Should Public Schools Have A Spirituality Class?

Originally posted by Harman
There are books about meditation without any reference to spirituality behind it, just a way to quiet the mind and nothing more. Working on your emotional stability would be a good thing. So no praying to a god, no speaking with your guides or reaching your higher self and any of that stuff. Neutral meditational techniques would be very good for the educational system i'd say.

It makes for a stronger mind, less prone to get sidetracked or mislead, that's exactly why it will never be in the society that we have now. Commercials would see a downfall in effectivity with a significant amount. Not even mentioning politicians and media that will be more hard pressed to get away with lying when the population knows how to control their own thoughtprocesses.

[edit on 4-5-2009 by Harman]

You hit it right on the head. thats one of the main reasons why I think it should be taught some how. But the powers that be wouldn't like that. Its just like smoking herb.

And who is going to quantify and train the teachers of said classes? What guide lines will be put upon such a class?? Should or could there be a spiritual SOL??
(am not trying to be a witmonger here)

I would love to be in a position to home school my son. The library and the bookstores are great resource lounges!!! We frequent them regularly. I know that I do not have all of the answers to his questions. Guiding him to a source is my duty.

I feel that teachers today are not so dutiful!!

Peace...

reply to post by ravenshadow13



I think you misunderstood my post.

I consider myself somewhat of a Christian. I don't believe the bible is meant to be taken literal, but as a tool to guide you to lead a better life. I don't go to church, but I do understand what church is suppose to be.

That being said. When my child is born in the next couple of months. I plan on sharing my studies of religions with him/her. I have a significant knowledge of Buddism as my first wife was a practicing Cambodian Buddist. So I will pass that knowledge on. My current wife is a life long practicing Catholic. So I have that knowledge to pass on. My family brought me up as a Baptist. So I have that knowledge to pass on. I have had friends who let me participate in their Wiccan ceremonies. So I have that knowledge to pass on. I have studied several other religions, that had I done so in college would have earned me several degrees.

When my child is born I will share all of that. However, as a parent the child will look to me for guidance on this sort of thing. I can tell him or her that they can choose how they want to worship or not to worship. My belief though will play the prominent role in how the child is raised. So that will leave a bigger impression on the child and most likely lead to him or her to choose that religion.

You can teach your kid the differant morals of the world, but yours is what will be prominant.

That was what I was trying to say. Your religion, no matter what you teach your child, will be the prominent one.

Spirituality, whether it be religious or not, belongs in the home. I wouldn't want some teacher trying to explain the sacred when they can barely teach the kids to read.

I think it boils down to parents needing to have more of a hand in the way their child is taught. Both academic, spiritually and religious.

A child not being able to read should not rest souly on the school.

Originally posted by justsomeboreddude
reply to post by Wehali

 

Actually my kids go to a Christian school and they are not scared or traumatized. They are in a very loving environment. I dont really send them there for the religious aspects as much as for the good care they get. Nobody is brain washing them. In fact, we discuss stuff at our house all the time to show there are more than one way to look at the world. For instance their school beleives in creationism but I simply show them the other view. When they get older they can decide. If they are going to be brainwashed somehow it seems better to let them get there brainwashed at their school instead of at a public school.



[edit on 4-5-2009 by justsomeboreddude]

I didn't mean normal Christian schools, I should have been more specific.
I went to a Christian school too, was raised Catholic, never regretted it.
What I meant were those bible camps, and Jesus camps. What have you
not, in the Bible belt of America. There's videos on youtube how children
are indoctrinated and brainwashed, being told Harry Potter is the devil
and other such destructive nonsense.

My mother taught me about spirituality, such as the afterlife, reincarnation,
the soul, and the existence of psychic abilities when I was about ten. I have
had a terribly hard and painful life, and that knowledge saved me from
suicide, saved me from ending up in a mental asylum.. and it took away my
fear of death.

Real spiritual knowledge, not New Age crap, is very important for any adult,
but especially for children. Because when they grow up with it, their faith
in these truths is very solid, and their lifestyle, free of fear to die, will very
drastically improve compared to other children.

Also, all children have spiritual experiences. They see spirits, they have out
of body experiences, they see angels. Many children have some form of
telepathic or psychic abilities as well. But ignorant parents ignore all this,
and tell their child it's all just dreams. Because of this, the child's brains
categorize these experiences as nonsense, and they lose their abilities. This
is a great loss of course, because if the child had been raised properly, in
knowledge of the spiritual truths, it would have kept its psychic abilities.

[edit on (4/5/09) by Wehali]

reply to post by Wehali


Well I am sure that there are some church camps like that, it is not representative of the majority of them. Most of them are geared toward having a good time with a few bible lessons thrown in the mix. You shouldnt just end them all because a few lunatics take it too far. Plus, its up to the parents to decide what is best for their child.

reply to post by Wehali


I went to bible camps all the time as a kid. They were fun. Nobody touched me, brainwashed me or told me anything other then the devil was the devil. I did all of this in the bible belt.

Seems that you either had a traumatizing expeireance has a kid or that you like to generalize things to fit your way of thinking.

Videos like these must disgust you though:
www.youtube.com...

Many camps are like this, sometimes the parents don't even know it.
They don't recognize their children when they return, they've turned
into mindless drones, mini fanatics that need years of therapy to be
returned to their normal selves.

I think it is a great idea if done correctly.

I actually had a class similar to this in High School my senior year. The class was called Modern Literature & Religious Studies. The first semester our teacher taught about different religions around the world. I really had a great teacher too, very interesting lectures, which is pretty abnormal for a public school.

Each student was assigned a religion to do a report on and write a paper about. Everything was presented fairly with no bias applied.

I also enjoyed the second semester, Modern Literature. Basically, we were allowed to choose the novels of our choice and write book reports on them. We had to meet a page quota but that was about it.

reply to post by Wehali


Ok first those people are about one in a million. They are obviously crazy. Harry Potter is the devil.

But really as a parent it is your job to find out what your child is going to be exposed to and protect them. You dont just send them to crazy camp for a week so you can have a break. If my kid came back and told me this is what they learned I would break my foot off in the fat lady's ...

Originally posted by Wehali
Videos like these must disgust you though:
www.youtube.com...

Many camps are like this, sometimes the parents don't even know it.
They don't recognize their children when they return, they've turned
into mindless drones, mini fanatics that need years of therapy to be
returned to their normal selves.

Sure there are places like that.

Then you have some atheists who call those who are religous stupid, mindless drones who are seperated from reality.

Both "brainwash" their kids into believing what they want them too. It just so happens that it is more popular to call out the religious people. Making it easier to find videos such as this.

No. Public schools are magnets for morally bankrupt, spiritually dead sycophants. If they can't even teach history right, which is for the most part based on concrete sources, how can they teach spirituality? I just know this will be co-opted by Luciferian elitists to push a New Age agenda. I can almost guarantee that this sort of class would push globalism, a "natural leadership" morality where there are certain people chosen for leading, and a relativist dogma.

Philosophy, on the other hand, could work, but even then the system will screw it up. Best if we just educate ourselves.

Originally posted by ravenshadow13
Satanism is not a religion.

I know of Satanists who would strenuously disagree with you on that point.

It can be a good thing, no it would be a great thing, but only if they can keep religion out of it. If they can teach spirituality without combining religion it would have a very huge positive effect.

I don't know about pushing beliefs in school, I agree with other peoples posts in this topic when they say its a personal thing not an institutional thing. However meditation has scientific backing as a relaxation technique among other things.

I went to a Catholic college and we had religious studies as a mandatory class, we also had personal growth classes as mandatory classes where we talked and debated about morals, the world, getting on with people, team work, all sorts of things really and they taught us a number of different meditation techniques, taught them us as self-discipline techniques without any of the usual spiritual garb, it did me some good.

Originally posted by jd140
Nope.

Self rightoues morons fought for years to take out any resembelance of religion from the schools.

The hypocrisy of this post is comedy.

And who said spirituality has to be religion? Is it wrong to class my morals and beliefs as a "religion (or in this case, spiritual)", just because it does not have a god included in it?

Spirituality class? No...

Everyone has different morals too.

Some believe in forgiveness, and some believe in punishment.
Some believe in sharing, and some believe in working for yourself.
Some believe in equality for all, and some think though luck.

To make a class that finds a common ground for both idealists and realists would be impossible. But, I do think it should be an elective at a high school level and a college level (which it may be, I do not know).

Being forced it though...there will be many angry parents. A kid might come home a weakling, when the parents want him to stick up for himself, or might come home a bully, where the parents want him to forgive everyone.

Regardless, college and life itself does need to be discussed through childhood. How to cook, garden, balance a budget, manners, future plans, etc. IMO, it will be the ones who do not do it themselves or that do not know or do not care that will be against their kid learning that type of material.

It should be left out of school and left to the parents. Even if it was just meditation. Not everyone mediates in the same way.

Some people totally clear their minds of all thoughts. Where some people can't quiet their minds that much but yet use that time of nondistraction from the world to listen even with thoughts. Usually finding the answer to what is on their mind.

What if they say you have to totally quiet your mind and child can't do that? Does that scar the child from ever trying at a later time in life?

The same strokes don't always work for all the folks. Different people have different ideas on meditation and what it is for. If your chirstian your told in the bible mediate on the scripture which would not be clearing your mind.

Even if you found that you had a group of kids that could all clear their mind how do you get them all to that place? I know some people that have to have total silence I know some that want music. Remember your mind when you were in school could you of sitting in a class full of your friends?

It sounds to much like a organization of a new religion. It would be like in the days when prayer was allowed in schools and even if you weren't christian or didn't pray as a way of life you were still expected to bow your head and act like everyone else. I remember those days and let me tell you the majority of kids were not praying even if they prayed at home.

I really don't think you'd get to many kids to take the class if it was optional. Unless you automatically passed it for just being there. If it wasn't optional God help the kids that were really trying because the other kids would make their lives hell.

reply to post by FritosBBQTwist


Notice I said any RESEMBELANCE to religion.

Yes the people who had that taken out of schools were self ritoues morons. Because it closed the door to alot of things that would be nice for our children to learn.

That would include a Sirituality class.

how about letting the children,
before they are tainted with all the C$%# we feed them,
teach the adults about spirituality.

we may even learn something