A discussion on the Mennonite practice of shunning...
Shunning and excommunication are simple issues that are well understood and practiced by the secular world and proper Christians.
Depending on the severity of the infraction, a sports person who disobeys or breaks the rules, is benched or dropped from the team, the soldier is court marshalled or shot by a firing squad, the employee is suspended or dismissed, the criminal is jailed or executed, the Christian is shunned(under discipline) or excommunicated(disfellowshipped).
Sports organizations, the military, companies, society and Christianity must have rules and regulations which govern the behavior and conduct of their members in order to prevent chaos, for satan reigns in chaos.
God is a God of law and order and the Bible is His rule book, His code of conduct and ethics. Rebel or disobey God and there must be consequences, otherwise Christianity becomes a valueless demonic joke.
- Why shun them in the first place? Why not forgive them? Isn’t that a more christian response? What would Jesus do and my guess is shunning would not even cross his mind. It seems positive reinforcement with a loving, caring response would have more success in building a sense of Christian community then does shunning. Shunning is tthe Berlin Wall of religion. It is a failure in diplomacy just as shunning is a failure in theology.Comment on Excommunication and shunning among Old Order Mennonites(May 15th, 2013 at 02:21)
- The “sin” that resulted in the shunning is not as severe as the shunning itself. The group,not the individual is in the wrong. I am sixty and yesterday I discovered my own mother had been excommunicated because my father was unbaptized. The action of that congregation was a group sin against my mother. mennonites have narrow mindsComment on Excommunication and shunning among Old Order Mennonites(May 30th, 2010 at 07:24)
- Marty they were not wrong. The Bible quite clearly teaches that a believer is not to be unequally yoked with a non-believer. The fact that your mother was excommunicated indicates that she had been baptized, that she had made a voluntary decision to be obedient to the will of God, yet she rebelled and choose your father over God. She choose the tempory love of a human over the eternal love of God. Seems you have as well, by holding her rebellion as righteous and the Bible as error. Be warned, the rebel and the unbeliever shall not enter the kingdom heaven without repentance.Comment on Excommunication and shunning among Old Order Mennonites(May 8th, 2012 at 10:03)
- Comment on Excommunication and shunning among Old Order Mennonites(September 27th, 2012 at 14:46)reply to Daryl ,May 8,2012it is possible the whole story hasn’t been told..there is Scripture for the ministry to the unGodly by the Godly..your behavior may win the lost to the cause of Christ..you commited to God your union,BUT if the unbeliever wants to leave you are not obligated tyo force them to stay..BUT.. you must remain unmarried until that person dies therefore no chance of reconciliation..look for it in the inerent Word of God…JAP
- Comment on Excommunication and shunning among Old Order Mennonites(May 15th, 2013 at 02:15)shunningDaryl, I just read your comment and have to say that your narrow minded and short sighted view of the world is what I most detest about being assoiciated with Mennonites. I now distance myself from this religion because of your type of mind set. People in authority in the church my say they act in the name of God which allows them to do horribly vindictive things. I hope to God and I mean God that most Mennonites have stopped thinking like you. The congregation and leadership that shunned my mother was wrong and will always be wrong because shunning is wrong and the loving god I believe in will back me up, not some ignorant literal dogma that you seem to follow. I hope your mother never reads what you wrote. Its not christian.
- Our God is a forgiving God and the Bible teaches us to love and forgive. I don’t understand why there is such a thing called shunning. It makes me sad. I suppose if the offender keeps doing the same thing over and over again, I can understand seperating yourself from them so that they can’t influence those who are babes or easily influenced.Comment on Excommunication and shunning among Old Order Mennonites(March 13th, 2011 at 20:23)
- I think shunning is absolutely wrong because not one Christian is perfect or does not sin. We are all sinners and we all make mistakes. Like Christ commanded love your neighbors as yourself so instead of shunning the person forgive them and show them love and have faith that that person will repent. But if they keep repeatedly sinning over and over and not repenting of their ways then its understandable to stop being around that person. But give the person hope and a chance to change their ways.Comment on Excommunication and shunning among Old Order Mennonites(May 20th, 2012 at 14:44)
- Comment on Excommunication and shunning among Old Order Mennonites(September 27th, 2012 at 14:53)excommunication and shunning..there must be rules about what is acceptable to the good order and discipline of any group..If the rules just reflect a desire to CONTROL by the leadership..GET OUT! The unwritten ORDNUNG gives too much authority sometimes to a few individuals or a leader and that is basis for CULT CONTROL..We know what happens then,sex with children, arranged marriage,mass suicide..Jim Jones,and other meglomanics,Hitler,ad nauseum! JAP
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Shunning and Mennonites
Test Instructions
Test Instructions...
Salient, succinct test instructions are basic to student success. This example from a social studies test should prove useful to any teacher.
Social Studies 10 "Open Notebook Quiz"–
The quiz that tests the depth of your knowledge by the quality of your notes.
Instructions:
Answer on foolscap using complete sentences because you want to try to avoid sentences fragments and the over use of phrases, but especially the use of run on sentences that seemly give the appearance of going on and on forever with no apparent end in sight and naturally are grammatically incorrect not to mention irritating to the reader, also remember that spellllling counts! while being mindful that the over use of clichés should be avoided like the plague. As for the use of rhetorical questions I would advise against their use. What do you think? Above all else get to the point because next to run on sentences there is nothing more distracting that a writer who rambles and beats around the bush, so to speak while avoiding the real issues at hand . . . so be direct and get immediately to the point without too much verbosity, semantics, alliteration, metaphors or other tricky word games. At times you may want to use repetition as it is the key to emphasis and I cannot say that enough. The use of vivid similes is like a waste of time because you are not writing an English test. Metaphors are a pain, so avoid them as well. The repetitious, redundant use of readily reusable responses and riotess ridicule associated with alliteration is not appropriate in the standard social studies personal response answer. Finally, remember to use paragraphing. Proof read your work before I do because in that way you will find your own mistakes before I do. Remember your teacher is a trained professional and can sniff out any content or grammatical error. Budget your time so you do not run the danger of running out of this precious commodity we all take for granted. Good luck and begin your quiz quickly as you are almost out of time.
1. Define each of the following terms: Canadian Identity
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Alberta Achievement Testing
A Few Deviant Thoughts Concerning Standardized Testing
or
Achievement Testing as Misnomer...
Each year, in the province of Alberta, students in grade 3, 6 and 9 are tested across the province, and on the same day, in areas of science, math, social studies and language skills. The reasoning seems sound. Get base line scores on schools and students as to achievement over time. Perhaps, it makes teachers more accountable and raises standards and improves learning. Its for the benefit of students. For a long time I bought into much of that line of thought until last week when I observed the grade three class at my school preparing for the PAT (provincial achievement tests).
When all attend, this grade three class numbers about 23 souls, many of them are coded meaning they have more severe learning disabilities and/or behavioural problems than the rest of their peer group. Alberta Learning (Ministry of Ed) allows for students with special needs to have certain accommodations for writing the PAT and these could include anything from more time, the use of a calculator or the use of a scribe or a reader. There are some in this grade three class who need all of these accommodations. There are 11 who need both a scribe and a reader and two who need readers.
As I absorbed these statistics and accommodations I began to realize the absolute stupidity and futility of this test writing exercise. What could it achieve? How could it in any way benefit these fragile, below grade level native students? Who else in the province was doing what we were that day in way of preparation?
Rhetorics aside I helped the home room teacher prepare for the fateful day in such a way as to minimize the negative impact on the students and to possibly reduce the specter and stigma that hangs over my school as the lowest achieving school in the entire province. The low ranking is largely determined by the out come of the PAT tests. My students, like the school they attend, are locked into a negative vortex of achievement and no amount of testing will change that reality. We do not need more testing.
In preparation I arranged for 13 volunteers to come to class as scribes and pharmacies to assist in the interpretation of the test questions. We split the students into two groups, one brushed with Crest and another with a non-fluoride toothpaste, if only it were that simple. Our set up with scribes, readers, and students now totaled 36 and was a spectacle to behold. I instructed the scribes and readers not to interpret, explain, cue, hint or lead the students in any way.
The role of the scribe or the reader is to be a neutral robotic like presence who does not alter the purity of the student thought process. That was the theory, in reality everyone, including myself, felt such an overwhelming pity for these students that we brain stormed with them, we enhanced their vocabulary, explained, hinted, cued and all the things I told them not to do. We did these things with a tinge of guilt and with a freshness of hope to get through these pointless test exercises.
As the writing began those with ADHD, fetal alcohol syndrome, oppositional defiance, OCD, dyslexia and other issues, and despite the host of adults in the class with benevolent intent could not stop the anxiety nor the fits and tears. One student, literally cried out after only a few minutes of testing, “I will never be good enough to do this.” Another girl, prone to emotional outbursts, ran from the class where I found her banging her feet on the floor and the back of her head against the wall. She would not speak and she would not stop her self abuse until I physically intervened. Testing at its finest.
I was working with an eight year old boy who I knew suffered from FAS but was never officially diagnosed or documented. How many parents, mother’s especially want to admit to drinking while pregnant. My student is a delightful boy who greets me in the halls with hugs. He does not have a coherent thought in his head and I was trying to focus him on a story starter about a flying saucer landing next to a camp ground where a family sat before a campfire. You know things totally relevant to his live experiences.
From the picture cue my student was required to develop the elements of character, plot, and setting in order to make a story of some relevance and interest with a beginning, middle and end. This of course was not going to happen. In the end the story he dictated to me in rambling phrases and mumbled half thoughts sounded amazingly like the animated movie UP. What the two had in common I had no idea. My little guy distracted by every item in the class just wanted to run free from his task. He eventually did.
Next week we will assembly again for the “real deal.” I feel we will accomplish some mighty things that the Ministry does not intend. Some of my grade three students will discover through their frustration and growing test taking anxiety yet another level of failure. They will realize that the only way they can preform a simple task is with a classroom full of adult readers and scribes. They will confirm that they are different and eventually intuitively know, or be told they are years behind the rest of the province. They will surely reinforce their belief in their own lack of worth.
In addition we will provide the Fraser Institute and others with more quantitative irrefutable data that our school is and will remain the lowest achieving school in Alberta. Because of this rating we will be further forgotten with the hope that one day we will disappear as an embarrassment.
Teachers will also learn the necessity of teaching to the test and not the curriculum, or even better, to the interests of the students. The Ministry will have its valuable data secure in the knowledge that high levels of accountability in the province have been measured quantified and eventually extrapolated to be used in effective progressive provincial educational policies which will be then be under funded, forgotten and ignored, but I am only a single alarmist and should be ignored. My ideas are not statistically significant.
I am not against student evaluation, but I think it has to be meaningful and work within the context of the local school and culture. I could be persuaded to support a sampling technique across the province on a random basis. This works in opinion polls used by politicians, why not in student testing? It has the extra bonus of saving millions of dollars, some of which could be funneled toward schools such as mine so that at such a time they are randomly selected for testing they might actually do better than they presently do. Just a thought.
Across the board, standardized tests which include outliers such as my school do more damage than good. Our low achievement has been adequately documented, now please just provide us the resources to do something about it. Provincial Achievement Tests, a misnomer at best, are not progressing our cause.
...please post a comment...
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Ontario Curriculum versus Chinese
Curriculum: The Sum of all Parts
I just stepped in from my balcony after watching an extended display of fireworks with the mountains as silhouettes in the background. Fireworks are set off at all hours to drive out spirits from new buildings. I think even renovations qualify.
I’ll stick to educational themes. I have observed by this point all of my staff in their classrooms. I am very proud to say that I think the Ontario curriculum more than holds its own when compared to the Chinese. The Chinese depend on rote learning, have large classrooms and are glued to standardized testing and curriculum solidarity.
In fact, contrary to stereotypes on the topic I place the Ontario curriculum in math and science over the Chinese. I think we may have the edge not only for content but because of our teaching style. Chinese students begin some mathematical and scientific concepts at a much earlier age and by so doing may give Westerners a sense of precociousness. I sat in on a grade 12 U level course in Physics on the topic of acceleration. I was taken by the presentation and found myself asking questions. I had to hold myself back. But there were other topics, like quantum mechanics in which the students had no background from their Chinese curriculum. When this happens they get into a swarming panic, hiring tutors and “go to mattresses” until they have mastered the topic. If nothing else they take studies serious, something sometimes lacking in Ontario.
They are hard working, but as I watch them I see that they are very narrow in their focus. They do not do extra curricular. The curriculum is all there is. The curriculum is life. Now we may wish for students like that in a perfect world and admittedly it is wonderful, but outside the curriculum the Chinese students are largely ignorant. They don’t play games, our school of 2700 has no teams, there are no clubs, they are not allowed to date. “Love is not allowed” is actually a school rule here. I think something got lost in translation.
While I admire their many accomplishments in the academic arena I also feel sorry for my students. They know nothing of current events and the larger world. In this issue now in the news with Japan (I must write in vague terms here) students are taught to hate. They are xenophobic, lack any sense of tolerance and do not know the facts because that is how their world is orchestrated. Our students hope to come to Canada, specifically Southern Ontario and they all want to get into U of T. Toronto is what the most multicultural city in the world? These students are in for a shock because they do not understand multiculturalism and the tolerance that goes with it.
I am proud to say that in so many ways Canada has done it right. The Ontario curriculum is right on the mark. Our system has, for the most part, created a generation of more tolerant and more holistic students. And don’t be fooled there is an abundance of special education students in China too. In fact by numbers I would wager they have more spec ed students than we have students in total. The thing is not one of them is recognized and none of them are assessed as there is no special education in Jinhua and likely China as it brings shame to the family. China has a long way to go.
...please post a comment...
...please post a comment...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)