Main Discussion Zone > Religion & Society

Indoctrination and Children

<< < (9/9)

EV:
I'd like to offer an update to this situation, sorry for necromancing my own thread but I had something relevant to this!

I went to the Primary school mentioned in the OP again today, as I have done every thursday for almost two years to volunteer as normal. I was helping the kids paint their bunting for the Diamond Jubilee celebrations. While I was washing up, the kid came up to me again, and asked me about when the sun was going to explode again, and how the universe began. Bearing in mind he can still only be about 6...

I answered again, more readily this time with the most simplified theory of evolution I could tell him, so he'd understand it.

He then asked me if the first man and woman had evolved, and told me after we'd spoken last time, he'd gone and asked his dad about the genesis of human life. His dad had told him that we evolved from monkeys, but that his mum told him he had been made by God. He asked me what I believe, and I told him 'in evolution'. Luckily the teacher was dealing with two children having a paint fight so she was not listening.

He then asked me about how the universe had began, and this other girl was talking at the same time about how the moon was formed from an interplanetary collision, and then said that God created all the planets. The boy looked at me and asked 'Why did God make the planet crash into the Earth? Didn't he kill all the people?'

So I explained that the universe was formed from the Big Bang, etc. and most planets and stars all formed in the same way the moon did from the debris of the collision.

I'm seriously impressed by the way this kid just seems to understand everything I tell him about the world. He naturally appears to have a good grasp of science, despite being raised with all the silly.

It's really quite interesting to see the psychology of these kids. They all think I am awesome, because I am 17 and they are 6 (which is fairly natural for young kids- they tend to idolise any big brother-like figures who interact with them) but this one boy really stands out as clever. I think he might be a scientist one day.

He then asked me how the 'dinosaurs were made', so I told him they evolved from single celled organisms, he didn't quite know what a cell or an organism was so I told him to ask me again next week.

Just goes to show. You can indoctrinate your child all you like with silly stories about how the world was made by a mystical mind-reading fairy with a zombie son, and tell him if he eats too many sweets and hits his brother he will go to a place full of flames, screaming, agony and torture; yet somehow the rational side of some children is just way too strong. He remembered this from 2 months ago, clearly it made a lasting impression on him, and I am now very glad that I did so.

Saving one life from the woo of Religion is better than saving none at all.

Quesi:
I love this story.  As the mom of a 5 year old, I know how much little ones worship teenagers.  These kids are really lucky to have you in their lives. 

Kids this age want to know "why."  They want to know how things work.  They want to know how things start.  They want to know how things change.  They want to know how everything fits together.  Sure, they cherish their fantasies at that age.  But they really want to understand reality.  My 5 year old loves the big bang, thinks that we were all little one-celled organisms before we were babies, (having a little bit of trouble getting her to understand that concept), and can talk endlessly about ecosystems and endangered species and deforestation and overdevelopment of land and which animals eat other animals and what happens if an animal disappears from an ecosystem.  She really CARES about this stuff, and loves to talk about it and understand it and try to use any available information to make sense of her place in the world.

On a lighter note, a few months ago I asked her what she did in music class that day, and she said the music teacher was sick so they "watched a movie about god."  I almost fell out of my chair.  I asked what happened in the movie, and she said that god was in the sky and had a big voice and a beard and that he yelled and laughed and that the horses had wings and could fly and that there were people who were half people and half horses and that they kissed (yuck) and then they got married.  I'm guessing it was Fantasia?

And I took a deep breath, and asked her about the rest of her day.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[*] Previous page