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Re: [Phys-l] Nurture vs Nature (Was:Student engagement)



Actually the Amish have a custom that their children must leave the
community for a period of time, either a year or 2 as I recall. This lets
them taste the modern world, and confirm their commitment to the Amish way
of life. He may have escaped at that point in time. In other words they
let people escape and encourage them to go if they wish.

Of course many people glory in their ignorance, and unfortunately some of
them are influential politicians. The governor of TX is a dyed in the wool
creationist, and does not believe in global warming. Half of the TX state
board of Ed. Is creationist.

At least the Amish do not try to convert others to their way of thinking, or
rather force their religious beliefs onto others. Some of them actually are
now compromising with the modern world. They may have a workshop with
modern woodworking tools and a generator to supply it, but they won't have
flush toilets or power in their houses. They mow the lawn the old fashioned
way with a push mower. But then so do I because is exercise,
environmentally sound, quiet, cheap, safe, and I have a tiny lawn.

John M. Clement
Houston, TX



About the only people you can not
blame for modern society's ills are the Amish.

Nor its triumphs. There is a well-known physicist who grew up in an Amish
community. I didn't know this until one day, in casual conversation, I
innocently asked him where he'd grown up. This brought back bad memories,
his
face literally turned red, and he told me and then angrily denounced his
community as nothing but "child abusers." I think he meant in the sense
of
depriving children of a chance to become educated. He managed to escape
the
community while a teenager (maybe 15) and hated it with great passion. My
wife
(a food writer) once interviewed some of them for an article about Amish
cooking
and reported back to me with amazement, "These people glory in their
ignorance."