By Austin Cline
Agnosticism & Atheism Expert
Christians have summer Bible study programs to send their children to, but what about secular, skeptical, and atheist parents? What can they do to encourage their children's intellectual, emotional, and psychological growth (but hopefully without overburdening them and denying them unstructured free time)? There are in fact a lot of different activities available. Listed here are several options and while they are intended for children of various ages, they would ideally be done jointly with parents â€" and may be worth doing for adults alone.
• Study an Atheist Philosopher (Or Two)
Studying the ideas of an atheist philosopher provides a surprising number of benefits. The most obvious are of course learning more about the history of atheism and some of the principle arguments against religion or theism. Additional benefits include learning more about course the history of philosophy itself, learning about specific philosophical fields (metaphysics, epistemology, ethics), practicing critical thinking by examining the arguments in a skeptical light, and even general history by looking at the philosopher’s circumstances and cultural influences. If you do two, you can learn even more by comparing and contrasting their ideas. Ideally, both kids and adults will be able to learn side-by-side here.
what can non theistic parents do for children to encourage intellectual, emotional, and psychological growth? How about not sending them off to an indoctrination camp for one?
Young children imitate what their parents do, particularly if the parents enjoy it. They don't do what they are told (if they don't see their parents doing it) and certainly not if it is something their parents don't enjoy. Consistency also helps.
So do you read on a regular basis? Do you enjoy reading? The most decisive fact for education and mental development is reading, not playing video games or watching TV. Ban TV and video games for the summer, and read together. Particularly with small children, read to them age appropriate material ... yes it can be fiction or fantasy ... rather than quantum mechanics ;-) Being open to foreign cultures also helps. The only success we had with my grown up daughter, is that she learned to read. As a result she does think for herself and she is open to at least some foreign cultures. It also helped her get thru those difficult teen years ... when your child won't want to be seen in public with you ;-(
All education is a form of teaching fundamentals, which "is" indoctrination, is ignorance better?
Quote from: Baruch on June 20, 2015, 07:26:18 AM
Young children imitate what their parents do, particularly if the parents enjoy it. They don't do what they are told (if they don't see their parents doing it) and certainly not if it is something their parents don't enjoy. Consistency also helps.
So do you read on a regular basis? Do you enjoy reading? The most decisive fact for education and mental development is reading, not playing video games or watching TV. Ban TV and video games for the summer, and read together. Particularly with small children, read to them age appropriate material ... yes it can be fiction or fantasy ... rather than quantum mechanics ;-) Being open to foreign cultures also helps. The only success we had with my grown up daughter, is that she learned to read. As a result she does think for herself and she is open to at least some foreign cultures. It also helped her get thru those difficult teen years ... when your child won't want to be seen in public with you ;-(
I took much the same approach with my daughter. I read to her just about every day until she was in Jr. high. She then took that task up for herself. She has never stopped reading. But I also played games with her, so she still likes to do that, as well.
Solitary ... that is a hard question for any parent. I need to guide the child's development, without stifling it ... a child is not a bonsai. A child raised without human intervention is the "wild man" myth that has reappeared from time to time in cultural history. Even the Pharaoh tried an experiment along those lines, in an attempt to discover the "original language" ... the child deprived of companionship ... died. The practical question is, how much diversity can you tolerate? Authoritarians can't tolerate much of anything.
I don't like the thought of atheist camps, sounds really... pathetic.
Science camps? Awesome. Outdoor activity camps? Hell yes. But atheist camps? No.
Quote from: Shiranu on June 21, 2015, 12:28:35 AM
I don't like the thought of atheist camps, sounds really... pathetic.
Science camps? Awesome. Outdoor activity camps? Hell yes. But atheist camps? No.
Science camp for sure, but keep creationism away from it.
Hey kids! Wanna go off to atheist philosopher summer camp? Somehow I just don't see the grandkids getting all giddy with excitement when there's Barbie TV!
Many a year ago, Austin had his About.com atheist chat room, his choice of mods were, shall we say, closer to elementary teachers than mods for an atheist chat. Cussing was cause for a warning and talk of sex was not considered "models of behavior we want to be associated with". After several pissing contests with him, they tossed me out, along with many really fun people. Many a time about 10 or 12 of us would raid the About.com christian chat and take over the forum. It was all in good fun and we never got nearly as pissy with them as in our own room. Some times they would respond likewise and all in all we had a lot of fun with them. But over time he shut the thing down or was shut down. Smart guy and all, but he has a little bit of an ego shall we say.
I know from other moderated blogs ... moderators do tend to be full of themselves ;-)
Philosophy camp? That is what Socrates was doing in the Athenian gymnasia ... where he and the young men exercised naked. He was accused of subverting the youth, among other things ... and this wasn't just a problem with his habit of annoying people with his questioning rhetoric ;-) Like any other youth group in a Church or YMCA or Boy Scouts ... you have to be careful with choosing the leadership.