Bible OK In CdA Charter School

15 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

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  BethB on December 17 at 8:21 a.m.

  Love it.

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  Smacky on December 17 at 8:24 a.m.

  No, not if they’re using it to give context to other materials. That doesn’t appear to be the case with the school in Nampa.

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  Phaedrus on December 17 at 8:30 a.m.

  No, they teach it as literature.

  I wonder if the Nampa Charter School is going to be teaching Fahrenheit 451?

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  LukeB on December 17 at 9:26 a.m.

  Nope.

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  BigMac on December 17 at 9:39 a.m.

  I used passages from the Bible when I taught at CDA Charter, and I’m about the farthest thing from a Bible-thumping zealot that you’ll find. I don’t see how you can teach American literature or American history without it.

  I also used passages when I taught at Lake City. From the article, here’s a summary of the applicable law:

  “The U.S. Supreme Court ruled the banning of ceremonial Bible reading in public schools in 1963, but concluded that the text’s historical and literary qualities make it worthy of study so long as the material is presented objectively within a secular educational program.”

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  Smacky on December 17 at 9:46 a.m.

  Just curious BigMac, what context does reading passages of the Bible give to American history? I understand that Christianity influenced much of the historical events, but can’t that be explained without reading directly from the Bible?

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  idawa on December 17 at 9:47 a.m.

  I know that Dr. Prosser used the bible in his literary/english classes at LCHS/CHS back before Charter was established (because I was in his class), and if it is used in the same way, as a literary text, than I don’t see a problem with it.

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  Megan_B on December 17 at 9:57 a.m.

  The bible needs to be read and interpreted form a more scholarly, analytic point of view anyway. Perhaps this will help student regard the text as more than something “simply made of for religious domination” or the other extreme “the exact word-for-word of God.”

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  florined on December 17 at 10:09 a.m.

  In my teaching days, I sometimes had the class read “The Miracle Worker.” At one point, during dinner, the son is asked to “give the blessing” and he quotes lines from the story of Jacob wrestling with the angel and ends by aiming a comment at the unruly Anne: “Oh, you angel.”

  I asked the class what they thought he meant by that. And, of course, lots were unfamiliar with the Biblical story, others had ideas, but thought he was comparing the family’s wrestling with Anne, etc.

  Seeking more authoritative opinions, I wrote to four local ministers (Mormon, Pentacostal, Episcopalian, and Presbyterian.) You’ll not be surprised to know that I received 4 different interpretations. I shared them with the class.

  These days, I’d probably be reprimanded.

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  BigMac on December 17 at 10:53 a.m.

  Sure, Smacky, a teacher can explain all sorts of things without having to directly read the primary sources. But the teaching is a lot more effective if I guide the students through the relevant materials rather than just telling them what I think.

  Two examples: I used the King James Bible when my AP Language and Composition students studied Lincoln’s speeches. In American history I had students read the passages that southerners used to justify slavery.

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  Smacky on December 17 at 12:17 p.m.

  Makes sense BigMac. Thanks for enlightening me.

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  MyKidsDad on December 17 at 12:43 p.m.

  “No, not if they’re using it to give context to other materials. That doesn’t appear to be the case with the school in Nampa.”

  That all depends on the source of your information, Smacky. If you ask administration, faculty and parents of the school in Nampa, you’d see that is the case with the school. If your information comes solely from people outside the school, I’d have to agree with you. The horse’s mouth is probably your better bet tho

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  Smacky on December 17 at 1:01 p.m.

  MyKids, I tend to bypass the interested parties to get an objective view of any issue.

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  MyKidsDad on December 17 at 1:48 p.m.

  I tend to share that approach, but in this case all we have are intentions—as NCA has yet to implement their plans regarding religious texts. So those doing the intending are really the best source of information.

  But not the only source, as the KBCI reported back in July:

  Tamara Baysinger, Public Charter School Commission program manager, says the commission is aware of the school’s intentions.

  “The Pubic Charter School Commission office has reviewed Nampa Classical Academy’s intended use of the Bible and other religious texts and determined it to be appropriate, just as it would be in any other public school,” Baysinger said.

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  lastdemoinidaho on December 17 at 5:20 p.m.

  Many decades ago, as a freshman at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, I was required to take a literature class that included a source called “the Dartmouth Bible”, The text for that class was actually a bible bound into a cover with the “Dartmouth Bible” inscribed on it.

  From what little I can remember from back there one-half century ago, the professor was anything but selling Christianity or any organized religion. He did have a high interest in the chapters that included varous sexual descriptions or stories of lust and fornication.

  Did I learn anything from all this? Not sure. But it was interesting.

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