Wheee! It's political posting day for Dylan.

Here is an article in the New Yorker magazine about Patrick Henry college which is just down the road from where I live. This is the school's mission statement:

Quote:
The Mission of Patrick Henry College is to prepare Christian men and women who will lead our nation and shape our culture with timeless biblical values and fidelity to the spirit of the American founding.

Two years ago I moved from the suburbs to a more rural part of Virginia. It's home school central out here. (Patrick Henry is something like 85% home schooled kids.) For those of you unaware, the US requires education until age 16 but parents are allowed to educate their kids at home if they choose. I can't speak for the rest of the country, but around here this is done by Evangelical Christians who don't want their kids taught those new fangled ideas like evolution. It's also largely unregulated.

I spend quite a bit of time hanging out in a coffee shop in town that is also the hang out spot for the Patrick Henry kids. This coffee shop is run by an Evangelical Christian and his staff is almost entirely comprised of home schooled teenagers or Patrick Henry students. The owner and staff are exceptionally friendly and I've spent a lot of time chatting with them.

What I've learned is that these kids tend to be well educated, disciplined and articulate. They have kindness in their hearts and truly believe that forcing their particular brand of values on the world is an act of love. They also have no concept of the world beyond their very white and Christian social circles. They can't even concieve of why someone would choose to live differently then them. And they think the world would be a much better place if everyone was like them. That's the scary part. What I can't reconcile is how what they perceive as love for their fellow man is undeniably bigotry to me.

I'm a believer in public schools. Yes, they are screwed up in so many ways. But it's a melting pot of different cultures and I think the education that comes from that exposure is equally as important as the book learnin'.

Why am I writing this? I don't know. The Patrick Henry kids are back in school so I'm seeing them again and it's on my mind. This is a culture I hadn't really seen until I moved out here and it's been quite interesting for this liberal athiest.