Comments on: Do Faith-Based Schools Adequately Prepare Students for College?

By: Dana

Dana — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 18:06:05 +0000

Sean, I let the comment through, although I confess I don’t see any connection between it and my post. I will be monitoring.

By: sean dietrich

sean dietrich — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 04:22:10 +0000

Hi,
I am a musician who has been impacted by Keith Green and I would be honored if you would check out my music, all music is free to download. I just wanted to share my music with Christians. http://www.SeanDietrich.com

I don’t want to be a pest, so if this really annoys you, please delete it and accept my humble apology.

Thanks so much,
-Sean
____________________
http://www.SeanDietrich.com
“All my music is free.”

By: E.

E. — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 01:47:20 +0000

Oh! I had quite forgotten he hailed from Britain. Thanks for the clarification.

By: Dana

Dana — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 01:24:45 +0000

E., that wasn’t exactly what I meant. Tolkien is a British writer, and I don’t think British writers should be studied in American Lit. It’s not that I don’t think it is “Lit-ra-chure.” I taught The Hobbit to 9th graders once.

By: E.

E. — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 01:22:18 +0000

I recall being forced to read “The Hobbit” as a 9th grader in my California public school. The public schools in Washington state include it as part of their curriculum as well. I agree, Tolkein ain’t ‘zactly literature, but it’s not just the crazy evangelicals including it in their reading lists.

By: Jeri

Jeri — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 16:27:59 +0000

Interesting thread. Focusing on the textbooks avoids the more intriguing problem, however. Which is that the UC system is basically dictating what high school students in CA are offered. They dole out approval to courses they believe are rigorous and academic, based on the course descriptions provided by the high school. An example I’m very familiar with: journalism. The UC a few years ago began to deny approval to courses they saw as being too “production-oriented,” meaning that class time is actually used in the production of a newspaper or magazine or yearbook. If the journalism teacher is truthful and accurate about the time spent on production — including inputting stories on the computer, cropping photos, designing pages, etc. — then the course is not approved. If the course description includes lots of reading and writing and theory of mass communication, then the course is approved.

So what happens? Two things: a kid who loves journalism has to choose between an elective the UC approves and the journalism class s/he loves, and journalism teachers are prodded to describe their classes less than accurately to maintain approval.

And an indirect result is that there are fewer student newspapers published in CA high schools than previously. More than 30 fewer, in fact, in the last five years.

The textbook problem is one aspect of the UC system’s hold over high school content in CA.

By: Dana

Dana — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 21:29:13 +0000

That’s a good point, about money. I think we run on a deficit every year, but somehow, money is always found for professional development and texts that we need. I do appreciate you sharing what you know about the texts.

By: Waterfall

Waterfall — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 14:16:49 +0000

No clue about the grammar texts. The BJU textbook’s exercise sentences tended to be Christian-based in subject matter. For example, you might be asked to identify the verbs in a series of sentences about Paul’s ministry, or find the prepositional phrases in a paragraph about why secular colleges are bad and Christian colleges are good. (That last one was a riot. Even the students thought it was silly.)

Each grammar chapter also had a writing focus for a specific mode: description, formal letter, etc. One of the modes was “writing a devotional.” Also, in the teacher’s handbook, there were various suggestions for how you could work exercises into a Bible study or devotional exercise, or provide the relevant Bible verses for the subject matter covered in the sentence exercises.

I don’t think anyone thinks Warriner’s threatens Christian theology (though who knows–I could be wrong!). My principal was actually in favor of switching to Warriner’s next year, if the money was available. Which leads to the real issue: money. A lot of evangelical Christian schools (mine included) are very small and run on a shoestring. BJU materials are very inexpensive, so the schools end up ordering them–even when they would prefer something more challenging and thorough. But, I guess you get what you pay for.

OK, I’ve rambled enough!

By: Dana

Dana — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 04:10:56 +0000

Actually, come to think of it, why does a grammar text need to be Christian? I can understand why, if you want to teach your children to embrace creationism over evolution, you might want Christian science books, but how exactly are grammar exercises in, say, Warriner’s threatening to Christian theology?

By: Dana

Dana — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 02:38:39 +0000

Thanks so much for your input, Waterfall. Not having seen the books, I couldn’t comment much. You have helped illuminate some of UC’s reasons for having problems with the books. And Robert, your perspective as an evangelical Christian was valuable.