Stan, could it be that contributing to military success at producing leaders is that those schools attract that kind of person. And lawyers dont contribute to the society. And I know a lot of MDs who are charlitans and butcher people and suck their money dry. Dentists arent far behind either.
--Ðøug ™

Jack:

Sexual abuse in our schools? If the school didn't do anything then the authorities should have been notified. I know that the states I have taught in require teachers to report any suspicions of abuse to the police. This includes our schools. Look at what is happening in the Catholic Church right now.

Mr. D

My daughter is currently attending an adventist school and I must say that I am truly disappointed.
I have a few issues
1: Because most of the staff have been placed due to their connection with someone else within the school there is no real recourse. For example. The chaplains wife and sister are both teachers. The Head is best friends with one of the teachers who is friends with the conference presidents wife. Where do you go when you have an issue????

2: Problems are smoothed over with no real satisfactory result. When issues are raised no one comes back to you. It's as though it never happened.

3: The "if you don't like it leave attitude." Why because there inevitably lots of kids on the waiting list ready to get into such a school

4: We are all christians together so don't cause a scene thank you very much.

5: The it will do attitude, not all but some schools are happy with the conditions they work in the fact that the children don't have the best equipement, teachers, resources is not a problem. It will do!!

6. When a parent told her head teacher that her child was being bullyed she was told that it couldn't possibly happen!!!!

If I sound a little bitter, it's not quite the case. It's just the dissapointment overwhelms me sometimes
For me the christian schools have a higher calling, a high level of professionalism must be seen. God wants us to stand head and shoulders above the rest as a beacon to the world. An example of what God can do when he is our focus.
It should be a means of witnessing as parents and children witness christianity in action.

For those of you whose experience was life changing for the better. Praise the Lord. If we could concentrate on making that the norm then what a witness we would be offering.

I hope that those of you with children in church schools will push for change where it is necessary.

Blessings

Fifiqueen

[ June 20, 2002, 02:57 PM: Message edited by: fifiqueen ]

May I add to the fifiqueen (my wife's) post.
This frustration has prompted us to relocate our child next term to a non-SDA school.

They have more accountability, education and I suppose the onus is more on us to provide the spiritual backbone at home (nothing new!!).

This may not be the case for all parents, but alarm bells must start ringing when adventist professionals (or not) start moving their children from our schools because their needs are not being met. It hurts more especially when you are paying for it!! I try not to see the negative, and am even on the board, but the apathy and lack of vision is mind numbing!!

Stay blessed

[ June 20, 2002, 01:40 PM: Message edited by: Psalms Too ]

One of the real discouraging things to me was working at the academy and getting $2.00 an hour applied directly to my bill, and that was only in '87! Minimum wage was way above that! What a rip for cheap, almost child labor. I was told they could do that b/c it was a private christian school. What are kids paid now at adventist schools?

Mr D,

re: "Call the authorities".

Did. The guy who did it had already committed suicide. The state told us that since there was no prosecution, that they had nothing to do. The school, on the other hand, made it their mission in life to attempt to run us out of town as liars and generally horrible people. The principal was heard to say, "They deserve what they get", and refused to meet with us. The vice principal and the Educational Secretary for the conference did meet with us, and said that a) they don't believe anything happened to our kids and b) they CERTAINLY weren't going to give these ridiculous charges any credence, and weren't gonna contact any other parents who had had this teacher for their kids.

The North American Division's response was, "See your local school leaders" and "are you gonna sue us?" They DID assemble a panel of four lawyers who came up here to investigate us in preparation for a possible future lawsuit, even though we told the NAD that we didn't believe in suing the church or school.

Yep. It was certainly a great experience, having our kids in a "christian" school. Neither one of them attend SDA churches today. I wonder why?

Jack

What are kids paid now at adventist schools?

I don't know......I got 35 cents an hour at Milo Academy in 1957.

Hi Jim,
I am sure that your experience in school was great and I agree as parents we are responsible for making the difference in our childrens lives. However are a lot of us having a difficult experience within the Adventist School system.

I have to agree with Jack, I have found that no-ones really interested in my child as an individual it's all about the "organisation". If I showed you my daughter Rianna's school report you would understand where I was coming from. The teacher does not know my child, yet there are only 14 children in her class. She can't tell me where my childs weak/strong areas are, because doesn't know. When the issue has been raised it has been reasoned out with no action taken.

I have seen children chided like they were the teachers own, even though they didn't do anything really bad. It is the norm for a child to be left till last if the teacher doesn't like them or if the child is a head of the rest. It is too much work for them to deal with that child one on one.
I know of a child in my daughters class (the nursery) who has a reading age of 8. The teacher is not interested, the child is bored. This child is given simular homework as the rest of the class. Why give a child phonics when they read better than you??? (Not all teachers are like this!!)

My child can sing all the choruses and talk about Jesus, yet the focus on academic education is reduced. Don't get me wrong I don't expect my child to be a boffin before her time. But the balance has to be right.

Too much time is spent ignoring the issues and playing happy families, when under the surface is rotten!! It's a bit like a the hollow pie bedtime story. It looks great on the outside, bite into it and it's empty.

This is my opinion and my experience, again it is not the same for all. But no one wants to create a scene, no one wants to expose wrong as wrong. It's just too easy to cover it up, and when you complain you are a trouble maker. But then how can you push your issues forward when nepotism is rife from the conference right down to the local church.

I pray that God will give us the willpower to stand for right even when everyone else is standing for wrong.

Blessings

Fifiqueen

Fifiqueen

Every school has its pros and cons. Just because one child's past educational experience has been good doesn't mean it will be the same for others.

I am grateful to all of you who have the courage to post the TRUTH about your past experiences without the fear that it may be misconstrued as "negative". Not everyone has POSITIVE feedback on everything that is SDA. SDA is NOT the sinless organization with sinless members.

I'm grateful for C/A for having a message board where we as SDA members can share information with one another without the hesitation of sounding negative or angry.

By the medical profession, the cause of anger comes from being hurt and not knowing of any other way to deal with the pain.

I wish I could say that SDA schools are the epitome of a "Peculiar people, a peculiar nation" as the bible describes Christ's Bride (church).

I went to public school for 1st and 2nd grade. It was a very big school. Then for third grade, (my father being an SDA pastor) took me to SDA elementary school. It was small, four grades in one classroom. Gr. 1-4. At first I loved it and it felt I had brothers and sisters. Then the kids made fun of my lunches. First, it was my taking a lunch box instead of brown paper bag. Then, it was not taking a paper napkin but using a cloth one. (We came from Europe and my mother was used to cloth). My mother had a hard time explaining to me why my "brothers & sisters" in Christ were mocking me while the ones of the world in public school didn't.

When it came to 4th grade, my parents let me go to public school which was within walking distance. I spent 4-6th grade there. My mother instilled in me that I need to set an example to those and be a witness of Christ's love and example. So, eventhough some did kid around with me in a hurtful way, I didn't seem to mind as much, since I knew they didn't know better and I just prayed for them.

Grades 7-Academy was in SDA schools. Yes, the Bible I know I learned the most from those schools. I also learned to defend myself verbally, stand up to bullying, snap back at my teachers to be accepted into the "peer group" and was offered a cigarette by another pastors kid. These are facts. Not any negativity.

If I had a choice of sending my child to public school or SDA...... it would be SDA with great demand.... that they do what is required of them from GOD.

It is first up to the parents/family to install in a child at a very early age the importance of having a "relationship" with CHRIST (not fear from authority) that will last a lifetime.

I'm happy I'm an SDA
I'm sad about the organizations flaws
I hope to make a difference in a child's life
That is why SafeChurch forum has been set up.

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