In Fishman’s essay he describes the different kinds of literacy that the Amish community learns and uses in their everyday lives. I found this article particularly intriguing because I grew up in Amish country and have had multiple occasions to interact with them. While I’ve only had wonderful experiences with these people, this article did illuminate some things that I never would have even thought about before.
While the Amish have a tight knit community, and they’re by far some of the nicest people I’ve ever met, I don’t believe it’s fair for the child to have their parents show such a disinterest in their children’s schoolwork. Last week we read about Brandt’s idea of sponsorship. In this she discussed all the ways that sponsorship was used as a tool for literacy like The Bible, word games, and letters. However, while all this positive sponsorship was being brought into the home, the parents were exhibiting negative sponsorship by dissuading the children from doing their school work over their chores.
Even though the parents want to keep their culture strong in their children, do you believe that it’s okay for the parents to put their children’s education on the back burner just to keep it that way?
I would say that they aren’t really putting their children’s education on the back burner. I think the Amish are teaching their children about what is important to them. For the Amish, the things that they learn in school and at home is their education. It’s not that they aren’t receiving an education, they are just receiving a different kind of education. Also, the priorities between “our” world and “their” world are different. For us, the idea of individual achievement is important, so we stress learning as much as possible and developing as individuals. For the Amish, however, there is a much bigger emphasis on community and development as a whole. Because of this, things like chores and helping the family are more important than our concepts of learning and getting and education.
I don’t feel as though it is acceptable to put your children’s education on the back burner, however, I agree with tb715 that I don’d necessarily know if that is what the Amish are doing. I don’t agree with what they are doing because I clearly value education, but I do think that they are instilling certain values in their children that are important to their specific culture. I find it inspiring that hard labor is a major priority in life and wonder if it wasn’t for how I was raised and the culture we live in if I would value education as much as I do.
I want to bring up the idea that education isn’t necessarily needed in the Amish community. It almost feels like if we were to force them into longer schooling, we would be not only interfering with the Amish culture but also taking on too much responsibility. Literacy is what you make it, and in the Amish culture it means something completely different than in the “high” education we are in now. The level of critical thought isn’t needed as much in the Amish culture as most of the tasks done on a daily basis are things that are repetitive. Critical thought breeds ingenuity, and in a culture that wants things to stay exactly as they are shouldn’t be forced into anything it doesn’t want.