For the time being,
Spunkie Public School is no more. The sidebar content will remain for now, as we feel it is an excellent resource for anyone who is interested in programs and ministries that are pro-actively serving our public schools.
First of all, we would like to apologize if we offended anyone. While we were hoping to get a reaction from our readers, we assure you that spiteful offense or hurt feelings were not our goals.
However, if you were offended, take this opportunity to truly think about your reaction: much of the phrasing and logic on our blog was similar (and in some cases indentical) to that of the blogs we were attempting to parody. If your reaction to our blog was so visceral, how would you expect, for example, an atheist attending public school to react while reading many of the homeschooling blogs on the internet that make equally wild assertions, "prove" them with scripture, and expect to be taken seriously? Such extremism is harmful to Christianity as a faith, and such detriment is not something that we felt we could sit by and idly watch. Parody was simply the medium we chose to open minds (and, hopefully, we got a few laughs along the way).
Unfortunately, we do not know exactly what rumors and accusations are being passed around behind our backs, and, as such, we are not able to respond to them directly. We have, however, received indication that a considerable amount of gossip is going around in an attempt to discover who is running this blog, and most of it is wrong. We would like to remind you that "gossiping" over the internet and accusing a Christian brother/sister of an offense without first going to him is unscriptural. We are aware circumstantial evidence might seem to point to some particular individuals, but we would like to remind all of you that the internet is a land of numbers and proxies, routers and computers: things are not always as they seem, and making absolute identification of an individual person sitting at a specific terminal is almost impossible. Keeping this in mind, we hope you will not make an ungracious assumption about any blogger without first speaking to him or her.
And, with that, we are going to end our little blog. We hope that you had the happiest of holidays and pray that you will all have a blessed 2006. However, we are still here and have not lost the ability to read and write: if ideas as extreme as the ones parodied in this blog continue to circulate, do not be surprised to hear from us again. Let's remember that our Christian brothers and sisters reside in all segments of the educational community: public schooling, private schooling, and homeschooling and let's keep our eyes and our blogs focused on Christ, the all-sufficient Savior who is indeed very present in all our schools.
And with that, we must sign off for now.
- Spunkie Public School
6 Comments:
I have had a whirlwind of thoughts about your "parody" which you may have intended to cause others to think about their stance. They have the freedom to choose homeschooling if that is where God led them and you have the choice to choose publicschooling, if that is where you are led. Why people can't let others alone is beyond me. I don't think you were personally "attacked" yet that is what you seem to have done in making fun of another site. Some people seem to think "live and let live as long as it doesn't tick me off. " Your site however, seemed like it had the intention of mocking and is anything but gracious behavior. I just don't understand how can can justify being snide and unkind just to make your point. Just by voicing her opinions on homeschooling, Spunky warrants this from you?
I really feel grieved over this.
I second the above. Having a strong opinion is one thing, but openly reviling is another. Comedy and sarcasm are all well and good, but this really crossed the line. I don't know Spunky that well, but I can't imagine how this made her and her daughter feel. I know if I was a 16 year old reading a blog dedicated making fun of me, knowing it was written by fellow Christians, I would be VERY hurt.
As for trying to figure out who is behind this blog, I think if what you were doing wasn't so shameful, you wouldn't have done it "anonymously." The fact that you keep your identity a secret freely shows that you know what you did was wrong. I'm leaving my identity below, even though I've been warned by others not to, because they apparently think you'll come and attack whoever dares to voice opposition. I'm leaving it anyway, just to show you that mature adults don't hide when they have strong opinions. I think what you have done is flat out wrong, and I'm not afraid to sign my name to it.
Plenty of things annoy me in this world. PLENTY! (lol). But I don't go making up blogs to mock what I don't like. I'm a big girl. I just...go somewhere else. It's obvious you have some serious problems with homeschooling in general. Then use your talents to voice your disagreements in a PRODUCTIVE way, one that builds up instead of tearing down. Things like this blog only serve to further the divide.
--Molly
I seldom read and never post on blogs, but enjoyed and will miss this one. I appreciated the use of humor to point out the absurdness of extremist positions, and I enjoyed the laugh. As to the two comments above: huh? The gentleman with impeccable home schooling credentials commented that he got the point and laughed too. You declare humorous parody “mean” and then in the same breath praise diatribes that condemn anybody who does not agree home schooling is the only way. Why? The logic reminds me of my youth pastor, who repeatedly tells both the home schoolers and public schoolers that we are all lesser Christians because we don’t attend the expensive private Christian school he sends his kids too (at the almost-free pastor rate).
How about acknowledging home schooling does not work for everybody and offering support and encouragement for widowed or single parent families who simply can't home school, or educationally-limited parents who who realize they are unable to home school, but still are raising children who are both Christian and educated? No wonder so many non-believers can't see Jesus through all the Christians. I'm reverting to my old opinion that blogging is another term for not having enough to do.
How can God be glorified when a difference of opinions arise?
The 4 G's:
1. Glorify God---was that the heart motivation here?
2. Get the log out of your own eye. Were the heart motivations checked out to see what was wrong personally in hearts?
3. Go and confront. If there was a problem with an opinion, was the issue raised in a respectful manner with the appropriate parties?
4. Go and be ye reconciled. That is what we as Christians are called to be--ministers of reconciliation.
(from The Peacemaker--Ken Sande--highly recommend it)
I pray for reconciliation for all the involved parties. So He may be glorified.
Ann
I would like to tag along to the previous comment. I also pray for the involved parties to be reconciled.
I have read this blog. It seemed to me that the kids (or whoever wrote this blog)were writing because they thought it was an effective way to communicate concerns about other blogs.
I have read other blogs that I assume were the subject of the parody. There have been very condemning words on that blog for the public school community.
There seems to be hurt on both sides. What is said on blogs can cut both ways. Our words should be carefully thought out whether in person or on blogs.
Hi. Sorry to see you go. You provided an "insanely" fresh perspective in this often insane debate. It's unfortunate that so many people misunderstood your use of parody. And it goes (almost) without saying that I think there are good reasons that a Christian might decide to homeschool, and good reasons that a Christian might decide not to. God bless you all.
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