The first interesting elective

I went to a private school when I was a teenager. I really didn't have a choice but I'm not complaining about it.

Some of the things I enjoyed, Chapel every Wednesday morning, where I got out of one class early, skipped the 45 minute program in the gym to hang out in the science lab and had shorter classes for the rest of the day. I played volleyball but Wednesday never had any practice or games since it was a church night and the one year I sat on the bench for the basketball team was the same way.

I never had to ask permission to go to the bathroom and only had to raise my hand in protest -- it was very laid back. The only real times I got in trouble were when I came back from a choral event (another GREAT way to skip classes) and the councilor thought I was skipping and gave me detention when I was actually headed to my class and the time the principal realized I needed corrective lenses for my vision, that I knew and that I still sat in the back of the room. After telling me every day for four weeks to bring my glasses or else, I was moved to the front to sit with the geeks (which didn't help me any -- I'm farsighted and couldn't see the kid next to me's paper!) until I got contacts.


One of the classes I didn't want to miss though was the required Bible class. It's required in private schools but you won't find this class anywhere else but seminaries and maybe in some New England universities. What an interesting class! You don't learn the bible, you learn the history of the bible, the times surrounding when the books were written. What the author was going through when they wrote it. It's extremely interesting!

Now their's a bill to bring it to public schools - as an elective. I hope that passes, not to spread the word but to give kids another opportunity to learn history. Not just American or World history but more specifically in the Middle East. Kids could learn more about the current Iraq war and the surrounding unrest by learning the history of the Bible!