No Surprise. It is a Christian school and conformity to doctrine is required. She will fit in at like 95% of the schools out there. Plus, depending on her school district, she can go to a competitive school for FREE!

But of course, on this forum I must ask, does she want to grow up to be a prince?

Giovanna wrote:

Sometimes it seems to me like it doesn't matter, whether it's conforming to the standards of a Christian school or the social expectations set in public schools, the end result is always a lot of programming and setting a uniformity in a population. I don't know if I'm entirely far gone enough to think SHEEPLE BEING CHURNED OUT BY THE POWERS OF BUSINESS TO BE SERVANTS AND CONSUMERS, but I think society as a mass finds safety and self-preservation in uniformity. And if you're powerful enough to direct the education of a new generation, you probably don't have much to gain from them being completely independent of your input and expectations.

Speaking as someone who has some power to direct the education of a new generations, (but who is occasionally far gone enough to think SHEEPLE BEING CHURNED OUT BY THE POWERS OF BUSINESS etc. etc.) yes, it is easier to have kids who obey your every whim, and share your every opinion, and don't ask too many questions.  But I'm not so lazy that I would willingly place the importance of that ease over the importance of teaching them to be competent adults, and to me, that means developing their own identities and decision-making abilities.

I understand that there's always going to be some friction between what I want or need them to do and what they decide is best, not to mention times when they perceive this friction even when it's not there, either because they just don't ask questions or because they need an authority to push against, they want it to be unreasonable, and so they believe that we're making demands of them that we aren't.  I fully understand that having them be part of a group without the resources to allow them to split the group infinitely to pursue their own interests results in a series of hopelessly broken prisoners' dilemmas.  State law and our contract with the school mandates that it be so, not even getting into the instances where their judgment is just completely undeveloped, there are mistakes we can't let them make. ("No, you may not jump off the roof onto the concrete.  That's too dangerous.  Yes, I know you saw someone do it once.  Yes, I know they didn't get hurt.  I still can't let you.")

It's a delicate balance, and I think the role of educators boils down to creating the space for that friction to exist, and nurturing the child through it.  It's not easy for us, it's not easy for the kids, and it would be nice for things to be easier.  But from where I stand, the price would be too high.