I have not been a writer these long years, though I have studied voraciously. Upon completing my degree in English at Eastern Oregon University (2005ish), I could only recognize the content of my writing as another pained and angry voice to add to an already cacophonous world of woe. In short, I refused to write (besides mandated assignments) until I could proclaim a message of redemption, rather than mere lamentation. Though I knew Christ was the key to this development, I had not been able to state with any degree of confidence that such a transition had occurred, until now. Through Christ's redemptive work in my life, though I face you as an overtly flawed human being, I can confidently assert that the Gospel has changed my heart and mind, reprioritized my life, and given me a zeal and sense of adventure that I have longed for since my earliest memories. Where I stand now, I can tell you truly, whether through exultation or lament, silliness or just plain vanity, redemption is a part of my story.
That being said, here is my letter to "anyone who cares" concerning our recent decision to homeschool for the 2014/2015 school year.
April 7,
2014
To anyone who cares:
The reasons we believe our daughter
can acquire a better education at home are myriad, but brevity is a
virtue. While we have always enjoyed the
content of public school curriculum as a springboard for important and lively
conversation and debate at home, our conscientiousness toward ethics and a
literal interpretation of the word "education" simply cannot tolerate
the cavalier attitude being expressed by teachers in the classrooms of the
Stikine Middle School.
When Mr. Brooks reached for the
nearest tabloid and presented it to his students as "history", he
drew a line in the sand between this family and his school. The website, Explainingtheholacaust.org, presented
Christians as the leading cause of the holocaust, the primary enemies of the
Jews, and noted the New Testament as a book which people who had been misled
into believing Jesus is the Son of God, used to persecute Jews. Upon perusal of the page this very morning,
we discovered that all of these articles are now missing from the site. Not so much as a disclaimer even exists. We are encouraged by this fact; we hope the
missing pages are a direct result of outrage against sensationalism being
taught as fact. Nevertheless, we are
disappointed that our child's teacher found the material worthy in the first
place. When we passed on an article to
Mr. Brooks which gave a thorough explanation of Jews in the New Testament, he
did not find there to be any reason to seek further discourse with us on the
matter. Only after I withdrew my
daughter from SBA testing did he send us an email that invited us to come to
his classroom if we wanted to converse.
As is often the case, professionalism is put on as a defense, as if
wearing a tie is somehow a public service.
Where was professionalism when my
daughter was being taught the latest, skankiest dance moves in PE, but despite
having paid her sports fee was kicked off the volleyball team 2 years in a row
for daring to try to play both volleyball and softball because one sport didn't
end before the other began? When the state pays thousands of dollars every year
for her to be a student at their school, shouldn't there be a little more
consideration toward her range of opportunities? What about Brooks' lessons on the American
Revolution and the 2nd amendment suggesting that our founding fathers didn't
want American citizens to bear arms any more powerful than a musket? Outrageous. Where is professionalism when evolution is
taught as scientific fact, despite one observable shard of proof? When asked
which other theories were relevant to the beginnings of our world, my daughter
was told with snarky smugness to , "go take a religion class."
Just because Atheism makes less sense than any
other religion in existence, does not mean it is not a religion. They have their beginnings story, their local
flood stories, their prophets (Darwin among them), and their self imposed
legalities (aka pseudo-professionalism).
They even have a doctrine of the afterlife, which sounds something like:
there is no afterlife, so get what you can now, in any kind of tooth & claw
manner you deem reasonable according to your
own standards. This cruel and
nonsensical mindset has contributed to a vast hopelessness which thoroughly
defines our anti-depressant addicted culture.
Our postmodernist mindset has established a paradigm where truth is
subjective. Moral relativism has always
existed, but is now established as the pervasive thought pattern of today's
world. Like every other religion in the
world, atheism is Man's Will & Self Righteousness exerting dominance over
God's Will & Pure Righteousness. The solution? The solution hasn't changed
since the beginning. He is the same
yesterday, today and forever. He is
Jesus Christ, the God of the Bible, the One who made you, and the One who made
me. Repentance is the simple solution if
you have been living in rebellion to The Truth.
With the conflict as it stands between our family and the school, we
could no more reenter their education system than we could bow to the statue
of Nebuchadnezzar. The school would like
us to believe that we are damning our children to certain failure in life by
pulling out of their supposedly competent care.
We consider this notion no more than the possibility of any other
hardship or fiery furnace. So be
it. "As for me and my house, we
will serve the Lord."
While brevity is indeed a virtue,
like many other virtues, it is not one that we have necessarily mastered. Thank you for your time,
Ron, Jamie, Sami,
Dylan
