The Devil -v- the National Curriculum

[Jessie]

The School where children are taught computers are the domain of the Devil

This is Croydon’s most secretive religious school – a place that tells pupils the outside world is wicked and computers are the domain of the Devil.

Thou shalt Not:-


Watch Television
Read Fiction
Use mobile phones – or anything which uses radio waves
Own pets
Go to university
Stand in elections
Join any group with non-Brethren members
Wear ties
Go to the Theatre
Take out Life Insurance
Serve in the Army
Visit other Churches
Live with non-Brethren
Share a driveway with an outsider
Marry outside the Brethren
Marry after divorce


This school caters for girls and boys aged 7 – 17. It follows the national curriculum and has been praised by school inspectors. The pupils have achieved remarkable results in their GCSE’s with 94% awarded A* to C grades.

It is run by an evangelical Christian sect called the Exclusive Brethren, which teaches a fundamental brand of bible-based study, plus mainstream courses. Pupils are banned from using computers and the Internet and there is no sex education.

The school relies on fees from parents and donations from the Brethren, a tight knit community. Members of the Brethren believe the outside world is evil so they cut themselves off completely. They are not allowed to have friends outside the Brethren and have minimal contact with other members of the public. Anyone who leaves, or is expelled from the sect, is shunned - even by his or her own family.

Leavers are seen to have chosen the Devil over God and are regarded as a threat because they could bring members into contact with the sinful world.

It gets even stranger…

The Brethren work only in Brethren-owned business, and their meeting halls have no windows. A rigid code of behaviour is set in place by their leader, known as the Elect Vessel, which all members of the closed community must follow.

Computers and the Internet are regarded as tools of the Devil so pupils at the Brethren’s Croydon School do not learn any IT skills. Instead they are encouraged to focus on strict Bible teaching and family values. When they leave school the children work in Brethren-run businesses such as packaging manufacturers.

For some reason Ofsted have heaped praise on the sect’s 43 schools across the Country; however, the standard of education on offer has come under attack. Doug Harris, director of the Reachout Trust Charity, which provides support for former members of religious sects, said, “I just don’t know how children get a good education. If a family is really committed to all they say, not only do they not have access to computers, they do not have radios, TV or newspapers, so how can they delve into modern politics or the issues that affect us all? The children are over-protected and don’t have a life”.

The Brethren put up such a clear perimeter around them saying that no-one can leave the boundary and you have to do as they say. If you do leave the group, it can mean your family doesn’t speak to you – it isn’t exactly helpful.

Trustee, Kevin Stanley says, “We are just trying to educate the children free of drugs, sex education and other evils of the modern world. They learn without IT because we believe they can be taught better that way and I think the results show that. The Brethren are very private and because they don’t impact on the rest of the community they want to keep it that way”.

[Admin]

I'd never heard of them.

They sound as if they operate like a cult although I'm no expert on cults.

There's more info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exclusive_Brethren

It seems like an odd way to live. If we all thought like that progress in technology etc., would come to a standstill.

I wonder if they shun the benefits of modern medicine?

[Eddiesilence]

It strikes me that they are as cultic an outfit as it gets.

Despite preconceptions, cult 'brainwashing' is not primarily achieved through such brutal techniques as sleep deprivation or physical abuse. The central tool of thought-reform is the use of sequestration. Professor Robert Jay Lifton, the preeminent cult expert in the world today, uses the term 'milieu control' to describe the physical, emotional and intellectual sheltering of converts from the world in general.

It is evident from the list above, and even from their name, that the Exclusive Brethren are such a mind-controlling operation - if the above list is accurate then clearly the Brothers completely deny their members contact with general society. The list of exclusions given above is more restrictive than any I have seen; I would feel more liberated in a North Korean re-education camp.

Such exclusions serve an obvious purpose: out in the wide world, one is likely to come across clear contradictions to the orthodoxy of the cult. It is safer for the cult elite to shield their charges from contrary evidence. If no other cosmologies or realities are experienced, there will be nothing to compare, and therefore no disagreement can occur. Thus separated from consensus reality, and then given continual exposure to fantastical stories and magical explanations which redefine 'reality', thought reform is a fait accompli.

Schizophrenia is often described as a detachment from reality. It strikes me that the Exclusive Brethren, along with the hundreds of other cult groups active in the UK today, are not carrying out the work of a beneficent deity but are actually engendering a pernicious form of social schizophrenia.

Gits.

[Jocky]

I've heard of these guys ...

I was brought up in a small fishing town in North-East Scotland, where the Brethren were quite a force. My favourite babysitter was a member, and I seem to recall that she was sent to Coventry by her entire family at one point for some kind of minor transgression. The details escape me now, but I remember thinking at the time that they were off their heads.

They were considered reclusive and backward even by the standards of a small, tight-knit community which wasn't that keen on outsiders. They didn't have the power to open their own school though (there were Brethren kids in the primary school I attended, but they didn't talk much).

Coming across them in Croydon is bizarre indeed. How do they manage to live up to all that in the middle of a city?

[Mongrel]

Coming across them in Croydon is bizarre indeed. How do they manage to live up to all that in the middle of a city?


'Croydon' covers quite a large area and a lot of it is still quite nice when coming on from the south side :) Still we get them in Redhill, don't know if they're from the same group mentioned but they generally get along by pretty much ignoring everybody else and not using cashpoints or debit cards. Anecdotally I heard that they get along quite well by being very good mechanics, specialising in farming machinery\vehicles, and are more than happy to charge a premium for it

[Jocky]

True - there's nothing in Jessie's excellent list of their funny ways which says they can't have commercial dealings (provided they don't take plastic, I guess). They ain't the Amish.

I suppose that as the cash economy gradually boecomes more sidelined, groups who behave like this will gradually find their principles a bit harder to maintain.

Incidentally, I bet they don't charge a premium to other brethern. If you want your car fixed on the cheap, perhaps you better join up, mongrel ;D ;D

[Mongrel]

Two problems there...
1) I don't own a car

2) I don't own a car ::) heh, Red Dwarf aside trying to strike up a conversation with them is nigh impossible.

[Jocky]

Yes, they were a pretty dour bunch as I remember ... still, that's the price of entry into Heaven, I guess :)

We have strayed a bit from the original topic of these strange people running a school :o I have a couple of questions, if anyone knows the answer

1. Jessie said that

pupils at the Brethren’s Croydon School do not learn any IT skills
How do they get through the National Curriculum? Surely some level of IT is required??

2. Do they teach Creationism, or is that not their poison?

[median]

Mmm I.T. skills isn't that an oxymoron? ;D

[tkingdoll]

No Internet??!!!!

That's my worst nightmare.

Although, one man's meat, etc. Hubby and I made the decision just after we got married not to have a TV aerial in our home, which basically means that we have a TV and DVD player, and lots of games consoles, so we can entertain ourselves as mindlessly as we like, but we don't recieve any broadcast channels.

It works very well (in fact my sis and her chap follwed suit a few months later), but many people are horrified when they find out.

A woman I used to work with was also newly-wed, and when she learned of our self-emposed TV famine, she looked aghast and said "but what do you do in the evenings??!". She simply couldn't comprehend a life without her regularly scheduled programmes. I replied "we have conversations."

Suffice to say, she is now divorced.

[vbloke]

Despite the fact that I have a lovely new large TV - I watch maybe 1 hour of TV a week - mostly Dr Who, documentaries and have the news on in the morning when I wake up.

Most of my free time is spent reading, going out, astronomy-related activities, studying or a myriad of other activities. I really don't see the big fuss about TV - it's nice to have one, but to eschew all other forms of entertainment in favour of it is weird, IMHO.

I fail to see how these children can be getting such good grades if the reject and refuse all modern trappings, such as politics, TV, computers, etc. I can recall learning how TV worked when I was at school.

However, if it is a private school - they don't have to teach the national curriculum, if I recall correctly. I could be wrong here, though. If so, then all they are doing is brainwashing an entire generation of kids into their way of life and that should surely ring some alarm bells at Ofsted and the local council.

[tkingdoll]

ARRRGH!

There is no 'of' after myraid, as myriad means 'a multitude of'.

Sorry, pet hate. Carry on!

[vbloke]

both uses are correct (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myriad)


In English, the term "myriad" is most commonly used to refer to a large number of an unspecified size. In this way "myriad" can either be used as an adjective or a noun. Thus "There are a myriad of people outside" and "There are a myriad people outside" are both correct.

[Admin]

I agree with tkingdoll in the strict sense that 'myriad' means: a multitude of.

So... there should not be an 'of' after its usage but there should also not be an 'a' infront of it either. ???

e.g.

The are are a myriad of ways...(wrong)

There are myriad of ways...(wrong)

There are a myriad ways...(wrong)

There are myriad ways...(right)


It's just an unusual word that is very easy to misuse.

[tkingdoll]

OK, something weird is happening here. MY post, which is reply to VBloke, reads:


I dispute that. Perhaps misuse has led it to become more acceptable, but neither of the two examples are correct either. The correct phrase would be "there are myraid people outside".

Mutter mutter complain about degradation of English language mutter mutter whatever next mutter mutter leverage mutter mutter.

But it has somehow appeared as part of VBlokes post!

Weeeeird. How can I fix that?

ETA: fixed it, I must have hit 'modify' instead of 'quote' when I replied.

Dammit, I don't know my own mod strength!

Sorry VBloke!