[ghotli]

Living in the south in America I've encountered this mindset over and over. One of the best people I ever hired, absolutely top tier intelligent and productive, completely believed in the young earth theory and that dinosaur bones were placed there by god. Not exclusive to catholics, southern baptists, etc. Just "religious people in the south".

It's depressing and my cousin's son who is being home schooled by the same sort of religious mother is just criminally under-educated for his age. We don't live in a small city, one of the larger ones in America. It's just sad to see that this is often the status quo around here.

[sofixa]

> my cousin's son who is being home schooled by the same sort of religious mother is just criminally under-educated for his age

That's why home schooling is just a terrible thing to allow to happen to kids. They can't choose what bullshit they're fed at home, mandatory free public education to some level is the main thing that can help them have a decent start at life.

[marssaxman]

There is no panacea. Many children may be tragically under-served by their home educations, but a great many children are tragically under-educated in the public school system, too.

My partner and I, not at all religious, are home-schooling our eleven-year-old because the public school was completely failing him. Pandemic-era zoom classes were especially worthless. By contrast, a few hours of parental attention each day has him thriving. We have the freedom to work with his natural curiosity, and the normal variations in the pace of skill development, instead of boxing him into a fixed curriculum.

[mbg721]

Is that genuinely true of Catholics in your area? I had thought the organized structure of the brand made them far less prone to young-earth theory than non-denominated Protestants.

[kube-system]

In practice, most people are more influenced by their environment than they are influenced by official doctrine.

[mbg721]

If so, that's disappointing. Catholicism specifically takes pride in being immune to that.

[kube-system]

They do a decent job, but members of Catholicism aren’t entirely immune to psychological biases.

If you grow up as a catholic in the south, you’re in the minority. Sunday mass is just a small part of someone’s week, and you’ll spend most of your time around Protestants.

Most people are heavily influenced by their peers, and it can be pretty jarring for someone to accept that an ideology they’ve surrounded themselves with is wrong.