Our family has experienced two generations of "edu...

Our family has experienced two generations of "education" from Fletcher Academy.

When my mother attended in the eighties, she was a very disciplined, nearly straight A student. (Barring one B in physics). She was accepted to several universities and chose to go to UNC.

Her favorite subject was French, and she had taken three years of French from Brent Yingling at FA. Sadly, she didn't know she would have been better off with a phrasebook.

Imagine her surprise when she found that she had to start with French I in college. That's like having to take bonehead math after you went through trig and calculus.

This was her first clue as to how the grades are faked at FA. They do not meet even minimal standards in the non-SDA world. They are dummied down and I suppose the SDA "universities" expect to have freshmen who are undereducated and they continue the appalling lack of standards.

Mom found herself struggling even more in college in more difficult subjects such as the advanced sciences, which were not her thing to begin with.

Also, much science is avoided because it does not fit in with deranged Ellen G White's view of the universe or the young earth creationism of the fundamentalists.

In fine, Mom had to play catch up for a year and half to make up for years of substandard, garbage education. She did well but only because she was strongly motivated. I believe another person might have been discouraged and dropped out.

Because she stayed in the SDA church despite everything, plus my father was all in, I had to attend this place for four years.

Again, education standards are not comparable with other schools. If you go to one of the equally poor SDA "universities" you might be ok. Not in a top class state school. Discussions with classmates who attended public schools was like visiting another world, especially in terms of what they read in literature and learned in math.

The FA educational "standards" are concerning enough, but bring in the religious elements and you have a nightmare.

For example, when my grandfather was killed in an accident, the pastor of Fletcher SDA Church told my mother he was "lost" because he was a Lutheran. Another teacher told her she (Mom) was "probably lost" because her parents divorced.

You will never find a more pharasaical, joyless, judgmental group of so-called "Christians" anywhere than in the SDA as she experienced it. Rabid anti-Catholicism, the "health message," forced "ingathering" begging for money, and more are among the features of an "SDA education."

Mom developed an eating disorder but was told by the SDA MD at the medical center she "had demons." To me that says it all. Welcome to the middle ages. Her dorm room was searched and she was told she was "evil" for playing a jazz song on a piano. I could go on for days.

Your religious views are your own business, but if you value education, please send your children to somewhere other than this glorified, overpriced babysitting institution filled with superannuated clueless instructors.