Curriculum for 12 grade homeschooler

[GGates]

Hi, my name is Graham. I’m a catholic home-schooler at the moment. I have a dilemma though. My current English class I’m taking over at the community college seems to have a lot of readings that I’m feeling are not healthy for my education. The latest reading i had to do was one from Christopher Hitchens. I really felt very strongly about having to read this kind of material, and we are supposed to have class discussions on the readings. This is the second time I’ve taken this specific class, and unfortunately the class with the only christian English teacher there is no longer offered at my level. What I’m trying to figure out is, firstly, weather I should drop this class. Secondly, what good catholic curriculum for writing is there that would be good for a 12th grader? (I’m looking for something that incorporates writing skills and grammatical skills as well as anything else that may relate and be good to cover.) Thirdly, because I am planning to attend Wyoming Catholic College, I would like to be preparing myself in writing for that college.

Any help would be great! i would love to involve readings from people like Chesterton or Lewis or whoever else would be great to read.

 

[Allegra]

You need to become comfortable reading things that you disagree with if you are going to attend college. If the class requires you to read controversial material, that isn’t a problem. If the class requires you to agree with it, that’s another story. I think you should finish the class if possible. Read the material, take notes, and be prepared to argue against it in class and write against in it your assignments. For the most part, that’s the whole reason teachers have students read controversial material in the first place, so that students learn to effectively communicate their opinions and give evidence.

 

[GGates]

The way the teacher has set things up, she doesn’t want to have discussions about religion, but she wants to have us read this with an “open mind” which is feeling like shes passive aggressively forcing us to read things we disagree with but then for discussions she wants to hear about writing technique instead of content. That’s my biggest beef with this class, i would be ok with reading material and having an opportunity to give a rebuttal, but here it seems like shes feeding us bad material and not giving opportunity to take stances.

 

[pentecostbaby]

I’m a college English teacher. I’m super Catholic. I also present challenging reading to my students that may or may not agree with my own political views. Whether you agree with the arguments you read in class is entirely beside the point. Moreover, when you write your papers, whether or not you agree with the argument you make is beside the point. The class is about learning to argue and write, not your own personal ethics.
Meanwhile, when you do write papers, please be careful to use evidence in ways that the academy uses it - I.e., the Bible is not a legitimate source if you’re making a case to a secular audience. I see a lot of religious students make mistakes along this vein and it makes me batty.
You need to read something to talk about technique, and it’s frankly hard to find well-written Christian sources in many cases. It’s not passive aggressive, and as I said, your opinion on the actual argument is irrelevant, as is everyone else’s in the case. You’re learning technique.

 

[Allegra]

The way the teacher has set things up, she doesn’t want to have discussions about religion, but she wants to have us read this with an “open mind” which is feeling like shes passive aggressively forcing us to read things we disagree with but then for discussions she wants to hear about writing technique instead of content. That’s my biggest beef with this class, i would be ok with reading material and having an opportunity to give a rebuttal, but here it seems like shes feeding us bad material and not giving opportunity to take stances.

Then discuss the writing technique. That’s what the class is about. You don’t have to agree with the content in order to study the method of writing. If you feel the teacher is exclusively providing material that supports her world view, complain about it in the course review. What you write in class is not that important. Learn the skills to write effectively and then you have the power to influence the real world.

 

[GGates]

Ok, so what your said I should do is to take the content with a grain of salt, but to write the way I need to.

 

[VeritasLuxMea]

My friend, I understand your objection to such works and I do not fault you for that. However, if you’re going to college, you’re going to have to start dealing with information that challenges your political, social, moral, religious and aesthetic values. It’s tough, trust me, I know, but you have to roll with the punches. As long as she is not demanding you to parrot the ideas of the works you have read, you’re going to have to get over it. The truth, in any event, has nothing to fear from falsehood. Hope that helps.

 

[GGates]

I see what your saying. I guess its good that I strongly dislike these works, because it means I recognize that there are issues with them.

 

[Allegra]

I see what your saying. I guess its good that I strongly dislike these works, because it means I recognize that there are issues with them.

True. I expect that if you learn to write well, you will get ample opportunity to express yourself and spread the truth.