Gurukula or karmi school?

[Guest guest]

I have a son who ready to start school. I have a simple question:

 

 

Gurukula or karmi school?

[Guest guest]

the early grades of public school are not so bad.

 

However, when a child gets ready for High School take them out before it is too late and peer pressure turns them to the wrong direction.

 

The worst hazard of public schools is the peer pressure and bad association of bad kids - not the schools or the teachers.

 

I have raised three kids through public school.

[Guest guest]

 

I have a son who ready to start school. I have a simple question:

 

 

Gurukula or karmi school?

 

 

What area would he be going to school in, that might make a difference. What's available?

[theist 1]

 

I have a son who ready to start school. I have a simple question:

 

 

Gurukula or karmi school?

 

Krsna has placed this soul into your hands to care for and guide towards the goal of life. Why then would you consider placing that soul's forming mind into the care and instruction of atheists.!?

[Guest guest]

I recommend Karmi school. It's bad advice but unfortunately, what other choice do people have? We don't live in Vedic times any more and students that are not equipped with 'materialistic' knowledge will have trouble surviving in this modern society.

 

 

I have a son who ready to start school. I have a simple question:

 

Gurukula or karmi school?

[suchandra 1]

 

I recommend Karmi school. It's bad advice but unfortunately, what other choice do people have? We don't live in Vedic times any more and students that are not equipped with 'materialistic' knowledge will have trouble surviving in this modern society.

 

Since in the West the Vaishnava communities mostly broke apart due to different reasons there isn't a proper infrastucture with Gurukulas, solid Vaishnava association, Vaishnava companies. When Srila Prabhupada attended the British University in Calcutta there was a similiar situation, no proper Vaishnava community, no proper Vaishnava schools, no Vaishnava companies to work at. Karmi schools are just meant to train your material abilities, nothing more. When devotees learn how to drive a car do they go to a Vaishnava driving school? When your child doesnt get a proper education and has to maintain a family, forget Gurukula education, it's not even worth secondary school level. So far there are no jobs in Vaishnava companies, nothing. So your child has to earn money in karmi companies or become a monk. In case your child doesnt want to become a monk and wants to earn enough money to maintain a family we need an adequate education for earning lots of money in the most easy way. This is never possible without College and University study. Many Gurukulis complained of having been forced to work for their whole live in low class jobs because they didnt get proper education. Usually from 10 devotee kids only 2 decide to live like devotees in the temple. My daughter just finished High School and next she wants to make her Doctor of Laws. With this kind of education she will be also treated more respectful by the temple devotees (mostly school breakers without professional training) who usually consider women as less intelligent and hopefully she can help the Vaishnava movement in many ways that will result in more facilitities for future Vaishnava generations.

[Guest guest]

It depends on where you are living, the safety of each school, and its track record.

 

In my area, the only school district where we could afford to live was in a poor neighborhood and the schools were not the best, so we petitioned the school district and rec'd a "District Exemption" so he could attend the best school [better facilities, better teachers, better track record] in the best neighborhood.

 

[in the place where I live the schools are all rated]

 

Right now my son who uses a Sanskrit name is just a few months away from obtaining his PhD in a practical area of expertise, i.e. with it he can do things

like become a worldwide expert on how to repair, renovate, and restore

ancient temples structurally, how to design safe bridges and buildings, etc.

 

He had this aptitude from elementary school. He became obsessed with designing bridges and structures from a young age, devoured library books

on the topic, etc. It was a phase I was sure he would grow out of, but never did.

 

I provided the supportive, strongly disciplined home environment much like an ashram. In this way you can be your own gurukula teacher, by basing discipline on Bhagavad Gita or whatever shastra you follow, but tailor make

the experience perfect for your child's varna i.e. career tendencies.

 

Also your child's astrological chart to determine his/her career propensities.

I also gave him the one year old's test where you present the different articles to see if the child will be a brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya, or sudra.

 

After he obtained his MS and tried working for a year, he was wondering if he should become a doctor when he heard how much money they made. Plus he

was bored being an underling for the top person in his field.

 

I consulted an astrologer and he said that my son would do best in the field he is now pursuing his PhD in, that he would even become world famous. He also said my son would become a great devotee later in life, about age 60

which is natural for most people to become more renounced as you get older.

Not everyone is so hyped up about religion as youths.

 

If I had put my son into a gurukula, the closest one to me was one of the schools that later the world found out extremely bad things had happened there. His friends today are all nice people and leaders in the community:

his best friend from elementary school is now a surgeon. They are good

gentle boys and my son uses his Sanskrit name.

 

In the Markendaya Purana it says that if you once say the name of my son you will be saved. So I see it as he gave people an opportunity who might not otherwise have had favorable feelings towards the Holy Names a chance

to earn some sukritya. For example his best friends in high school, whenever

he came into the room, they would all start chanting his name, a name of

the Lord, because he had told them that is what it means.

 

When we visited his college campus on the first day, sure enough we heard

the Lord's Holy Name being chanted and there was one of his high school

friends calling him affectionately remembering that if you chant this name

you will be liberated. That name is on his business card too, so it gives a

wide variety of people to become exposed to the Holy Name and think very

favorably of that name.

 

In conclusion: check out the schools, how they are rated and check out your child's astrology. The world needs people besides temple priests. The temple priests need support people to help them design and repair temples. Each soul is on a journey to learn lessons. These lessons are in the astrological chart. Many great souls and saints were just humble everyday people.

 

Through it all and above all, never thrash your child. Jane Nelsen's book "Positive Discipline" is a good resource. This is a good affirmation too: "You are a wonderful being with a special mission to fulfill."

[Guest guest]

I have a 19 year old son who went to PUBLIC school till he was in 10th grade and then he made the decision to quit school and get his GED diploma which he has.

I have a 17 year old daughter who also made a decision to quit public school when she was a junior and then she also got her GED and is starting community college this month.

 

I couldn't afford private school, so I really had no choice but public school.

 

Then I let my kids make their own choices what to do when they got to High School.

 

I don't believe in programming or indoctrinating kids into any religion.

 

they need to make their own choices; good or bad, right or wrong.

 

My kids are not great devotees, but I think they are devotees at heart and I hope that when they become older and more mature that they might take to spiritual life and Krishna consciousness.

 

After all the terrible things that happened to kids in ISKCON, I just couldn't bring myself to try and impose my beliefs on them.

[theist 1]

 

I couldn't afford private school, so I really had no choice but public school.

 

This is why I am against central governmental control of the school system and strongly support the voucher system. Presently there is very little choice out there because the NEA union donates to the Democrats so the Dem's always fight the voucher system because the public school administers fear competition. The Republicans give lip service to idea once in a while but don't fight for it so they are useless.

 

Home schooling is there. But for some this is not practical either for a number of reasons. Why don't devotee families get together and help each other. Two or three families working together can pull it off no doubt. No need for an "offical authorized by Iskcon" stamp of approval. In fact I think some devotees are doing this. They used to have a web site up if anyone knows about this is be great to share with the original poster.

[theist 1]

What does Praladha say?

 

http://srimadbhagavatam.com/7/6/en1

 

7.6.1: Prahlada Maharaja said: One who is sufficiently intelligent should use the human form of body from the very beginning of life -- in other words, from the tender age of childhood -- to practice the activities of devotional service, giving up all other engagements. The human body is most rarely achieved, and although temporary like other bodies, it is meaningful because in human life one can perform devotional service. Even a slight amount of sincere devotional service can give one complete perfection.

SB 7.6.2: The human form of life affords one a chance to return home, back to Godhead. Therefore every living entity, especially in the human form of life, must engage in devotional service to the lotus feet of Lord Vishnu. This devotional service is natural because Lord Vishnu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the most beloved, the master of the soul, and the well-wisher of all other living beings.

SB 7.6.3: Prahlada Maharaja continued: My dear friends born of demoniac families, the happiness perceived with reference to the sense objects by contact with the body can be obtained in any form of life, according to one's past fruitive activities. Such happiness is automatically obtained without endeavor, just as we obtain distress.

SB 7.6.4: Endeavors merely for sense gratification or material happiness through economic development are not to be performed, for they result only in a loss of time and energy, with no actual profit. If one's endeavors are directed toward Krishna consciousness, one can surely attain the spiritual platform of self-realization. There is no such benefit from engaging oneself in economic development.

SB 7.6.5: Therefore, while in material existence [bhavam asritah], a person fully competent to distinguish wrong from right must endeavor to achieve the highest goal of life as long as the body is stout and strong and is not embarrassed by dwindling.

SB 7.6.6: Every human being has a maximum duration of life of one hundred years, but for one who cannot control his senses, half of those years are completely lost because at night he sleeps twelve hours, being covered by ignorance. Therefore such a person has a lifetime of only fifty years.

SB 7.6.7: In the tender age of childhood, when everyone is bewildered, one passes ten years. Similarly, in boyhood, engaged in sporting and playing, one passes another ten years. In this way, twenty years are wasted. Similarly, in old age, when one is an invalid, unable to perform even material activities, one passes another twenty years wastefully.

SB 7.6.8: One whose mind and senses are uncontrolled becomes increasingly attached to family life because of insatiable lusty desires and very strong illusion. In such a madman's life, the remaining years are also wasted because even during those years he cannot engage himself in devotional service.

SB 7.6.9: What person too attached to household life due to being unable to control his senses can liberate himself? An attached householder is bound very strongly by ropes of affection for his family [wife, children and other relatives].

SB 7.6.10: Money is so dear that one conceives of money as being sweeter than honey. Therefore, who can give up the desire to accumulate money, especially in household life? Thieves, professional servants [soldiers] and merchants try to acquire money even by risking their very dear lives.

SB 7.6.11-13: How can a person who is most affectionate to his family, the core of his heart being always filled with their pictures, give up their association? Specifically, a wife is always very kind and sympathetic and always pleases her husband in a solitary place. Who could give up the association of such a dear and affectionate wife? Small children talk in broken language, very pleasing to hear, and their affectionate father always thinks of their sweet words. How could he give up their association? One's elderly parents and one's sons and daughters are also very dear. A daughter is especially dear to her father, and while living at her husband's house she is always in his mind. Who could give up that association? Aside from this, in household affairs there are many decorated items of household furniture, and there are also animals and servants. Who could give up such comforts? The attached householder is like a silkworm, which weaves a cocoon in which it becomes imprisoned, unable to get out. Simply for the satisfaction of two important senses -- the genitals and the tongue -- one is bound by material conditions. How can one escape?

SB 7.6.14: One who is too attached cannot understand that he is wasting his valuable life for the maintenance of his family. He also fails to understand that the purpose of human life, a life suitable for realization of the Absolute Truth, is being imperceptibly spoiled. However, he is very cleverly attentive to seeing that not a single farthing is lost by mismanagement. Thus although an attached person in material existence always suffers from threefold miseries, he does not develop a distaste for the way of material existence.

SB 7.6.15: If a person too attached to the duties of family maintenance is unable to control his senses, the core of his heart is immersed in how to accumulate money. Although he knows that one who takes the wealth of others will be punished by the law of the government, and by the laws of Yamaraja after death, he continues cheating others to acquire money.

SB 7.6.16: O my friends, sons of demons! In this material world, even those who are apparently advanced in education have the propensity to consider, "This is mine, and that is for others." Thus they are always engaged in providing the necessities of life to their families in a limited conception of family life, just like uneducated cats and dogs. They are unable to take to spiritual knowledge; instead, they are bewildered and overcome by ignorance.

SB 7.6.17-18: My dear friends, O sons of the demons, it is certain that no one bereft of knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead has been able to liberate himself from material bondage at any time or in any country. Rather, those bereft of knowledge of the Lord are bound by the material laws. They are factually addicted to sense gratification, and their target is woman. Indeed, they are actually playthings in the hands of attractive women. Victimized by such a conception of life, they become surrounded by children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and thus they are shackled to material bondage. Those who are very much addicted to this conception of life are called demons. Therefore, although you are sons of demons, keep aloof from such persons and take shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Narayana, the origin of all the demigods, because the ultimate goal for the devotees of Narayana is liberation from the bondage of material existence.

SB 7.6.19: My dear sons of demons, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Narayana, is the original Supersoul, the father of all living entities. Consequently there are no impediments to pleasing Him or worshiping Him under any conditions, whether one be a child or an old man. The relationship between the living entities and the Supreme Personality of Godhead is always a fact, and therefore there is no difficulty in pleasing the Lord.

SB 7.6.20-23: The Supreme Personality of Godhead, the supreme controller, who is infallible and indefatigable, is present in different forms of life, from the inert living beings [sthavara], such as the plants, to Brahma, the foremost created living being. He is also present in the varieties of material creations and in the material elements, the total material energy and the modes of material nature [sattva-guna, rajo-guna and tamo-guna], as well as the unmanifested material nature and the false ego. Although He is one, He is present everywhere, and He is also the transcendental Supersoul, the cause of all causes, who is present as the observer in the cores of the hearts of all living entities. He is indicated as that which is pervaded and as the all-pervading Supersoul, but actually He cannot be indicated. He is changeless and undivided. He is simply perceived as the supreme sac-cid-ananda [eternity, knowledge and bliss]. Being covered by the curtain of the external energy, to the atheist He appears nonexistent.

SB 7.6.24: Therefore, my dear young friends born of demons, please act in such a way that the Supreme Lord, who is beyond the conception of material knowledge, will be satisfied. Give up your demoniac nature and act without enmity or duality. Show mercy to all living entities by enlightening them in devotional service, thus becoming their well-wishers.

SB 7.6.25: Nothing is unobtainable for devotees who have satisfied the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the cause of all causes, the original source of everything. The Lord is the reservoir of unlimited spiritual qualities. For devotees, therefore, who are transcendental to the modes of material nature, what is the use of following the principles of religion, economic development, sense gratification and liberation, which are all automatically obtainable under the influence of the modes of nature? We devotees always glorify the lotus feet of the Lord, and therefore we need not ask for anything in terms of dharma, kama, artha and moksha.

SB 7.6.26: Religion, economic development and sense gratification -- these are described in the Vedas as tri-varga, or three ways to salvation. Within these three categories are education and self-realization; ritualistic ceremonies performed according to Vedic injunction; logic; the science of law and order; and the various means of earning one's livelihood. These are the external subject matters of study in the Vedas, and therefore I consider them material. However, I consider surrender to the lotus feet of Lord Vishnu to be transcendental.

SB 7.6.27: Narayana, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the well-wisher and friend of all living entities, formerly explained this transcendental knowledge to the great saint Narada. Such knowledge is extremely difficult to understand without the mercy of a saintly person like Narada, but everyone who has taken shelter of Narada's disciplic succession can understand this confidential knowledge.

SB 7.6.28: Prahlada Maharaja continued: I received this knowledge from the great saint Narada Muni, who is always engaged in devotional service. This knowledge, which is called bhagavata-dharma, is fully scientific. It is based on logic and philosophy and is free from all material contamination.

SB 7.6.29-30: The sons of the demons replied: Dear Prahlada, neither you nor we know any teacher or spiritual master other than Shanda and Amarka, the sons of Sukracarya. After all, we are children and they our controllers. For you especially, who always remain within the palace, it is very difficult to associate with a great personality. Dear friend, most gentle one, would you kindly explain how it was possible for you to hear Narada? Kindly dispel our doubts in this regard.

Copyright © The Bhaktivedanta

[Guest guest]

 

What does Praladha say?

 

Idealism was the first casualty of the ISKCON failure.

 

The problem is that many of us live in the real world and simply stuggle hard to keep our families fed, clothed and sheltered.

 

Do you know how much it costs to put a child through private school and how much time it takes to shuttle them back and forth?

 

Sorry charlie, in the real work-a-day world of the working class people, public school is the only option.

 

Bhagavat ideology has very little play even in ISKCON, much less in the secular world of the working class devotee.

[theist 1]

An article that may be helpful.

 

A new school of thought

 

 

 

St. Petersburg Times, July 18, 1999

By Paul Wilborn

 

ALACHUA -- The principal is a 50-year-old Ph.D. The teacher has 30 years of experience in the classroom. The lines carved around the eyes and mouths of the five school administrators are silent signatures of years spent in business and the professions.

Most mornings they gather, just after sunrise, in flowing robes of fine cotton and silk, to bang finger cymbals, beat drums and chant their devotion to Krishna.

"Hare Krishna. Hare Rama. Hare Krishna. Hare Rama. Krishna Krishna. Rama Rama. Hare Hare. Hare Hare."

Welcome to New Ramana Reti, 127 acres of rolling hills and ancient oaks, 15 miles north of Gainesville, home to America's first Hare Krishna-run charter school.

The Alachua County School Board narrowly approved the Krishnas' application this month, after initially rejecting the proposal amid considerable controversy in March.

When charter school legislation passed the Florida Legislature three years ago, conservatives predicted it would sprout innovative schools and teaching techniques. Who knew one of the blossoms would be a lotus?

"I didn't expect it," said Cathy Wooley-Brown, who directs the Florida Charter School Resource Center at the University of South Florida. "We've had other religious-based groups, but when I heard this I was surprised."

Wooley-Brown had talked with the organizers as they prepared their application but didn't realize they were Krishnas. She was impressed instead by their knowledge and determination.

"It was a very strong application," she said.

And popular. Ninety-four students have signed up for the new charter school that opens in September. About 75 percent are from the Krishna community. Eventually, though, the Krishnas think their school will appeal to a broad range of parents in this hilly, oak-choked town of 6,000 where the Bible belt is easing out a few notches to make room for a fanny pack full of new age devotees.

Jimmy Swick II has watched it happen.

Born 46 years ago into an Alachua community of farmers and God-fearing country people, Swick now sells real estate in 5-acre chunks to herb-swallowing vegetarians, to middle-aged ex-hippies with baby seats in their Jeep Cherokees, and to Hare Krishnas with shaved heads and disposable incomes.

"The times they are a' changing -- who sang that?" Swick says.

On Main Street, pushed up next to The Deer Stand ("Guns, Pawn, Archery, Ammo") is the Harvest Thyme Cafe, home to Gardenburgers, the Veggielicious tortilla wrap and Mother Nature's Best fruit plate. Out on 441, set amid the signs for Clyde's Tire & Brake, Sudzee Duds launderette, and Countryside TV & Appliance, is one for Alachua Acupuncture and Massage.

Swick and his family spend Sunday mornings at the United Methodist Church, but some of his neighbors meet their maker at the Hare Krishna Temple, at the Temple of the Universe (built by software millionaire Mickey Singer), or in front of Buddhist altars.

At Angel Gardens, a store selling cast concrete angel-wing lawn chairs, health food and herbs, Chris McKee said northern Alachua County is full of people like her -- mid-40s hippies who want to raise their kids in a rural setting.

"There's a karma up here. What else can I say?" she says.

That karma, and the proximity of Gainesville and the University of Florida, also attracted the Hare Krishnas. There has been an active temple in Gainesville since the early 1970s, and in 1977, the group bought the farm on County Road 235 near Alachua.

Since the early 1990s, the farm has attracted Hare Krishnas, known as devotees, from all over the world, who see it as a haven for families and children.

Every morning more than 100 devotees gather barefooted on the black-and-white marble floors to chant to a diety-laden altar. Special occasions draw more than a thousand faithful to the hilltop temple, built of sand-colored block and surrounded by cast clay beams carved to resemble pillars outside an Indian temple.

Jaya Hari came to the farm from Tampa in 1981 and stayed. Today, she's married to a devotee and they have children of their own. After chanting at the 7:20 a.m. gathering, she sits by a three-tiered fountain in a plum-colored sari, a streak of chalky yellow clay running from her forehead down the bridge of her nose, splitting around the jewel set between her eyes.

She doesn't see herself as outside or on the fringes of anything here in Alachua.

"Just what is normal nowadays?" she wonders.

Krishnas like Seth Spellman, a lawyer who joined the movement in 1973, wince at the image of Hare Krishnas as a radical cult whose devotees were famous for pestering travelers in airports. Those images still lead some outsiders to contend the Krishnas remain a dangerous group.

Spellman says the stereotypes were the work of a few zealots. Spellman is an organizer of the Alachua Learning Center -- the Krishnas' charter school -- and he thinks it reflects the new image of the Krishna movement.

"This is a maturing of the Krishna consciousness movement," says Spellman, as the morning chanting goes on in the temple nearby. "We're growing up. We want different things for our children."

To Alachua School Board member Judy Brashear, though, the Krishna charter school is a con game being run on the school system and the state by a cagey group of religious hustlers.

Brashear, who calls the Krishna farm a commune and twice voted against granting the charter, says she thinks the Krishnas want taxpayers to underwrite a new version of the group's existing private school.

"The law says a private school cannot be converted to be a charter," says Brashear. "My opposition is based on the fact that this is a conversion."

Under Florida law, charter schools can be created by private individuals or groups. The state sends the school the same per-student money that would have gone to the local school district. The schools themselves must be free and non-sectarian. Charters can be revoked for mishandling money or violating the state's rules.

The principal will be William Wall, currently a professor at Sante Fe Community College, who says the school will be a hybrid -- offering the value-based education of a religious school and the non-sectarian curriculum of a public school.

"We'll teach values like truthfulness, honesty, attention to duty, respect for all living entities," says Wall, known to fellow Krishnas as Bharatasrestha dasa.

When it opens this fall, Alachua Learning Center will siphon off about half of the 60 students at Vaishnav Academy, the private school that the Krishnas already run.

This year's boys' class at the academy could almost pass for any other school room. The students wear soccer shirts and baggy shorts and jeans. There's a blackboard, a dozen metal and Formica desks crammed with papers and notebooks, a couple of computers, an overhead projector. One wall is decorated with collages the boys made after a field trip to Ginny Springs where they encountered an alligator.

But the names on the collages are Govinda, Braja, Keshava and Subal. These are Hare Krishna children. Unlike their parents, they didn't discover the movement after a life of middle-class comforts and education, they were born into it.

Spellman, one of the board members, says teaching these children well has become a priority for the movement.

Krishna children have done well in public schools -- last year's Sante Fe High School valedictorian was Gaura Allin, a devotee's son. The Krishna children, many from Europe and South America, are stars of local soccer leagues.

But Spellman says Krishnas have struggled when it comes to running private schools for their children.

"We've had some bad reactions from our first attempts," he says. "Some children expressed later that they'd have liked a broader experience."

On the bookshelves at Vaishnav Academy are some attempts at that broader reach. There are textbooks in physical science, algebra and English. Paperback novels by Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Ray Bradbury and George Orwell. The current conservative touchstone, William Bennett's The Book of Virtues, sits within easy reach.

The boys' teacher, a veteran of public and private school classrooms known only as Sukhada, will move to the Alachua Learning Center.

But Sukhada expects the smaller religious school to thrive. Some parents in the community will still want a religious-based school for their children, especially the younger ones.

The charter school, which will encompass elementary and middle school grades, will avoid religion while mixing reading, writing and arithmetic with practical life skills. There will be small classes with children from different ages taught together.

"We'll teach sewing, cooking, gardening, practical skills, weaving, pottery, along with the standard curriculum," she says. "We want to make education more applicable to their world."

Monitors from the local school district and Wooley-Brown's Charter School Resource Center will keep an eye on the school to see that it doesn't stray from its non-sectarian promises.

Don Lewis oversees charter school operations for the Alachua County school district. He thinks the district and the School Board members will be keeping a close eye on the Krishna school.

"I think the board members are going to be suspect if the Vaishnav Academy closes down," he says.

Even before it was proposed, the mere idea of a state-supported Hare Krishna school was a political flash point in the ongoing debate over school choice initiatives such as charter schools and vouchers.

In the heat of her state Senate race last year, Pinellas Park Rep. Mary Brennan mailed a controversial tract warning that a vote for her Republican opponent, who supported school choice, could lead to Hare Krishnas running their own tax-supported schools.

Brennan lost and was roundly criticized for her attack ad. But her prediction wasn't that far off -- a few hundred miles away, to be exact, where the growing drumbeat for school choice is accompanied by finger cymbals and ancient Indian chants.

 

 

[moderator's note: complete article added]

 

thx mod.'s @ 1st it looked too long but now I see it fits just fine.

[Guest guest]

In Florida there is an accedited online school that is state sponsored.

 

The state knows the ecomomy of saving tax dollars with a e-school system.

 

My older kids tried it, but they couldn't get enough classes and it would have taken them too long to complete their High School diploma.

 

That was a few years ago. Maybe it has improved since then.

 

I think the idea of the e-school will become a big idea in the years to come.

 

It's better than home schooling in some ways, because the state is still offering the curriculum and it is free as best I can remember.

 

I don't know how many states are doing it, but I am sure Florida is not the only state to offer an online educational system.

[Guest guest]

The alachua charter school only goes to the 8th grade the last I heard.

 

Just when kids REALLY need an alternative to the public system, the Krishna temple charter school sends them off to public High School.

 

Unless they can do something for the High School kids, then most everything the teach kids in the early years will all be spoiled in the local High School which is filled with drug use and sexual promiscuity.

 

The sad story is that some of the Hare Krishna boys are the biggest pot dealers in the High School system.

 

There is big problem with drug use with the "gurukulis", yet my son went to public school and he is very much against drugs and alchohol use.

 

Drug use is rampant among older kids in the devotee cummunity of Alachua.

[Guest guest]

Is a good alternative if ya got the time. My first did a home school program through the public school district (very common) until 9th grade, then she aced two years of high school and graduated after she did nothing but college courses in 11th and 12th. She had her AA at age 18. But that is her, an exceptional person. I have a seven year old who dropped out of kindergarten, and we are going to home school her as well.

 

Public schools have no funding to even watch the ridiculous behavior in the playground, where the REAL learning takes place. Thugs and bullies have free reign against gentle people like my daughter, who is now seven.

 

Id do adventist schools if I had the tuition, I like the davidians, I like their vibe. Its a tough call.

 

gOOD LUCK, HARE KRSNAS, YS MAHAKSADASA

[Guest guest]

 

This is why I am against central governmental control of the school system and strongly support the voucher system. Presently there is very little choice out there because the NEA union donates to the Democrats so the Dem's always fight the voucher system because the public school administers fear competition. The Republicans give lip service to idea once in a while but don't fight for it so they are useless.

 

Home schooling is there. But for some this is not practical either for a number of reasons. Why don't devotee families get together and help each other. Two or three families working together can pull it off no doubt. No need for an "offical authorized by Iskcon" stamp of approval. In fact I think some devotees are doing this. They used to have a web site up if anyone knows about this is be great to share with the original poster.

 

Nice words from a childless know-it-all, but children are no guinea pigs. We have to chose an educational system that is recognized by continuative schooling and not a dead end. High schools need to have an authorised public recognition. Alachua is a rare exception and a exceptional well organized Jewish Vaishnava community, however, globaly their schooling system is without any meaning.

Many countries dont allow students coming from a home schooling background. IMO, to advice devotee children a home schooling model is nothing but an intent to mislead.

[Guest guest]

You are quite a rascal yourself for such a broad and illiterate statement. If you didnt read properly, tulasi, my daughter, was home schooled until 8th grade, did perfect in high school courses, and her last two years, she was in the running start program, graduating with a college degree, fully accepted. She also won the statewide accounting competition twice, and at just 22, is doing quite well for herself.

 

The key is, dont home school if you are not dedicated or have no time to invest.

[Guest guest]

 

You are quite a rascal yourself for such a broad and illiterate statement. If you didnt read properly, tulasi, my daughter, was home schooled until 8th grade, did perfect in high school courses, and her last two years, she was in the running start program, graduating with a college degree, fully accepted. She also won the statewide accounting competition twice, and at just 22, is doing quite well for herself.

 

The key is, dont home school if you are not dedicated or have no time to invest.

[Guest guest]

If the public schools are so bad, then why in the United States of America, in my state, is there a Vaisnava on the elected State School Board, a dozen different devotees from different Gaudiya camps teaching in the public schools all over the state, and our state science and health curriculum says that "all students should learn the benefits of a vegetarian diet"?

 

I mean, get a grip already. And this is not just in my state. I have met people

on parikramas and at Vaisnava festivals who are initiated devotees of various camps and work as public school teachers in other states in the U.S.

 

Their gurus don't tell them to "quit their jobs" and "it is a slaughterhouse", by contrast the Gaudiya gurus--some from India--tell their disciples to keep their

jobs so they can continue to go on parikrama and to the festivals.

 

And what is this business about the "atheistic" teachers? I never met one atheistic teacher. The teachers I met when I worked as a public school teacher were all mostly Christians only all too eager to violate

federal law by insisting on having a Christian priest bless our playground.

 

Even in college I never met one atheistic teacher. If I wrote a term paper about Prabhupada they wrote favorable comments in the margin, "Sounds

like a wonderful man." Or my Botany professor was very active in the local

Methodist church and couldn't help but blurt out in Science class [gasp!]

how wonderful the creator was, the more he studied science the more he

appreciated how wonderful and intelligent God must be.

 

So where's the fire?

[Guest guest]

The ISKCON attempt at an education which indoctrinates, programs and coerces young people with our Hare Krishna ways has shown to be a major failure and the result is the majority of Krishna kids resent their gurukula education and they just wish they were normal people of society.

 

Kids in the modern world don't want to feel like the family is part of a cult or that they are DIFFERENT than the other kids.

 

Kids want to be normal kids.

 

They don't want to be programmed with Krishna consciousness.

They want to accept Krishna cosnciousness because it was their CHOICE, just like it was for their parents generation.

 

My kids aren't great devotees. They had public school education.

However, at least they don't HATE ISKCON and Srila Prabhupada like many of the "gurukulis" do because they had Krishna cosnciousness thrust upon them by force.

 

My kids are favorable.

They want to go at their own pace.

I give them that space.

[theist 1]

Please Admin., let's limit the right of posting as guest anynomously to maybe the first three or so posts. The examples on this thread is just another reason why this should be done.

 

 

 

[moderator's note: We will close the thread for now. A few inflamatory posts or statements, from both points of view, have been removed. We will look into the possibility of making individual threads "registered users only" , even if the thread has already been started.]