Indoctrinating the young
Red ribbons, pledge forms, 10-year-old promisees
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JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
I vividly recall few things in grade school, but I do remember one Red Ribbon Week, which is the don't-do-drugs type of thing. You sign a pledge form and wear a red ribbon on your clothes all week, and then on Friday you tie ribbons on the fence to demonstrate to the neighborhood and all the parents that your school is one where the students are drug-free. Our teachers showed us pictures of the bad things that happen to your body or the car you drive when you were on drugs, including alcohol and tobacco. Who wouldn't remember the mangled cars and blackened lungs? We were proud to wear our ribbons.
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In sixth grade, I took baptismal classes and had to sign a form that said I agreed with the fundamental beliefs of my church before I could be baptized. I'm not sure how, at that age, you're supposed to fully understand all the nuances of the trinity, salvation, creationism, Daniel & Revelation, intercessory prayer, justification...the millions of parts of religion that are debatable and interpreted differently by different churches and religions. Sure I signed the form--I thought I understood and believed in what I was doing--I thought it was "right."
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At some point (age 10? 12? 14?) I signed a form saying I'd abstain from premarital sex until I was married. I had several friends who had laminated and signed cards pledging to do the same.
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What changes? Experience. Making a blatant, comprehensive statement at an age where I'd yet to even know more than one side to an issue is indoctrination, purely. It's not teaching, and it doesn't stand the test of time. Religion and conservatism teach absolutism, when experience teaches moderation.
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In sixth grade, I took baptismal classes and had to sign a form that said I agreed with the fundamental beliefs of my church before I could be baptized. I'm not sure how, at that age, you're supposed to fully understand all the nuances of the trinity, salvation, creationism, Daniel & Revelation, intercessory prayer, justification...the millions of parts of religion that are debatable and interpreted differently by different churches and religions. Sure I signed the form--I thought I understood and believed in what I was doing--I thought it was "right."
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At some point (age 10? 12? 14?) I signed a form saying I'd abstain from premarital sex until I was married. I had several friends who had laminated and signed cards pledging to do the same.
*
What changes? Experience. Making a blatant, comprehensive statement at an age where I'd yet to even know more than one side to an issue is indoctrination, purely. It's not teaching, and it doesn't stand the test of time. Religion and conservatism teach absolutism, when experience teaches moderation.
