It does seem that the private schools, faith based or not has a higher acedemic acheivement. I came from a working class family and with the exception of a few of my classmates everyone else was too. Kids from whitecollar families were the ones that went to the private schools, faith based or not. I also come from a less populated area of the U.S. though and what was true for there is not true for everywhere else. Of course there were exceptions though. I did pretty good in the public school system and could have went to college but chose different paths because of my "adventurous" spirit. I know in my area growing up the private schools had smaller classe sizes and in my school the average class size was 30 + because the district encompassed a big area. With bigger class sizes and cirriculums, it's hard for the teachers to do one on one instructions.

Yes. It was a government funded Catholic public school. So although it was a Catholic school. It was open to all religions.

It seems like the "bigotry" came from Catholics towards other Catholics.

Quote from: Kuan Yin on June 21, 2013, 09:36:02 PM
Kia Ora Peky,

Was this because you ran around at school exposing them? If this was the case...is it any wonder 

All jokes aside...On a more serious note, correct me if I'm wrong, but I do vaguely remember in a past life you being of the Jewish Persuasion but attended a Catholic school and being taught by Jesuit priests or was it nuns ?

One thing I must say regarding faith based schools, their level of academic achievement was quite high compared to many state schools ...Secular people used to (no doubt some still do) send their children to faith based schools for precisely this reason-to get a good education... 

Metta Zenda

You are right my dear Kia Ora, it was catholic priests and monk that did the torturing but I hear that the monks in Thailand and Indonesia do run schools and are of the punishing intolerant persuasion...what I was trying to convey is that most religions have this tendency to use education settings to create zealots...

You are always doing polls on people and asking lifestyle questions...you remind me of the NSA...are you keeping files on people   

Quote from: peky on June 22, 2013, 11:29:16 AM
You are always doing polls on people and asking lifestyle questions...you remind me of the NSA...are you keeping files on people   

Kia Ora 'Paranoid' Peky, (the one who always seems to be complaining) 

What can I say...When it comes to certain people, I have a good memory...If I find a comment interesting then "IPOS" happens =  Input(I take in what I've read) Process(the information is processed -and filtered) Output (delete and expell the garbage-inert-waste ) Storage ( Store items of interest) ...

However don't go getting yourself all  "paranoid" Peky, I can assure you, you have nothing to fear but fear itself and "If you fear you shall suffer...You 'already' suffer what you fear !"

PS The polls/threads I start are so other people can find out where others stand on certain topics ...It is 'not' compulsory for any member to read or comment-(divulge any personal info) on any of my posts if they feel uncomfortable doing so)...

Remember what is divulged in cyber space 'stays' in cyber space! (Our cyber words are still floating around out there)

Metta Zenda

Quote from: peky on June 22, 2013, 11:16:25 AM
You are right my dear Kia Ora, it was catholic priests and monk that did the torturing but I hear that the monks in Thailand and Indonesia do run schools and are of the punishing intolerant persuasion...what I was trying to convey is that most religions have this tendency to use education settings to create zealots...

Kia Ora Peky,

And yes of course, there are these types of schools in every religion...

You will find the type of training you have mentioned that goes on in Thailand, are in some temple/wat schools where the students train to become 'monks'(Good merits for the child's family/parents if their son spends some time at a wat school) ...In a sense it's not that much different from a Rabbinical school where Jewish students go to become Rabbis (however, many of the young Thai students 'don't' end up completing their training to become monks-but the family still believe they have accumulated merits, for having 'right' intention and 'right' effort)..

The normal Thai schools are (for want of a better term)  'normal'...Buddhism being the main spiritual path in Thailand there's bound to be some kind of Buddhist teaching(not unlike RI in many Western schools).

Zealot is quite an interesting word...

"Zealotry was originally a political movement in 1st century Second Temple Judaism which sought to incite the people of Judaea Province to rebel against the Roman Empire and expel it from the Holy Land by force of arms, most notably during the Great Jewish Revolt (66-70). Zealotry was described by Josephus as one of the "four sects" at this time. "

BTW There are Buddhists in Indonesia (along with Hindus) but the bulk of the population is made up of Moslem , so when you referred to the schools in Indonesia are you meaning the Madrasas ?

Madrasa (Arabic: مدرسة‎, madrasah pl. مدارس, madāris) is the Arabic word (of Semitic origin; viz Hebrew midrash) for any type of educational institution, whether secular or religious (of any religion). It is variously transliterated as madrasah, madarasaa, medresa, madrassa, madraza, madarsa, medrese, etc. In English the word normally specifically means any type of religious school or college for the study of the Islamic religion, though this may not be the only subject studied. Today, 20,000 Madrassas educate over 1.5 million students per year.[1]

Metta Zenda

Yes,

I went to a 7th Day Adventist school here in the USA from grades 1 through 4. It was kind of conservative, though luckily we didn't have uniforms though the dress code was strictly enforced. It was kind of old-school where there was more than one grade pre classroom with only one teacher. I didn't learn much of anything, which lead to all sorts of problems when I entered a secular public school in 5th grade (I was very far behind in reading, science, and mathematics and had to be put in the "special" classes). The good thing about that school was that it was very culturally/ethnically diverse, so I picked up a little Spanish and was accustomed to speaking with people who had accents, etc. while the public school I attended later on was basically all white kids from the US. Being introduced to diversity at a young age was really beneficial to me. At that religious school I attended, it did really shelter me in other ways, like I never heard of homosexuality and I didn't know of any "bad words" or anything that was active in the current culture (like, I found out that the Spice Girls and Backstreet Boys were all the rage with girls my age though I had never heard of them before since I had only heard whatever my mom played on the radio or religious music).

For my last two years of undergrad I had no choice but to attend a Catholic college. It wasn't too conservative, since I was only in the Adult and Continuing Education program. I had to take a theological class, but I really enjoyed it. The professor was Catholic but he was really cool and we talked about all sorts of religions and we had an assignment to attend a church/temple/whatever of a faith other than our own and write about it. It was a really cool assignment. There was a lesbian in one of the classes I was in, and everyone seemed accepting of her. (Though, quite a bit of the other students there were not Catholic or even Christian either, since they were kind of in the same boat as me where this was the only college accommodating of people who worked full-time in the area).

Quote from: Kuan Yin on June 22, 2013, 03:36:07 PM
Kia Ora 'Paranoid' Peky, (the one who always seems to be complaining) 

What can I say...When it comes to certain people, I have a good memory...If I find a comment interesting then "IPOS" happens =  Input(I take in what I've read) Process(the information is processed -and filtered) Output (delete and expell the garbage-inert-waste ) Storage ( Store items of interest) ...

However don't go getting yourself all  "paranoid" Peky, I can assure you, you have nothing to fear but fear itself and "If you fear you shall suffer...You 'already' suffer what you fear !"

PS The polls/threads I start are so other people can find out where others stand on certain topics ...It is 'not' compulsory for any member to read or comment-(divulge any personal info) on any of my posts if they feel uncomfortable doing so)...

Remember what is divulged in cyber space 'stays' in cyber space! (Our cyber words are still floating around out there)

Metta Zenda

If you your intentions are just

QuoteThe polls/threads I start are so other people can find out where others stand on certain topics

then why not to start by asserting you own "stand in the matter," Kia Ora

Quote from: peky on June 23, 2013, 11:34:21 AM
If you your intentions are just  then why not to start by asserting you own "stand in the matter," Kia Ora

Kia Ora dear Peky,

What seems to be 'your' problem ? I mean what 'really' is 'your' problem, if I know, perhaps I can help...

Remember Peky, threads tend to gradually unfold and branch off in different directions (just like where you are attempting to take this one-by making it 'all' about me the 'OP')

Please read my first post...

I quite often enjoy our little sideline debates ,but at times they can get a bit monotonous dare I say boring/tiresome don't you think...It can't be much fun for the other members...

Metta Zenda

I went to three different Catholic Elementary/Middle Schools (moved a lot) and a Catholic High School.

Bad experiences in the first three.  Looooooooooooooooooooooooved my High School.  At the time things were more lax, but after I graduated a priest took over the principle position and everything became far more strict.  The school became fenced.  No more seniors eating off campus.  Clothing code upped a notch, etc.  Glad I missed out on that.

We had an awesome teacher there who was extremely tolerant too.  He was let go after the regime change.  I always wonder what happened to him.  Too bad Facebook and stuff wasn't around back then.

I attended a Catholic grade school where nuns (the "brides of christ") beat me routinely for irreverence and priests were worrisome to the cuter boys.  From there my parents enrolled me in a Catholic Military High School where the "brothers", lay faculty, and older students enjoyed issuing corporal punishment and humiliation of sissies like me.  With a scholarship I attended a Catholic College for nursing (RN program) and then a Catholic Hospital School of Anesthesia.  During my anesthesia career I often found myself working in Catholic hospitals where reproductive health care and freedom of expression are not practiced.  By the age of 13 I was quite cynical about the "religious orders" and considered it a refuge for petty tyrants and pedophiles.  I left school and home at age 16 and was relieved to think for myself.  I have witnessed countless acts of good but more discrimination and intolerance to this day from those who espouse fundamentalist ideology.  Currently one of my siblings is convinced that i am possessed and another refers to gods "perfect creation" that I have trifled with to acknowledge being transgender.
In today's world many of my ancient experiences would be illegal offenses and I have moved on to other more positive arenas of activism.

Tessa James

Quote from: Kuan Yin on June 21, 2013, 09:26:28 PM
Kia Ora Tossu,

It would seem Scandinavia is quite a secular part of northern Europe...I think the highest percentage of atheists per population are found in Sweden your next door neighbour...

Metta Zenda

Sweden is more open-minded law-wise than Finland. Finland still has a law concerning blasphemy and we're the only Nordic country that doesn't allow same sex marriage because of some bigots among the people who decide about these things.

And to split hairs a tiny bit, Finland isn't included in Scandinavia. When it is, it's called Fennoscandia.

Quote from: Tossu-sama on June 25, 2013, 08:24:04 PM
Sweden is more open-minded law-wise than Finland. Finland still has a law concerning blasphemy and we're the only Nordic country that doesn't allow same sex marriage because of some bigots among the people who decide about these things.

And to split hairs a tiny bit, Finland isn't included in Scandinavia. When it is, it's called Fennoscandia.

Kia Ora Tossu,

That's quite interesting thanks for that...Having visited there back in  the early 70s, I just assumed it was a part of Scandinavia, in fact I'm sure somewhere along the line I was taught that this was the case...

Metta Zenda  

Quote from: Kuan Yin on June 25, 2013, 10:33:39 PM
Kia Ora Tossu,

That's quite interesting thanks for that...Having visited there back in  the early 70s, I just assumed it was a part of Scandinavia, in fact I'm sure somewhere along the line I was taught that this was the case...

Metta Zenda

Hehe, it's a common conception of the thing and it's not completely wrong. There are just certain things that set Finland apart from the other Nordic countries, one being language. Icelandic, Swedish, Danish and Norwegian are North Germanic languages while Finnish is Finno-Ugric language.

Here's some more on the matter.