Pre-school at local churches for non-religious

[LuckyTaxi]

All right so my wife and I are pretty much agnostic. Most of the local pre-schools (the others are insanely expensive) that are cheap are run by local churches. The plan is to enroll our 4 y/o in a school in order to prepare her for kindergarten, where she will attend a public school.

I know each school is different but how much religion are they going to force upon my kid? I don't want to go on tour and be a stickler regarding it in fear of pissing someone off at the school but I'm curious.

 

[Herr Kutz]

Wtf, prepare her for kindergarten? Does you family have a history of slow learners or something? Lets hope you've prepared her for pre-K.

 

[sandorski]

You would have to ask them. I doubt any are going to be non-religious, but a more liberal church might not have religion as part of their Pre-school.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

There's only so much teaching that can go on in a pre-K class. It will be counting, shapes and colors and writing their name, social skills, getting the kids accustomed to a little bit of structure. They will no doubt be told bible stories, but at that age bible stories are no different than any other fairy tales. They'll hear about Jesus in one ear and the dish ran away with the spoon in the other. It's not going to stick unless it's drilled into their heads for years.

 

[lxskllr]

Catholic will probably be better than generic christian, and quaker even better, but it'll vary church to church.

 

[zCypher]

As a kid I really did not enjoy the bible thumping shit that was forced upon me at a young age. So kudos to you for taking this into consideration for your kids. Completely legitimate concern if you ask me. Unfortunately I don't have any useful ideas for ya, but good luck to you.

 

[John Connor]

You better be careful. They might sacrifice a goat or something.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I would not worry for pre-school, the sacrifices only start at like kindergarten.

 

[pcgeek11]

All right so my wife and I are pretty much agnostic. Most of the local pre-schools (the others are insanely expensive) that are cheap are run by local churches. The plan is to enroll our 4 y/o in a school in order to prepare her for kindergarten, where she will attend a public school.

I know each school is different but how much religion are they going to force upon my kid? I don't want to go on tour and be a stickler regarding it in fear of pissing someone off at the school but I'm curious.

I wouldn't use the word "force" as you would be the one choosing to send your child to a religious based school. If you are so concerned about religion and such being presented to your child then don't be so cheap and send them to another non-religion based school.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Wouldn't even bother, find one not run by a church. Any preschool run by a church will have the propensity to teach religion to your kids.

 

[Uppsala9496]

Enrolled my kid in one years ago. 100% zero religion involved. Was a good revenue source for the church, which was not involved at all in preschool. They just provided the space.
Wouldn't hesitate to do it again. Just ask the preschool if there is any religious involvement.

 

[pcgeek11]

Wouldn't even bother, find one not run by a church. Any preschool run by a church will have the propensity to teach religion to your kids.

Shocking right?

 

[lxskllr]

Food for thought... If you teach your kids to think, nonsensical data will be discarded. Not as a preschooler, but later on when it matters. My daughter went to a commercial preschool, a non-denominational(cultist) elementary school, Catholic middle school, and public high school. She turned out alright, but living with her mother in eastern PA infused a bit of stupid in her. Nothing a bit of careful thought can't take care of though.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Shocking right?

Not so much lol

 

[AnonymouseUser]

I know each school is different but how much religion are they going to force upon my kid?

Watch this Bill Nye PSA and you probably won't care anymore:

 

[Chaotic42]

Watch this Bill Nye PSA and you probably won't care anymore:

I've never been a big fan of Nye and this isn't helping.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

There's a limit to how much bible they can grok at that age

Many decades ago, I went to a Christian-With-A-Capital-C daycare. Same sorts of reasons you mention in OP. I don't remember a single thing about it, except one time I tried to cut in line, and the daycare lady got this "red alert" look on her face, and said "The last shall be first and the first shall be last", then led me by the arm to the back of the line while explaining why I shouldn't cut in line.

So except for the occasional daycare worker whose higher brain functions have been replaced by bible quotes, it'll probably be like any other daycare.

 

[IronWing]

I attended a nursery school run by the Church o' Christ. My parents are hard core Catholic. I figure if there was any heavy preaching going on in the nursery school, they would have yanked me out.

 

[Darwin333]

She will be fine.

I'm an atheist and I've always said that my biggest hypocrisy is that I send my daughters to Catholic school. I live in South Louisiana and I couldn't in good conscience send my kids to any of the public schools around here. The one in my district had a valedictorian that couldn't pass the exit exam a few years back, they are that bad. With that said, I have one daughter in high school and one still in elementary school and despite having religion class and going through the Catholic motions, they aren't religious at all at home. It isn't reinforced at home at all and we teach them to be skeptical but respectful. For the record, I'm not "grooming" my children to be atheists, I just want them to have the ability to make up their own minds without being overly brainwashed before they have that ability. They ace their religion classes but so far both have been asking the "right" questions at home showing that they are indeed remaining skeptical.

Remember, this is from a life of Catholic school and not a single year of pre-K where they can barely even broach the subject in a way the kids can understand.

Edit: The irony among ironies is that Louisiana passed a law that is claimed to allow the teaching of Creationism. Yet both of my daughters Catholic schools, that don't need permission from the state, teach evolution in science class. That was a deal breaker for me and I asked science teachers in both schools and both apologized and said something like "yes, it's a very well-documented theory and we would be hurting the kids teaching them that it's wrong. They were assuming that I was going to be upset about them not teaching creationism in science class and were very relieved when I assured them it was the opposite and they didn't have to have "that" argument again.

 

[preCRT]

Edit: The irony among ironies is that Louisiana passed a law that is claimed to allow the teaching of Creationism.

No wonder the public schools are so awful down there.

 

[jackstar7]

Watch this Bill Nye PSA and you probably won't care anymore:

You know his netflix show is for adults, right?

I realize that's got to confuse you, but he states it right up front of the first ep.


On Topic: I would talk to a teacher if possible anywhere you're considering. That will give you the best idea of what to expect.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

You know his netflix show is for adults, right?

I realize that's got to confuse you, but he states it right up front of the first ep.

I realize it's being marketed as such, but there's no denying it's targeting both adults and teens (13+).

 

[Ruptga]

She will be fine.

Yep. I'd still go to a couple to feel out the best one, but I wouldn't worry about it. Bullshit is really only contagious among people that can't or won't think critically, it's not like Ebola where exposure = ZOMG.

 

[Darwin333]

No wonder the public schools are so awful down there.

Oh they were awful WAY before that and honestly I haven't heard of any public schools teaching creationism. Just thought it ironic that the state gov was trying to give them a way when the Catholic schools are all teaching evolution.

 

[lxskllr]

Oh they were awful WAY before that and honestly I haven't heard of any public schools teaching creationism. Just thought it ironic that the state gov was trying to give them a way when the Catholic schools are all teaching evolution.

Catholics are pretty good with science, and education in general. The old days are gone. Their social positions are questionable, but they're of little issue if don't feel you need to follow the pope.

One could make the argument that supporting the schools supports their questionable global social positions, and of course religion class is wasted time that could be used for something useful, but it beats public school in many cases if you can afford the cost.