Radical Goddess Thealogy: PRIVATE Goddess SCHOOLS

Athana at Radical Goddess Thealogy speculating about PRIVATE Goddess SCHOOLS. This is a difficult one for me. In principle, I don't agree with private education. I think it is elitist and separatist, moving us in the wrong direction. I would much rather see us all focusing on making the public educational system one we can be proud of, which addresses the needs of the individual as well as society.

Adam Smith predicted that the form of education we now use and the specialization of functions in manufacturing would produce a human as stupid as a human can be. It's working. What the Right Wing never tells you is that Smith recommended that the government take action to prevent this from happening. With economics, like with their Bible, the Wing Nut chorus picks the lines it likes and ignores the items that serve the people and their general welfare.

Schools serve an important function within the framework of democracy. A cohesive society needs to have some common information and experience. Our kids also benefit from being exposed to different ethnicities, points of view and cultures. I'd prefer a standard secular education for kids that lasted about 5 hours a day, followed by 3 hours of private religious education.

The school day would begin and end with 15-30 minutes of yoga. Math, Sciences, English, Foreign Languages, computer science and technology and Human Behavior would make up the formal school day. Human Behavior would include information in psychology, sociology, anthropology, conflict resolution, history, sexuality and critical analysis of cultural values.

Religious education would cover Comparative Herstory/history, Comparative Religions, Alternative Medicine/Nutrition, Therapeutic Touch, Art/Drama and a basic knowledge of Goddess traditions and ritual. Students would work at their own pace, only advancing or graduating upon producing work at a pre-determined level that considers the individuals cognitive and behavioral abilities as well as career/life goals.

Yes, it would take a lot to set this up. And it's entirely possible that we might have to separate from Patriarchy to bring it down. The religious education is completely possible now if we'd develop the cirricula. There have been attempts in education to work with individual levels of progress, and those could easily be expanded to cover most subjects. It wouldn't cost as much as we're paying now, either. You could set it up with a laptop and an iPod per student, with no costs for books, no supplies except for art or presentations, or even buildings if the parents took turns hosting students in their houses.

We have the technology - the question is: Do we have the will to do it?