anons - lots of posts and info about public schools (ugh) - i live in rural area with amish and mennonites - this am i had an invite to tour the school of the local congregation.

fyi amish are organized in groups of 20-30 families which they call congregations. All are members of loose parent organizations of their sect of amish/mennonite which are there to assist in local matters when requested.

each congregation maintains its own specific rules, a school, and worship services. they are mostly similar but many variations exist. thsi biggest divider is horse and buggy only vs cars/tractors/electricity permitted.

my neighbor was happy to show the infrastructure and i could see why. they put a tremendous effort and funds into the planning and construction of the common buldings - and it showed.

there was a massive common room with tables and chairs, and a full size commercial kitchen. this is used for worship, weddings and general meetings, projexts or get togethers.

attached were three very large classrooms - well lit, absolutely clean and bright, and well organized. the student desks were sized for the 3 age groups in each - and trust me i looked - there was no gum underneath and no defacement of the desk - i could have eaten off it. each age group had a teacher drawn from the community and trained. if they dont have one they will hire one from another community.

ALL this for 48 children - anons - 48 children. all i can say is wow. and the kids are done with high school equivalency at age 15 - and these kids are really mature and well balanced except for 2 things - 1 - the fact that they dont know the outside world - that is actually fine more or less as they are insulated from that intentionally. and 2 - male female relations are very awkward - thought they attend school together they maintain biblical ideas about sex and marraige and it limits them accordingly - of course also it benefits too. on balance i say in sex education they are no worse off than public school kids.

well that ismy report. if we could use this as a model for ALL education we would have a much better society - MUCH MUCH better esp with very limited govt. control. BLESS my neighbors they are really great people.