My friend Jen in Texas has given me permission to use her story about community college. Here is what she has told me about her daughter’s art class:
My daughter just started attending the local community college this week. Already she has an assignment from her Art Appreciation prof that has me wondering what colleges are teaching these days. *rolling eyes*
A piece of paper was passed around the class with a list of two items to compare. They were to choose one set and are to write a paper. My daughter saw the word “chapel” and picked it, although she didn’t know what the other word was.
We now know that it’s a series of “art” (cough-cough) films called the “Cremaster Cycle.” She and I have seen the trailer, and both of us have found it to be offensive. The artist based his work on a specific muscle of the male anatomy, and the whole movie is bizarre representations of the reproductive systems. Plus, there’s some gruesome death scenes too. We saw all this during just the 5 minute trailer!
She’s said that she’s going to talk with her professor about picking a different group to compare. I pray that the teacher is understanding and won’t give DD a hard time. I know that “art” is subjective, but SHEESH!
Jen in Texas
Jen was extremely surprised that this could happen at a community college in her area, because they live in the middle an area that is very much the conservative Bible-belt region.
Community college is becoming more and more popular among homeschoolers. It’s important for parents to realize the pluses AND the minuses of any educational setting. When I talk to parents about the experiences that we had in community college, sometime they think it happened to us ONLY because we live in the very liberal Seattle area. Yet I hear stories like this across the nation! I’m very thankful that Jen gave me permission to post her comments on my blog.
I don’t pretend to know what is right for your child. I know that parents are the only ones with all the information needed to really decide about community college! But I do want to make sure that parents go into a community college situation with their eyes open, and that they know there are risks as well as rewards.
I believe that community colleges can be a “rated R” environment. Sometimes as an adult, we have to work within a “rated R” world ourselves, as we read the newspaper and watch the news. When you are considering community college, don’t see it through rose-colored glasses, and think it’s a perfect educational utopia. Keep your eyes open to the fact that it may be more “rated R” than your student is ready for. If the crowd seems to all follow the community college route, that doesn’t mean you have to follow along yourself. Consider carefully, know your child, and trust your own judgment.
Please, let me know if you’d be interested in trading blog links. I am trying to encourage parents to homeschool high school, so if you think your readers might need to hear that message, please consider linking me. Thanks!
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Christianbook.com Curriculum Page
Katherine says:
How awful! So far our son, now in his third year at our local university here in Ohio, has not had any problems of inappropriate content. But he has taken computer, math and science classes only.
September 23rd, 2008 at 5:07 pm
J W says:
Sigh. Someone ought to open up a Christian art school. Well, I suppose Jen’s daughter could present a *negative* opinion piece on the works if she can’t change the topic. Art is subjective, after all. That can work in her favor. I’m sure many artists express their own negative opinions about other artists’ work all the time
September 23rd, 2008 at 5:37 pm
Joyce says:
Hi Lee,
Your comments about community college are fascinating. We have heard similar stories, and experienced some of it this past year with my oldest in Running Start. Do you believe that the risk is community college itself (i.e., is it WORSE than the universities in moral issues – which I cannot imagine!) or is it the age at which our h.s. juniors and seniors are when they encounter it? I’d really like to hear what you think about this. Thanks
September 23rd, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Laura says:
Lee,
My daughter has only taken foreign language at our community college, and while there hasn’t been inappropriate content she does often wonder who hired these people to teach! The teachers are often lazier than the kids, inattentive to what’s going on, and lack common sense. In the most recent example her teacher was completely confused when my daughter turned in her homework that had been assigned two days previous. The teacher had no recollection of even assigning any homework and couldn’t understand that my daughter would hand it in without being asked! It’s been an eye-opening experience to say the least.
September 24th, 2008 at 4:21 am
Jane says:
Our oldest son graduated from our homeschool in May and began classes at the local community college in August. His only prior experience with this school was an online computer class. His English Composition textbook has a number of essays in it that I find very offensive. His instructor has only assigned one of those selections for the semester. My son wrote his brief report on that essay talking about how it offended him and that he did not read the entire piece. We’ll see how it is graded. We must definitely be vigilant, but once our students are 18yo, colleges don’t want much communication with parents – other than money, of course! We must trust that we’ve instilled good values in our teens and that they will exercise good judgement when we’re not there to oversee.
September 24th, 2008 at 5:54 am
Jen_H says:
Art is notoriously liberal – even my 8yo in an art class at a community center has been exposed to nudes that may be fine in context but not so appropriate for 8 (we too live in the Bible Belt). When looking for colleges for our other son, we found school newspapers to be a good judge of character for both educators & students at the institution. We picked up a few issues at each of the prospective schools and really read them. We were able to glean what was being taught, what kinds of events would be going on around campus, and from tone – what types of activities were “endorsed” by students & teachers.
September 25th, 2008 at 5:43 am
Lee says:
Hi Jen,
I agree! Reading the school paper is a big help! Also look around the school bookstore. Our local community college sells “adult” magazines in the school bookstore, right next to the textbooks.
Blessings,
Lee
September 25th, 2008 at 7:21 am
Yvonne says:
Hi Lee,
It’s a tough issue. But I don’t think the “sex sells,” approach is contained solely within the community college. Just recently we had a young woman tell us that she was challenged by such teaching at her Christian college in California. Her parents have taken the professor to task and the leadership is “looking into the matter.” That was six months ago and the professor is still teaching there.
I asked my husband, who attended UoF and USF and he said he had this kind of teaching as well, along with foul jokes, and of course, secular humanism, etal.
So I always encourage parents to simply prepare their kids. We can’t protect them forever. But we can arm them for the battle.
Bless you!
September 25th, 2008 at 9:49 am