Some of our PA parishoners here may check me out on this:
I think the Amish are in agreement with you hence 'rumspringa'. As I understood they feel that a child is not capable of making moral decisions i.e. joining a religion and so spend some time before commiting to formally joining the community. (probably full of inaccuracies)

Very neatly put. Can I use that?

Copyright?
 

Sure.:neutral:

Why teach them if you don't believe that they are true? Do you have some empirical set of data that leads you to hold certain values? Or are you simply passing along a set of learned, and believed, ethical values?

This seems like a pretty artificial distinction to me.

True Value (The place with the helpful maxim man"
 

Experience and history of past human behavior rather than "data." I generally follow Kant's Categorical Imperitive:

"Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it would become a universal law."

That boils down to the "Golden Rule," you know, the "do unto others" rule.

By following the above no "beliefs" are needed.:neutral:

The transition from "this is a way to live" to "this is the way you ought to live" is a transition from principle to belief.

So what?
My parents were taught many of those and so was I. They discarded some of them, I discarded some of the rest...
Big deal.
I promise you a lot of what you were taught was not "based in reality"... should we all hunt down your parents and persecute them?
You are overreacting.

Oh, now I got it. Parents shouldn't teach their children what they believe,
they should teach their children what you believe.
I think not.:headshake

I may not agree with what they teach their children, but I'll defend to the death their right to teach them. What do you propose, snatch all the children and put them in secular camps? Let the state raise them in a sterile setting?

...and folks wonder why we don't send our kids to public schools even though we are not religous nuts and are actually pretty open minded.

I don't believe so.
 

You haven't been paying attention. I do not "believe" anything. Period. I said parents should not teach "beliefs." How hard is that to grasp? I'm not going to force anyone to do anything, I'm just saying it would be a better world if we got rid of "belief."

And why would an advocate of not teaching beliefs make for a "bad" public school teacher? I've taught college undergrads with great success and appreciation, and have engaged children in the study of history through volunteer work and through my job.

The parents who are compelled to pay your salary should not be held in contempt by you. It is fine to challenge beliefs but to suggest that parents not teach there own children what they believe is shockingly high-handed.

High Handed
 

Why not? It's hard not too when you see what little un-thinking horors their parents have created. Besides, it's not like I'm out to become some educational Mussolini, I was just making and observation and suggesting a possible solution.

It's just a suggestion.:neutral:

The ultimate high-handedness is to not allow your children to think for themselves. People treat their children these days like little projects, molding them to become what THEY want them to be.:neutral:

"We're only making plans for Nigel...We only want what's best for him." XTC

I heard that song yesterday and thought about this thread. No wonder I liked that band.:rolleyes:

Parents should teach their children what they believe, because they are too stupid to form reasonable opinions on their own.

A brain that still thinks it's a good idea to pick one's nose and eat it is not capable of philosophy. The reason we aren't booted from the nest as soon as we can walk is because we aren't fully developed between the ears until age 22 or so.

If you don't believe me, just read the rest of this thread. Nobody thinks about this shit past age 25, they're too busy making a living. :haha:

Eating Boogers
 

You people are just not understanding me. I never claimed one should not teach their children, I just would never teach my children "beliefs." Teach them all you know, just don't teach "beliefs" That word presupposes a lack of knowledge, a sort of hesitant, "Well, son, I can't say for sure, but I believe...."

I don't even use the construction "I believe..." in any sentence. It's useless.:neutral:

And eating boogers never hurt anyone.:right:

I think you're fooling yourself.

A lot of things that are beliefs need to be taught. I believe that it's bad to shoot at people for fun. That's a belief that I have passed on to my children. I hope that they pick up a lot of my beliefs. Lots of things that are not 'facts' still need to be taught to children. Real life can never be neatly packaged in the way that you hope.