[geeks] Goodbye, I guess

[N. Miller]

On Aug 30, 2007, at 4:10 AM, Patrick Giagnocavo wrote:

>
> There is a broad spectrum of Mennonites, from "Old Order" that are
> very similar to Amish, all the way through to "General Conference"
> who are not very different from mainstream Protestants.
>
> Unlike Orthodox or Roman Catholic versions of Christianity, there is
> no organizational or political hierarchy that drives things - pretty
> much everything comes out of the local church and power flows up the
> chain of command rather than down it.

Amish sects are generally the same, but they don't go so far as  
joining up in a "conference" as far as I am aware.  Church is held  
around the community in houses (rotating, so that travel times and  
who has to host post-church dinner is equitably spread out) and an  
elder leads the service.
>
> Towards the end of the show one of the Amish kids studies for his GED
> despite having had formal education only to the 8th grade.  He passes
> with a grade of about 98%.  Kinda shows up the education lobby in the
> US - Amish schools are one-room school houses with virtually no  
> funding.

I expect that has more to do with the student/teach ratio, and the  
discipline rather than any innate ability.  You also have to note  
that the Amish kid most likely to bother with the GED is not the run  
of the mill Amish kid attending school--99% aren't going to take the  
GED, so you're getting the cream there.  And there's also the  
emphasis on the basics--the three R's--learning the essential tools.

=Nadine=