Home schooled witness kids

by stillin 58 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse

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  Band on the Run

  My mom was expelled for not saluting the flag in the late 1930s. Education was valued by my family. No one had a chance at much school, though, b/c the Witness work was more important. My grandparents were face with my uncle and mom's expulsion. Many children were being kicked out of schools at the same time. There was a school that had some vague support from Bethel. My grandmother researched it. She was shocked but not shocked. There were no educational standards and the moral situation was loose. They went hungry so they could enroll my mom in a local business college.

  I was so impressed. It was sort a Kelly Girl school. She learned typing, steno, and bookkeeping. My mom had the skills b/c she taught me. The problem was that my mom was a decade younger than the average student. Employers demanded a real high school degree. It hurt my mom b/c she dreamed of being a teacher or fashion designer. I always felt I had to graduate high school to right the wrong.

  Don't know.
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  Julia Orwell

  You can't blame the schools or the teachers for kids turning out crappy. It's the parents who fail 90% of the time, and the other 10% it's the kid who gets caught up with the products of the bad parenting. Most kids are pretty decent, but their parents either are incompetent, unfit parents, disfunctional, or simply absent. No amount of good schooling can make up for that.
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  EmptyInside

  In this area,there is cyber school. It's free for those who live in the state. The student studies independently,but also has teachers and can interact with classes on-line.

  Some students are bullied so bad in school,it's difficult for them to learn in such an environment

  But,one has to be motivated. My nephew is enrolled in cyber school,but he isn't willing to put in the work. So,I think he needs sent back to public school

  And I agree with Julia,it's up to the individual student and their parents to get the most out of their education.

  You ever see one of those comic bits,where they ask Americans simple history questions,and no one knows any of the answers.
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  stillin

  Then there are the witness parents who welcome the opportunity to unload their kids for the day onto the public school system, as though it's a day care center paid for by tax dollars. This frees the parent up to pursue whatever all day. One witness Mom told me that her children's grades at school were of absolutely no concern to her. I was shocked to hear somebody say that and it was meant to say that her biggest concern centers on spiritual things.

  That theory about grading kids at school being damaging to them is a favorite of parents of slower kids.
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  gorgia2

  What a beautiful post, Band on the Run. I can relate very much to the escape public high school provided - the exposure to fellow-students I felt relaxed enough to speak my mind with, as opposed to the group of JW kids that also attended the same school and kept strictly to themselves.

  My parents didn't care at all what grades I got in school either, stillin; I'd often go on shopping trips with my mother or spend the school day visiting my grandparents. In the end, as I've written about before on JWN, I didn't even bother keeping a file - I just shoved papers into my school-bag and threw them in the bin once I got home. Sounds like I wasn't very interested in education, but I was extremely interested in education. I longed to have parents who cared and demanded I do homework, who had future career hopes for me.

  I remember a girl in my KH who upon turning the age to start high school here in Oz - 13 - her parents withdrew her from public school to be home-schooled. I believe with JW parents it can be out of genuine terror about the good ol' 2nd Corinthians 15:33, but this decision is mostly about control. The home-schooled girl had been a bubbly character, but after a few months of home-schooling, she changed. Followed her mother around the KH after the meetings, became shy.

  gorgia
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  88JM

  I have to agree with the views expressed here that it generally doesn't work out well for homeschooled JW kids. For a small congregation here with few young ones, there was/is quite a high proportion of home schoolers even for JWs - maybe because of it being a rural area? For those that have grown up, most went into the family business. The thing that annoys me is that the parents think the "benefits of shielding them from the world" outweigh any harm or shortcomings in their child's education - they think it's fine that their children can't spell correctly, but "at least they didn't have to go out into the world". Granted, some "worldly" parents also choose to home-school their kids, but usually only because they genuinely believe they can give them a better education and the individual attention that public schools cannot, and I think that is probably the only legitimate reason to do so, in my opinion.
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  Vanant

  I was a homeschooled born-in, and I'm one of those socially inept jobless losers that some of these replies speak of. I'm not sure if being homeschooled made me socially inept, since I already had trouble making friends when I was still in mainstream elementary school, and I inherit the genes of a long line of socially awkward or antisocial (think clinical definition) weirdos. From what I've seen, in most cases it's practically a requirement to be awkward or off in some way to join the JWs anyway.

  My high school dropout parents did nothing to help me with schoolwork, so I was on my own all day every day for years except for enforced bible studies with them. There were few kids in the congregation, so I had no friends. I wasn't allowed to go outside by myself until I was 18. I had a couple luxuries which were visits to the library and having a dial-up internet connection at home. The WWW was new for most people at the time, so there weren't any articles against it in the WT yet. So I discovered TTATT and was able to fade.

  Eventually I graduated with a BA in useless studies, while struggling for years with crippling depression and anxiety. Sometimes I wonder if maybe I wouldn't have as much social anxiety or disinterest towards people if I had had more opportunity to get used to being around others back then.

  If I think too much about it, I end up hating my parents. I guess homeschooling can be an enriching experience for some families, but mine are proud to be ignorant and brainwashed. The threats, manipulation, and twisted logic they responded with whenever I tried to respectfully express to them any kind of dissenting opinion used to make me feel like I was losing my mind. Their sole concerns were indoctrinating me in their beliefs and keeping me at home so I wouldn't go outside and communicate with worldly people. Because of the years of isolation, I learned to think independently--an unintended consequence as far as they were concerned--but I don't think that kind of experience is healthy for one's sanity. I consider it child abuse and wouldn't inflict it on my own kids, if I ever have any.
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  looter

  I can't fanthom that the Russelites had an education school on their own. Would not they be afraid of the circulation of the schooling? Another question I have is did they only allow fellow Russelites to attend? It surprises me that they would even be involved in a public school system.
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  PaintedToeNail

  I homeschooled my oldest child through graduation. Encourged college, child went to some college while in the highschool era, got A's on the work, chemistry, English Composition, technology. The English Comp professor was concerned with having a homeschooler in his class, he was shocked when my child was the ONLY one who understood and performed at the college level. This child is now 18 and decided college wasn't something they liked. Child has now been employed by a local grocery chain. The management told this child to thank their parents for teaching them how to work. This child inspired one of the employees to go to Gettysburg National Military Park, as its' historical significance is great. This homeschooled child has opened an IRA with an investment firm and contributes to it each paycheck. This child has traveled extensively, not for spiritual reasons, and has great respect for other cultures, science, history. This child is also involved in their own real estate business....pretty good for a deprived homeschooler.
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  A.proclaimer

  One of the reasons they put their kids into homeschooling is to go out in service. I've heard of a few homeschooled kids who do that since now they have more time available. Another reason (as said before) is fear of "worldy" students and influences. I was out in service one time and a sister who was going to put her kid into homeschool and telling me how it was better because then her child wouldn't be pressured and face bad influences. She asked me if I would ever take homeschooling. I told her no since going to school allows you to see other people and interact. Then I said how not everyone was bad, it all really depends who you hang out with. And it really does since even kids in the Kingdom Hall can be bad influences sometimes.