In this very well-written post, Rachel Miller shines her flashlight underneath the Classical Christian Education rock:
To recap, Wilson literally wrote the book on CCE. He founded one of the first schools. He founded the association that trains and accredits many CCE teachers and schools. His books and the curricula he helped develop are used by many CCE schools, programs, and homeschoolers. . . .
The danger that I see in this is that many people who do not share Doug Wilson’s views on theology, history, slavery, patriarchy, marriage, sex, etc. may be allowing him to teach his views to their children without being aware of it. You may think that the danger is small, that his views on these topics are only a small portion of what your children are being taught. But as Scripture says, ‘A little leaven leavens the whole lump.’ (Gal. 5:9, ESV). Rachel Miller
Declare yourself an expert on a given subject. Write a few books on it. Start an organization around it. Hold an annual conference. Now you’ve just cornered the market that you created.
Very similar to Bill Gothard and his “Character First” materials.
Rachel Miller’s thoughtful, well researched, and beautifully written article on Doug Wilson’s ability to spin straw into gold (for his own pockets) is both informative and instructive. Once again I raise the issue, as did the caretaker and author of this blog, that Doug is like a student in a seventh grade biology class – he (or she) doesn’t know what they don’t know. While this intellectual gap can be filled in a thirteen year old, and to do so is a delight to excellent teachers who are well trained and eager to educate young people, it is disastrous leap of misplaced faith to trust the know-it-all psyche of Doug and his fawning fan base. That they parked their brains and consciences at the CREC door is bad enough but to trust Doug Wilson and Dorothy Sayers to design an educational program is pathetic. At Logos School, which I suppose one could call the flagship of his leaky fleet, hitting children is still in vogue. The teachers hold few credentials that would indicate formal, regionally accredited training. And most telling of all, children with learning disabilities are rarely, if ever admitted. Physically or intellectually challenged children are not amongst the student body – which was probably true of the British schools Ms. Sayers was familiar with a hundred years ago. What a great shame the ACCS continues to follow that antiquated, and frankly disgusting model today.
Regarding Logos School in Moscow specifically, I have a question that is perhaps a little off topic. My neighbor’s daughter, a very bright Moscow High School student, whose parents are both highly educated professionals, whose father is a physicist noted for his cancer research, is (or maybe now “was”) a friend of a couple of Logos students. While she was driving past a local coffee shop, one of her Logos friends saw his father in front of the coffee shop, literally ducked down in the passenger seat out of sight of his father, and told my neighbor’s daughter that “he was not allowed to have friends that go to public school”. Perhaps this was a singular parental rule, but I’ve been told that this is, if not an “official” school standard, is a de facto rule. I’ve also been told that Wilson preaches this essentially “don’t fraternize with public (or, as he prefers to call them, “government”) school students. Not ever having been a Kirker, and having apparently sinned by being a product of the Moscow Public School system, and with no intent of ever being under any sort of influence from “Pastor” Wilson, I’ve been unable to verify this. Would anyone know the veracity of this, because IF true, it is a definite divisive wedge driven into my hometown, and would serve as further proof that “Pastor” Wilson cares not one whit about my hometown, only the sub-culture that he has created in the town where my family has been since 1883.
In that same era of slavery that Doug Wilson writes so glowingly of, angry mobs used to tar and feather offensive charlatans who were a detriment to the community and then ride them out of town on a rail. Ah, the good old days. If Wilson wishes to turn the clock back, he ought to be careful what he wishes for.
Kirkers are expected to live, work, and socialize exclusively with other kirkers as much as possible.
Well, obviously nothing cultish about that. Thanks, I’ve tried for weeks, via e-mails, to get an answer from the few Kirkers I know. My questions were met with silence. Which actually pretty much answered my question, anyway.