One is simply that America has the best Universities in the world.

I defnitely agree. I went to graduate school for four years, and most of my classmates were international. They told me that the USA was the best place to go for their PhDs. The best international undergraduate students go to US universities. The best of the best then go on the US grad schools. Unfortunately, that makes the competition a lot tougher for domestic students, but it is nice to see the international approach in our universities and be exposed to different cultures. Too bad US Homeland Security policies and fees are discouraging many international students.
zandperl | Homepage | 01.20.06 - 5:12 am | #

I found this quote in the book "what's so amazing about grace" by Phillip Yancey; "the great Christian revolutions, come not by the discovery of something that was not known before. They happen when somebody takes radically something that was always there."

Keep up the great posts! God bless
Jennifer
thepatriot15 | Homepage | 01.20.06 - 5:34 am | #

Hey guys, thanks for stating your broader understanding and agenda. Intelligence and character combined has to be the goal and its great how you guys and homeschooling in general work towards that.

Something that I was realizing as I read your post (and this isn't going to be all that clear) was that maybe there are more broad issues involved for christians--particularly racial/financial segregation. You mentioned that your primary audience is homeschoolers and at the risk of starting a 'holy huddle' discussion I'll go there for a bit because I think it can be done constructively (and it almost never is, mostly with an accuser being condemning). Obviously we can't all just change the world--something big I've learned from your big little brother Josh is to think globally and act locally (and that gives me a lot of encouragement to be a teacher and my fiance for being a future homemaker/homeschooler maybe). We all need a particular audience, we're not going to all be MLKJ changing the world and you guys are doing that and doing it well.
But something that I learned when I moved from the suburbs to the city is how real segregation is, including that of churches. Something I learned was how aware christian minority folks are of white christians and how unaware white folks are the other way. Mainstream christian discussion has addressed this somewhat but more could be done.
Anyway, particularly with homeschooling many outsiders see it as a withdrawal away from the world and away from problems. Obviously thats not true and its not always wrong to withdraw--like I said you have to act locally--but I guess I'm wondering what kind of conversation you seek to have and lead others to have with the outside world--at least maybe in the arena of practical servanthood and also especially with issues of race because minorities are often much more aware of that than we are in the suburbs. I realize technically you guys are a minority because of your moms background but maybe its a geographic suburb/urb thing. I think that discussions on race are going to be important for younguns like us. Email me your thoughts or anyone else out there that wants to, sorry to ramble.
Keep up the good work, when I have homeschooled kids I'll make this site the homepage.
billmelone | 01.20.06 - 9:17 am | #