migrate to jobs requiring college degrees.

My brother a rabid atheist lives in Florida. He has a 12 year old boy who goes around mocking god. No kidding, the boy is cocky and proud of his defiant "people who believe in god are stupid" attitude. His parents have been told that their son needs to tone down his anti-god opinions sometimes. But aside from that, they love the Florida school system. My brother even voted for bush. I asked him what he was going to do when they introduced Creationism in the school. He said he wasn't worried because the school system he has his son in is very upper class and liberal. They were too intelligent to buy into Creationism (his words). I just shake my head and wonder what he would do if he got with some "real" republicans.

[Maddy McCall]

8. This works fine for us now.

When I finish my dissertation, I'm leaving here. But our living arrangements aren't versatile right now, so we are "stuck."

[Horse with no Name]

14. What a conundrum

If I were your brother, I'd make a deal with the school district.
Tell them to tone down their "I love God" in return for toning down the "I hate God".

[JohnnyRingo]

13. Sorry Maddy, no offense meant to you.

I do know some people here in Ohio though that keep their kids sequestered for other reasons. One parent is even a public school principal.

When the kids are allowed to go outside in the yard they just seem so sad in nature. I imagine after this story broke they're writing new internet rules for their girls.

One of them is a cheerleader and wears a homemade uniform with a skirt well below her knees. She jumped at an opportunity this summer to go stay with an out of state aunt for a couple weeks. Her quest for social freedom is obvious and I see parallels with this Borden girl.

I bet her parents do too.

[cornermouse]

3. I think naive would be a good description.

I don't know that resentful is quite accurate, more like naive.

[insane_cratic_gal]

9. Can I just point out

that is utter bullshit, and I'm not an advocate for home schooling.

Columbine gunners were not home schooled.. they weren't even christian.

Let's be honest we are picking on kids who are home schooled because we view them to be zealot christian's who raise republicans. That is our own prejudice and we are trying to make it fit.

A bad apple is a bad apple.. it has to do with the make up of the brain not whether you were sheltered.