John Axtell (newlife@theofficenet.com)
Mon, 11 Dec 2000 07:15:56 -0800
Joe,
I am so out of it I did not understand that our government has managed to give
tax advantages to private schools based on their submission to the value system
being imposed by the government. That certainly is the ultimate in
discrimination. It is the same attitude the gays have. You have to accept my
philosophy but I will not accept yours, or the black's attitude that they get
to join white fraternities but whites are certainly not welcome in theirs. The
government seems to be treating non profit schools like they do marriage. It
has to be on the terms of the government if one is to get certain preferential
treatment, it all boils down to social engineering by those in power, just as
the creation of the public school system has been..
You are right, we probably all come from a very common gene pool. If you
believe the Bible we came from one gene pool. However I disagree with your
premise that we have been contaminated over the years. What has happened over
the years is not integration but, by whatever process one believes happened,
separation, both genetically and socially.
I strongly believe that the continued separation is of great value while
integration in some areas continues. I am an American. I am not a Black
American. I am not an African American. I consider myself an American. I have a
linage of British / Scottish and my children have Italian added to them. This
gives them a totally different cultural background than an American Indian and
a totally different value system.
I do not want them to live in isolation but neither do I want them to accept
the value systems of others as acceptable. Their value systems and in many
cases their cultural value systems are not acceptable to me.
Now the important point, I think, to this discussion group, is what value, if
any, can a Suds type learning environment give to an individual or group who,
in this country, is described as a minority. That is the question I am really
trying to find an answer to.
The previous writer raised an important point as to the lack of Suds schools
where minorities live. Is it simply a function of money. Others on this list
have maintained that the financial income of the parents is not the primary
reason Suds schools are, or are not, created.
So the question is - are the values promulgated by a Suds school simply not
valued by minorities. Secondly if the values are not valued by minorities what
type of educational model will be effective with them. What cultural values
must one be sensitive to to serve a diverse educational population, or more to
the point a population of total minorities which may be "mixed" minorities.
When minorities discuss their feelings about discrimination based on their
status I often wonder if they understand the discrimination that is within the
white community based on social class, religious affiliation, sexual
orientation, weight, physical ability (in sports), need for glasses, and ones
ability to relate socially with others.
The basic beliefs of a Suds school seems to me to accept discrimination based
on the student's right of association. That discrimination may not be based on
race or religion but just on what the student wishes to base their choices on.
Discrimination is a daily act as a result of choices. Suds schools would seem
to give the freedom to the student to choose the form of discrimination they
wish to practice much more than our dysfunctional public school system that
requires "integration" based on race, religion and intellectual ability.
So back to the real question. Does anyone know if the Suds model works for
groups of minorities or in groups that are mixed racially, socially, or as to
their sexual orientation?
I really will appreciate it if someone working with "minorities" will share
their experiences with a Suds model with me.
John Axtell
Joe Jackson wrote:
> > Certainly integration is
> > dangerous to the purity of a culture or a family. So the question
> > might be - how
> > to associate but not contaminate?
>
> I find it interesting that since supposed "pure" cultures are solely the
> result of millenia of different cultures meshing and melding that anyone
> would even consider the possiblity of segregation in the interest of keeping
> their culture pure.
>
> I imagine that there are plenty of folks of all races colors and creeds that
> have some fear of "losing" their cultural identity through integration, but
> the fact of the matter is that their cultural identity took form through
> centuries of "contamination" (first person-to-person "contamination", then
> family-to-family "contamination", then tribe/village-to-tribe/village
> "contamination", etc.).
>
> The "official" stance of American society is, of course, pro-integration, as
> we have elected a government that will not allow a non-profit school to
> operate if they are not open to all people regardless of race, color or
> creed.
>
> I may be an idealist, but I consider it the tradition of this nation that we
> will continue, generation by generation, to throw out our old cultures and
> form a new culture comprised of bits and pieces of the old. Each succeeding
> generation loses a little more sight of the value of thowing up the walls...
>
> -Joe J.
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