teaching in a private religious school

[ulysses]

is beginning to seriously make my head hurt.

We had a 6 year old girl enroll a couple of months ago - sweet kid, sharp math mind, and from a family of complete fruitbats. They unenrolled her yesterday because the "want to protect her Christianity".

":wtf:", one might ask. "I thought you said this was a religious school!"

backstory: The school can't celebrate Halloween in any official way (no decorations, etc) because, although the great majority of the kids do trick or treat and generally get into the whole thing with unmitigated gusto, the families of some of them cry "Satan!" and stroke out in general. Still, you can't keep the kids who do get into it from talking about it.

So all last week, whenever the topic came up, this child had to sit in the class and every now and then squeek "No! It's the devil's holiday!" I think Halloween was the last straw, although this family has also had bouts of freakishness whenever another child even TOUCHED this little girl. (Hello? SIX YEAR OLD KIDS PLAY TAG!!!)

She reads well for her age. She's never allowed to read anything but scripture, but she reads well for her age.

I found out today that these folks believe the child to be "annointed" - to what purpose I'm not sure, but it's evidently not to ever be a child while she has the chance. She's to be taught at home now where, one assumes, she is kept in a sturdy box suitable for keeping out Dr. Seuss and other children, awaiting her holy destiny.

:argh:

[ProudGerman]

1. And this isn't child abuse how?

Sharp math mind, reads well for her age, and her parents are gonna blunt that mind as much as possible. It's a complete fucking shame.

[ulysses]

10. it really is.

Is it abuse? Parents can fuck up their kids in a wide variety of ways, not all of which we call abuse. I just don't know.

[SOteric]

2. I can't fathom people like that.

It's not a gripe about religion, I grew up around religious people, was educated by Jesuits until I reach the age of prep school and still consider myself a practicing Christian. These people are, in my opinion unbalanced and their religious fervor is being interpretted and administered by unbalanced people.

[ulysses]

8. her dad

is the pastor of their church, which may explain some of the interpretation and administration.

It's just stupid. Even the most evangelical on the staff are shaking their heads.

[Cleita]

3. You teach in a private religious school? Interesting.

Well, I think that child is being abused if she isn't allowed to be herself. It is a form of mental abuse. How far do you think her parents will go? Will they refuse medical help or have other batty ideas that could be harmful? I know you're hands are tied somewhat, but I think you need to follow this child very carefully and watch for other signs of abuse.

How do the people who run the school feel about fringe religious cults? Maybe they should know what is happening too. They might have some influence on the parents. On edit I noticed that you said they unenrolled her. Too bad.

[7th_Sephiroth]

4. your right

this child may be in danger

[ulysses]

7. heh - who'd have thunk it, right?

;-) I have nothing against religion per se, and I was raised in the Methodist church, so I know the drill well enough.

Is it abuse? Part of me says it is, yeah. I don't think they're the kind of folks who would forgo medical treatment in favor of prayer or anything to that extreme, but I don't know. The child I saw was happy and certainly not physically abused, but needed friendship and socialization. Neither I nor the school really has any way to follow her that I know of.

[Droopy]

5. Sad story

I can see how some parents would be concerned about what their child is exposed to in school, but kids need social interaction to develop properly. I really disagree with home schooling for this reason. They just totally divorce their kids from some of the realities of life. It's not healthy.

[Cleita]

6. Me too.

The only reason home schooling should be allowed is when a child is absolutely unable to make it to class, for instance living in the Australian outback, or being handicapped beyond the capabilities of a school to accomodate the child. I do have a friend who home schools one of her boys because the school asked her to. The child is incorrigible. But these are extreme cases.

[rogerashton]

12. Right.

The boys who were starved by their adoptive parents in New Jersey -- came out last week, big stink, DYFS staff fired -- they were "homeschooled."

[Az]

9. Annointed?!

Um... maybe you should call child services. That is getting into danger territory there. Kids have enough pressures. Any more details on this annointed angle? Sounds a bit scary.

[ulysses]

11. no - that was all the detail

I got.

I'm handicapped in a way, having long since come to understand most religious text as metaphor. Do they literally mean "annointed"? I suspect so, but I have no clue as to what end.

[Blue_Chill]

13. Poor girl, it's a horrible fate to be born into a crazied family

I wish her well but fear that she's in for a hellish life.

[ikojo]

14. This girl's dad is a pastor? Is he college

educated or was he "called" by the Lord to pastor a church. Those who were "called" by the Lord to pastor really scare me and it is often those churches where there is a lot of abuse, physically and mentally. Too often the pastor is an authoritarian person who insists that no one interprets scripture except for him.

They often demand a lot of control over the family life of members.

I feel for this girl. If she really is as bright as you think she may be then it is a loss for the world to lose such a mind. By the time she is a teen and able to think for herself I am sure whatever talent she may have possessed for math and/or the sciences will have been expunged.

[Yaoi_Huntress_Earth]

15. Ouch

Poor kid. I hope she's the only child in that family.
Love,
Yaoi Huntress Earth

[Kamika]

16. Well look at it this way

When she goes postal in her church with a shotgun by the time shes 16 you can say she was your student a long time ago, and maybe get a movie contract.

[ulysses]

18. heh.

Yeah. I'll do that.

[radwriter0555]

17. These people aren't religious, they're brainwashed cult freaks.

Sickening. Totally koresh-like.

How awful.

[TrogL]

19. that "annointed' thing scares me

There may be sexual abuse going on with the father. I know it's a wild intuitive leap, but I've seen it before.

[ulysses]

20. a little wary of slinging things like that around

Not that it's impossible, but still. I hug/high five/tousle the hair of all my kids, and she never showed any remote twitch regarding that.

Still, I'll grant you the surpassing weirdness of it.