LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY star_cabaret)

If you want the background about what the article is talking about, the A Beka Books tab has all the information, going back to the beginning. Basically, the university system started getting stricter about schools teaching what they're supposed to be teaching, and certain Christian schools started crying foul.

Here's an update on what's going on in California (with some of the history):

Christian high schools sue University of California, alleging bias in admissions

( Read more... )

( examples of classes dismissed )

As someone who went to a private (conservative) Christian school until college, I'm not surprised that there were problems with the curriculum. Neither am I surprised by the identity of the companies whose curricula are problems.

Looking up the lawyer's employ, Advocates for Faith and Freedom, one sees the usual catchphrases:

( some of the text from their website )

I know it's wrong of me to be so dismissive of groups like this because of the danger they pose. Has anybody else heard anything about this group?

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY exotic_princess)

Article here, from USAToday

Exerpt:

The civil rights lawsuit filed by Calvary Chapel alleges that the 10-campus University of California is trampling the freedom of "a religious school to be religious." UC rejected the content of courses such as "Christianity's Influence in American History" and "Christianity and Morality in American Literature."

In court documents, UC says the free-speech clause of the First Amendment gives it the right to set admission standards. "What we're looking for is this: Is the course academic in nature, or is it there to promote a specific religious lifestyle?" UC spokeswoman Ravi Poorsina says.

The university rejected some class credits because Calvary Chapel relies on textbooks from leading Christian publishers, Bob Jones University Press and A Beka Book. A biology book from Bob Jones University presents creationism and intelligent design alongside evolution. The introduction says, "The people who have prepared this book have tried consistently to put the Word of God first and science second."

UC says such books would be acceptable as supplementary reading but not as the main textbook.


Your thoughts?

It turns out that Reforming Schools has a full expose of an AoG church school receiving moneys under state voucher programs.

(Seeing as AoG religious schools commonly use the A-Beka curriculum--which I have reported on in a two-part series, and seeing as there is now a major push for the use of vouchers for Katrina evacuees, this is very relevant.)

Among other things, this particular school is:

a) only one of *eleven* schools interviewed that were even remotely willing to allow outside groups in that are receiving state money
b) per the article, requires sectarian religious tests for employees (even though they are receiving state dollars)
c) require kids (in violation of the state regulations) to attend religious indoctrination courses without an option of opting out
d) apparently thinks that "name it and claim it" *faith healing* is an appropriate response for injured kids on the playground (per the article: "Our faith is woven into everything we do. If a child falls down on the playground, we pray for him.")

This is part of a special report Rethinking Schools has done on voucher programs, in which the two articles mentioned in my reports on A-Beka originally appeared (and which were invaluable for some of my own research).

Continuing with my post that I started here, I'm continuing with my critical look at the whole A-Beka curriculum. As I noted previously:

A few months ago, I posted a discussion of the specific ideology taught in dominionist curricula, including the A-Beka curriculum program used in many dominionist private school and homeschool communities.

This particular thread has gained a bit of new relevance, between California officially disallowing admission of students solely educated using A-Beka curriculum due to its educational content being below state minimum standards and a legal case involving groups trying to push a textbook commonly used in A-Beka biology courses.

Hence, I'm going to post my own little analysis of just WHY California would find it unsuitable for kids entering college level courses (I actually stated in the original thread this was likely to happen) and how this could
hurt Pennsylvania students in the long run if dominionists get their way.

( Onward to part 2 )

And that largely does it for now. I've been working continuously since from about 6pm to about 1:10am on this; people are free to comment in the threads.

EDIT: Minor, minor edits for formatting. Never ever ever type long essays fueled by sleep deprivation and research geekdom. :3

A few months ago, I posted a discussion of the specific ideology taught in dominionist curricula, including the A-Beka curriculum program used in many dominionist private school and homeschool communities.

This particular thread has gained a bit of new relevance, between California officially disallowing admission of students solely educated using A-Beka curriculum due to its educational content being below state minimum standards and a legal case involving groups trying to push a textbook commonly used in A-Beka biology courses.

Hence, I'm going to post my own little analysis of just WHY California would find it unsuitable for kids entering college level courses (I actually stated in the original thread this was likely to happen) and how this could hurt Pennsylvania students in the long run if dominionists get their way.

( Analysis follows; please feel free to mirror wildly )

EDIT: As this is a two-part series, I'm including the link to part 2 here.

Much of the bleating so far about this has been in dominionist sources, and in a decidedly negative light, but something you all may be interested in (in light of the recent case of a kid kicked out of a Catholic school for having a lesbian mom):

Reportedly the University of California public university system has started implementing rigorous standards in requring minimum standards for high school education for those admitted to public universities in that state. Part of these standards include basic science education--including on the theory of evolution--and social studies.

The standards, as it turns out, disqualify students coming from dominionist schools (generally accredited by dominionist-run, dominionist-operated "accreditation mills") and in particular a large association used by dominionist schools called the Association of Christian Schools International. (Of note, the dominionist group I walked away from has its school accredited through this organisation--THIS should tell you of the quality of the "accreditation" through this group!)

It would also likely block dominionist homeschool programs, both because of extremely minimal standards (for those few dominionist homeschool programs that are accredited) and because some dominionist homeschool programs actually pride themselves on their lack of accreditation.

In fact, the two most common curricula used by dominionist groups--A Beka and Bob Jones University--are now specifically considered unacceptable in their science education--which pretty much knocks out *all* dominionist educational programs. (As I have reported previously on Dark Christianity, these particular school curricula are less "education" and more blatant indoctrination into dominionist theology of "Avengelicals Uber Alles".)

Needless to say, the dominionists are not happy about this (as pretty much the curriculum used in dominionist schools is now officially stated as insufficient).

So far, the gallery of rogues presently screaming like murdered chickens include: ( click here for the rogue's gallery )

Personally, let's hope OTHER states start getting standards as rigorous as California's.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY kalibex)

'The Association of Christian Schools International, which represents more than 800 schools, filed a lawsuit Thursday in federal court claiming UC officials have refused to certify high school science courses that use textbooks challenging Darwin's theory of evolution.'

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sublate)

University of California sued over creationism

( Read more... )

Source: Seattlepi.com

(EDIT: Edited for formatting, also edited to emphasize that both dominionist homeschool programs and private schools operated by dominionist denominations (particularly AoG and "independent pentecostal" or "independent Baptist", increasingly in Southern Baptist schools as well) are using this material in their basic school curriculum. I apologise if I didn't make this clear.)

Especially in the past ten to twenty years, there's been a major push in the dominionist community towards homeschooling kids (to specifically insulate them from "worldly" or "satanic" influences--read: exposure to any info outside the coercive religious group). There's been a very similar push in dominionist circles to get them into private schools operated by dominionist groups for even longer, closer to fifty years.

( Group focus 1: A Beka Curriculum )

The scary thing is, A Beka is actually liberal as far as homeschool curricula targeted at dominionists go. http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/materials/Christian.htm has a list including:

http://www.learningthings.com/go.asp?agent=atozhomescool (toys specifically aimed at dominionist/"deliverance ministry" households)
http://www.homeschools.org/ (a resource specifically aimed at "Christian Reconstructionist" households--no, I am not making this up. They are marketing specifically to the Rushdoony crowd)
http://www.schooloftomorrow.com/ (ACE, Accelerated Christian Education--also had some of their material quoted in the above articles referenced in A Beka's section; content is explicitly dominionist, heck, downright Christian Reconstructionist)
http://www.homeschoolfcgs.com/product_info.php/products_id/3051 (a homeschool supply store that sells "America's Providential History", a blatantly dominionist/Christian Reconstructionist textbook pushing the "Christian Nation" canard)
http://www.providencefoundation.com/ (Providence Foundation, the publishers of "America's Providential History" and many other Christian Reconstructionist textbooks; it's links page (http://www.providencefoundation.com/links.php) includes (among other Naughty Spawn) hate group American Vision and Family Research Council (whose head, Tony Perkins, has been linked to "white citizen's council" and Klan groups))

(More backgrounder regarding dominionist groups and homeschooling specifically is at http://www.politicalamazon.com/fcf-homeschooling.html (and Yurica Report and Theocracy Watch, among other places); more backgrounder regarding one dominionist text, "America's Providential History", here: http://www.beliefnet.com/story/161/story_16152_1.html)

Also, another point: Many, if not most, of the dominionist homeschool programs are actually operated as correspondence schools by dominionist churches as extensions of existing dominionist private school systems. In other words, the problem isn't restricted to homeschool groups at all (and has been festering for quite some time--A Beka has been in use for at least thirty years in AoG private schools, for instance, and Bob Jones University's material even longer).