Bus Ride Thoughts

[coppqueen5129]

I was riding the bus to the Red & Black Cafe when I suddenly felt a swell of anger rising in my chest as I realized that it is only, just now, that I am learning about the real history of the United States. And alternative models to the politics and economic system that we've been practicing in this country. I felt angry at what is considered "alternative" in this society, and the misplacement of values, and the way our children are undereducated - the fact that in parts of this country the question of whether or not to teach evolution is even STILL A QUESTION - it just pisses me off.

I am not sending my hypothetical future children to public school, and maybe not even to private school unless it is some type of free school operated by people who truly have a clearer, more truthful vision of what this world is and can be. I don't want my children to be raised up on a foundation of lies, and then have to spend the first 10 years of their adulthoods trying to undo the massive racist, sexist, homophobic, nationalistic, capitalist trauma that has been done to them. While I can't insulate them from it entirely, I can at least give my kids something precious: Time.

I feel robbed of so many years of my life. Even though my parents offered alternative ways of looking at things (e.g. religion, diet, black history), there are so many things they didn't know, so much history they could not pass on to me because they, too, were products of this culture.

The word radical is really starting to make sense to me.

I need to be very conscious and willful about the choices I make now. The type of future I want to live is taking shape in my mind. I have a purpose. I don't know exactly what it is, but I know in which direction to seek it.

I love my friends; they have opened my eyes to so much.

Comments

?uestions

[wonkothesane42.livejournal.com]

does it concern you that, in not raising your hypothetical future children on a foundation of lies, that they might suffer some culture shock at some point when they find that the world is in fact racist, sexist, homophobic, nationalistic, and capitalist?

something i think about sometimes is the idea of children that are raised to be too sheltered in trying to protect them from the evils of the world. upon being exposed to those evils, wouldn't they have less knowledge about how to deal with them, instead being more naive about how things work?

Re: ?uestions

[copperqueen.livejournal.com]

I think you can be in the world but not of the world. I wouldn't hole my kids up and keep them away from people, nor would I hide from them the realities of life. Quite the contrary - I want them to be engaged in society - I just don't want them to believe (or be convinced, which is what happens) that the way society functions is the only possibility. I want the opportunity and the time to show them different models for living. 12 years of schooling, 7 hours a day - that's a lot of time for learning a lot of bad ideas.

Re: ?uestions

[reveurnomade.livejournal.com]

Ah, that's sort of what I wanted to ask to (even of myself). I totally agree with copperqueen's concerns, but I also know that because I was raised in a public school system (granted, a good one, at least in terms of teacher quality - otherwise it was poor and lacked resources) I have been given the opportunity to get ANGRY about the lies I was taught.

There was this homeschooled girl who started attending my high school in 9th grade. Her family was very Christian (to the point of not using birth control and having like, 10 kids) and had raised her in a very sheltered environment. Anyhow, her first year she slept around, and last I knew, she was working as a stripper, had a child at 19 (unmarried) and didn't finish school.

Not that that's relevant to copperqueen's perspective, but I think that no matter what, sheltering your kids to a certain point then sending them out into the world is, well...kind of scary.

[blindness.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't even know where to look for alternative models for living, that is how sheltered I am. Keeping our children undereducated, ill-informed and sheltered is the easiest and most effective way of controlling them now and later. The great thing about being a parent is you make all those choices.

I do find it particularly embarrassing that some schools in America are trying to put creationism into the science program. Why can't they just put it into an elective religion program. Or, if they want it to be mandatory like science is, what about a history program?? I hate the way the people with no scientific training, nor any respect for scientific methods, hijack science to give themselves validity while at the same time pushing their ideas that are blatantly absent of scientific methodologies.

[evanpoop.livejournal.com]

Wonderful post!

[reveurnomade.livejournal.com]

That's awesome, and seriously, I feel you. Every day I think homeschooling is less crazy (though I think it fucks kids up socially unless you really make an effort to socialize them otherwise)...but yeah. I attended public school for my entire life (including university), but my parents made a serious effort to let me know that textbooks aren't always right. Regardless, I think kids need more than that.