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Youth Groups, Socialization, and Religion

The other day I was puttering around on Yahoo Answers Homeschool section. Someone had asked the perennial question "what are the disadvantages of homeschool?" As usually, the responses fell into two groups: the pro-homeschool group that could see no disadvantages in homeschool, and the anti-homeschool crowd (who generally haven't a clue what they are talking about) who could see no good. Naturally I had to post a response. I mean, hey, this is easy pickin's for best answer points.

Then yesterday, I was reading a friend's blog, Jann's post discussed her conflict with the LDS Church's Young Men's and Young Women's programs. With the justaposition of the two, I felt it was time to write a blog entry about something that has gnawed at me for several years.

Several years ago, I was asked to take the Young Women from our ward and their leaders to a Young Women's conference in the LDS Conference Center. Being neither young nor a woman, I was denied entry and had to walk around for the 90 minutes of the conference. I ended up visiting the Deseret Book that was then in the ZCMI Center. I came across Hitler Youth by Michael H. Kater in the History section.

As I perused this book, I couldn't help but notice the similarities between the Hitler Youth program and the youth programs of the LDS Church. I remember thinking to myself, "Its' a good thing the Young Men's and Young Women's programs are led by a living prophet. Otherwise these programs would be dangerous." The Church teaches absolute, unquestioning obedience to the teachings of the prophet; this is exactly how Hitler managed to take complete control of the school system in Germany, and then turn the "brown shirts" into a group of fanatics that would turn in their own parents. In the hands of an unrighteous man, such an organization would be susceptible to the same sort of perversion and subversion.

As I pointed out in my answer to the question on Yahoo Answers, many homeschool families enroll their children in various youth groups and clubs. This can be either an advantage in providing a more robust social environment for the child to develop in, or it can be a disadvantage by creating an environment in which the child is indoctrinated into the particular political or religious philosophy of their parents and are denied exposure to other points of view, or, as is the case with the LDS youth programs, they are taught "obedience" rather than being encouraged to question and think for themselves.

I note too that the public school can also be used as an indoctrination tool; one that is controlled by the government, or rather by the "education establishment." The statistics, and common sense, indicate that the public schools are controlled by the political Left. (It is, after all, a Socialist institution.) I would find it difficult to believe that the teachers do not convey their biases; in fact this is one of the great differences in opinion between the Christian Right homeschool community and the public school establishment.

I don't think either these youth groups or the public school system is inherently evil, unless they are deliberately used as indoctrination tools or they prevent the youth from experiencing and considering other view points. Rather, I am of the opinion that the best way to ensure that there is a free flow of ideas necessary for the synthesis that moves us forward, is to encourage these groups to exist.

But I start to object when one group starts to claim that it has a monopoly on "truth."
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