Category:Education

The Education Revolution!(ML 371, DFO)

The Family initially stressed early education of their children, but only at elementary levels. Advanced education was discouraged (see publication "To Hell with Homer") or forbidden. In child-rearing manuals such as the Childcare Handbook the need for only basic education was stressed.

In the late 1990s, The Family International began to address the education issue and started the Christian Vocational College.

Charter requirements

Editor's note: See Charter for background information.

How Much Education Do the Teens Need According to the Charter?

[Question]: Rights of the Children, E, pg. 39, says that kids are to receive "sufficient time, opportunity and educational materials to receive an adequate education that allows them to become competent in a manner appropriate to their age, ability and aptitude, in the skills of reading, language arts, mathematics, social studies, sciences, and other curricular subjects, including practical-life skills."

Most of the delegates felt that the term "adequate education" seems vague, so how that term is interpreted and applied may vary greatly from Home to Home. For example, in some Homes there may be teens who want to learn more about a certain subject or skill, but their Homes don't feel it's necessary. What do teens do if their Homes feel they are up to par but the kids themselves don't feel comfortable with their education?

[Answer]: The Charter says that "If a child wishes to receive more education in a certain field of study, they may do so if their parents agree. It would be up to the child to explain their desire to the parents, and up to the parents to see if the Home can comply. If not, the parents will have to decide whether they want to move to a Home that can" (pg. 39). So, with this in mind, it is the Home's responsibility to make available as much education as the teens and children desire. The minimum education is defined very generally with the term "adequate education" but this is not meant to limit the education the child or teen receives. The children or teens must receive at least that much education. But if the teen desires more, then the Home should try to accommodate them.

The term "adequate education" is deliberately quite vague, because with so many children and teens in so many different countries and situations, it would be very difficult to define an exact standard that would apply to all. The Charter already defines that they should have at least a grade eight level of education, and if they want more education it should be made available to them. We hope that parents and Homes will "be as supportive and accommodating as possible of our children's individual desires for special training, as mentioned in the letter to the judge in GN 653.

"* The essence of this point has been written directly into the Charter. Each parent or guardian of children in the Family is responsible, on an ongoing basis, to see to it that their children are properly and sufficiently educated scholastically, physically, emotionally and spiritually (see pg. 33). Further, it is the duty of each Home to provide parents with sufficient assistance and resources to properly educate their children (pg. 36). Further, all Family children have as a Charter-guaranteed right, 'Sufficient time, opportunity and educational materials to receive an adequate education that allows them to become competent in a manner appropriate to their age, ability and aptitude, in the skills of reading, language arts, mathematics, social studies, sciences, and other curricular subjects, including practical-life skills' (pg. 39).

"*Also, the Charter adds that 'If a child wishes to receive more education in a certain field of study, they may do so if their parents agree. It would be up to the child to explain their desire to the parents, and up to the parents to see if the Home can comply. If not, the parents will have to decide whether they want to move to a Home that can' (pg. 39)." (End of quote from GN 653.)

• Source: "Charter Questions and Answers--Part 2--Questions Relating to the Charter, Answered by WS Leadership" — FSM#287 (DO); 2003-07-18.

The Childcare Handbook II

The following is excerpted from the Childcare Handbook Vol. II:

Introduction

Opening page:

I consider for our children right now, the best education you can possibly get is in the Word, in the Bible and in the Mo letters. I wouldn't advise any of our children to look forward to trying to get any kind of education above, frankly, the high school level, even junior high school level or hardly grade school level. As long as they can read and write and figure the 3 Rs, Reading Riting and Rithmetic [sic]. The best education they can get is an education in the Word and faith and survival and mobility and preaching the Gospel, right now!

Childcare Handbook Vol. II School Days Part One is prefaced with Berg's message, "I wouldn't at all advise any of our children to look forward to trying to get any kind of education above, frankly, the high school level, even junior high school level or hardly grade school level."

The quality of the elementary education ranged from superb to non-existent (in communes where the work children needed to perform precluded education).

Education

We are not against education at least not our kind! The basic meaning of the Latin roots of the word literally means to lead out and this is surely what were trying to do- lead people out of the Pit of the Devils education materialism and sin and darkness- into his glorious light. But secular, materialistic, deceitful, lying, anti-god, anti-Christ, anti-bible, anti-prayer public education that makes raging monsters of its children on drugs, we are against. Nevertheless, a little of the worlds education sometimes can help in a few instances where you deal with the world and meet the system on its own grounds. How much formal education should we give our children to enable them to live in our present day society? How much education do our children need to be able to understand the Mo letters and the Bible? We should have a basic education for our children, the old 3R's. Our children need only what is known as basic education up to 6th grade education is about all our kids need.

Teaching Tips

Because were not going into life to try and make scientists of money-making businessmen out of our kids, their basic school education shout be to be accomplished within six or seven years at the very most. All they really need is the 3 R's & the 3 G's.

And now we have our own educational textbook for our own children! With everything you need to know for your child's education from babyhood through elementary education! The best education in this world, after all, our homes should be places where children learn about Jesus not the systems propaganda. There is so much to teach our kids out of the mo letters, why should we teach them anything else.

Sex-Ed

Its my conviction that children are allowed a normal, natural God-made sex life, then later when it comes to puberty & they move into complete sexual relationships & have extremely strong sexual urges, which god intended. Lord bless our children that they may be brought up naturally, in the way you intended & made them to be & the way they naturally are it they're permitted to be natural

Discipline

Disciplining a child is hard work. Spanking & lecturing & punishing & keeping up with a child & catching him in everything hes done wrong is hard work.

You can't let them get away with a thing; otherwise you'll end up with a spoiled child who thinks he can get away with murder!

Now the little bottom is not very often the offending member unless it sits somewhere it shouldn't, but it makes a very handy well-padded spot to apply the chastisement where it not going to damage anything, but the child is still able to feel if effectively. I usually used the Handel end of a fly swatter & it does sting! Sometimes it leaves little red lines, stripes, but by their stripes they are healed. Never hit in a place that could injure them. My policy was two warnings & the third time was the charm or the harm in which I socked it to em. I used to tell Mom that the time to stop spanking is not when they're screaming, its when they stop screaming & beg for mercy. So I used to threaten them & say, Now the louder you scream, the harder I'm going to spank you! You can tell the difference between a really hurt cry and a made cry of hurt feelings: They don't cry as hard or as loud when their bodies ate getting hurt as when their feelings are getting hurt. So Keep laying it on until you know they really are sorry & really aren't going to do it again, because you've made them plenty sorry & they know that if they're going to get that kind of a spanking. The bible says spare not the child for his crying. Remember when child-training the Chastening. A child not only has to love you, but hes also got to be controlled through fear, he has to fear you & not be allowed to get away with anything.

When tested by social workers The Family would sometimes hide most of the children and leave the brightest or most educated to be tested. In the Heavenly City School, for example, raid drills were practiced and some children would hide in the bomb shelter or leave through the back into the woods when a "wolf jingle" was played on the PA system.

Publications

• Students Stand Up — by David Berg; ML#299 (GP); 1974-01-28.
• 7000 Years of World History--Part 1 — by David Berg (researched, complied, and edited by Paul Theophilus); ML#645 (GP); 1977
• 7000 Years of World History--Part 2 — by David Berg (researched, complied, and edited by Paul Theophilus); ML#693 (GP); 1978
• 7000 Years of World History--Part 3 — by David Berg (researched, complied, and edited by Paul Theophilus); ML#694 (GP); 1978