Donna “Jeffrey Dahmer Believed in Evolution” Garner’s fiery email exchange with Texas State Board of Education member George Clayton this week included a particularly interesting tidbit you might have missed. Garner suggested a variety of reasons for supporting Gail “Pilgrims Were Commies” Spurlock as Clayton’s replacement on the board. Among them, she said, is that Spurlock is “a successful business woman who has homeschooled her own children for some years.”
So Spurlock’s decision to abandon the very public school system she wants to manage for everyone else’s kids is a plus? Of course, a number of creationists on the state board over the last few years also homeschooled their children. One, former board member Cynthia Dunbar, even called public schools unconstitutional, “tyrannical” and a “subtly deceptive tool of perversion.” Does Spurlock agree with those sentiments too?
…and it isn’t about what is best for society, my child’s future, nor my child’s education…
I homeschool my daughter and everyone assumes it’s because of religious reasons when in fact it’s due to health concerns. This is how my daughter “won” entry into a charter school located inside a christian church. They are actually picking and choosing children who can attend their school and homeschoolers are given preference based on this assumption. Since when did homeschooling become the same as christian? Soooo crazy!!
Lorena: We know, and we have nothing against homeschooling. Parents make that choice for many different reasons, and they have every right to do so. It just seems odd to us that so many creationists on the SBOE homeschooled their kids yet want to run the public school system for everyone else. And their hostility to public schools makes it especially troubling.
TFN, this has never made sense to me either. I appreciate Lorena’s comment as well as your response. My parents, my children, and I are products of a public school education with involved parents/community. I feel that those directly involved and committed to this institution should inform the decisions in its management at all levels.
@Lorena: That’s what they want and have always wanted. They want to have separate religious schools so that they can further shield and indoctrinate their youth. It’s like that whole “critical thinking” debacle earlier… anything that causes someone to question their faith can’t possibly be good for the business they’re in.
I don’t think people who home school should be eligible for the SBOE.
The director of this charter school (with a history of three other failed charter schools under his belt) also told us during orientation his kids were home-schooled. Weird…
Spurlock want to be in charge so she can further tear down the schools, clearing the way for tax-supported bible schools.
I know some people that homeschooled because the fundies had managed to take over the public schools in their area and ran their full program, court decisions be damned. Since the family I heard this from also happened to be liberal Jewish, their kids got not only indoctrinated but also constantly bullied. No pretense there of ‘Judeo-Christian’ heritage, it was pure ‘you Jews killed our saviour’. The family homeschooled out of pure self-defense and later moved to Canada (iirc after Dubya’s reelection).
Retch
Someone who home schools because “Jeffrey Dahmer believed in evolution” is profoundly ignorant and unqualified to guide the educational needs of others. By the way, I have it on good authority that Dahmer also “believed in” gravity.
der Brat, you are unaware of the theory of intelligent falling, I presume?
(iirc that originated as a joke, maybe in The Onion, but was taken serious by at least some fundies).
I think Einstein commented that there were 2 infinites: the universe and human ignorance, but he wasn’t so sure about the universe.
Perhaps I was just temporarily stupid. All of these conservative churches say that the federal government has usurped their God-given role as the chief charitable institution. Where did I go stupid? I thought they wanted to help the poor our of their regular church budget. Now I realize that the plan all along has been for the federal government to give up anything that looks like charity and send $1.3 trillion per year to the Possum Holler Separate Baptist Church. You know what the Bible says, “You should pay your pastor well for what he does.” Guess so. Let’s see now. If the pastor’s normal pay is 2 percent of the annual church budget, then his pay would be something like $240 million per year. Now, that’s not a bad take for an old man that has to breathe “uh-huh” every third word in a sermon. As you can see, it is all about neither charity nor Jesus. These people are obsessed with many and material things just like the rest of the nation. They just do not feel that they are getting their fair cut of the pie.
Oh, Texas… I feel your pain.