Republicans, Racism, and the ritual abuse of children: The ABC's of A.C.E.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > C-SPAM > Republicans, Racism, and the ritual abuse of children: The ABC's of A.C.E.

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rudatron: May 31, 2011; by Fluffdaddy

Its a documentary in real time

# ? Oct 19, 2017 05:36

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# ? May 5, 2024 03:54

StashAugustine: Mar 24, 2013; Do not trust in hope- it will betray you! Only faith and hatred sustain.

Nanomashoes posted:

It's a quote and actually it's true but only for Plutonis.

im glad he had the strength to share it with us

# ? Oct 19, 2017 05:38

FormerPoster: Aug 5, 2004; Hair Elf

Plutonis posted:

When I was in junior high, I was minding my own business alone at a lunch table when two white boys walked up to me and started pestering me about my skin color. I was used to it because I was literally the only WoC at my school so I just ignored them. After throwing my lunch in the trash, one boy told me "You know your skin is that color because you were born anally and not vaginally right? All 'colored' people are. I hope that's nice to know!" and walked away.

Being an insecure girl I thought he was telling the truth. I was always ashamed of my skin color for years after. I wasn't ever taught about why people have different skin tones because of my backwater hometown where my family members were literally the only non-white people. They didn't cover anything but "God is great" in every class, including math.

My parents saved up enough money and I got grades good enough to send me to a university in New York. I've met some great people here, but the other day in a discussion group I talked about how I thought PoC were made and that we don't need to be ashamed of ourselves for it. Immediately the class erupted into laughter, including the professor. Then they realized I sincerely thought that way. I'm 22. I never learned better, and I just announced to a class that I was born from a woman's anus. They all got really quiet and the professor mentioned that "things don't work that way" without telling me any more. After class he pulled me aside and told me I was lied to.

I'm so loving humiliated and scared. I don't think I can go back to school. I feel stupid and unwanted and now my classmates are probably going to call me the butthole girl. I need a bottle of wine and preferably some strong painkillers so I can medicinally addle myself to the point where this was all a dream. gently caress this so much. This is what racism and the patriarchy do to us.

Technically, if childbirth goes wrong you can tear your vagina into your anus, so it's quite possible that there are girls of all colors who are 'butthole girls'.

# ? Oct 19, 2017 15:30

Strep Vote: May 5, 2004; أنا أحب حليب الشوكولاتة

lol I went to one of these schools for K and 1st. No wonder I'm a bit hosed in the head. Those were some drat formative years.

# ? Oct 19, 2017 21:17

Club Sandwich: May 25, 2012

still working my way through your excellent posts OP, but thought I'd throw out a question anyway. Can you comment at all on the similarities between A.C.E. and the Chinese education system. I've learned about it mostly second hand from professors, but apparently many Chinese schools teach rigorously state approved curricula that focus largely on rote memorization and less so on critical thinking.

# ? Jan 16, 2018 20:23

FabioClone: Oct 3, 2004; by LITERALLY AN ADMIN

While this is horrific, other people getting a fake education increases the value of my own real one.

# ? Jan 17, 2018 11:38

CuddleCryptid: Jan 11, 2013; Things could be going better

Congratulations on overcoming your lovely upbringing and becoming a actual person, Prester. Apparently all on your own, because these chucklefucks certainly didn't help.

I am a bit confused about how the education gets passed as actual teaching though. I was under the impression that homeschooling was under the yoke of a state-run testing system that required at least minimum levels of competencies to prove that the kid is being properly taught. Was that not a thing where you were?

# ? Apr 9, 2018 17:45

PT6A: Jan 5, 2006; Public school teachers are callous dictators who won't lift a finger to stop children from peeing in my plane

DreamShipWrecked posted:

I was under the impression that homeschooling was under the yoke of a state-run testing system that required at least minimum levels of competencies to prove that the kid is being properly taught.

lol of course not, that would infringe on ARE FREEDOMS [to abuse children]!

# ? Apr 9, 2018 17:52

CommieGIR: Aug 22, 2006; The blue glow is a feature, not a bug; Pillbug

Have we brought up the trash that is Abeka and their horrible Home School book series yet?

Contains such wonders as this:

I think some of the Abeka series pushes Geocentrism as well.

RationalWiki's list of Fundie Schools is useful as well:
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Fundie_school

# ? Apr 9, 2018 17:56

Prester Jane: Nov 4, 2008; by Hand Knit

DreamShipWrecked posted:

Congratulations on overcoming your lovely upbringing and becoming a actual person, Prester. Apparently all on your own, because these chucklefucks certainly didn't help.

Thank you, I just don't know what else to say, so thank you.

quote:

I am a bit confused about how the education gets passed as actual teaching though. I was under the impression that homeschooling was under the yoke of a state-run testing system that required at least minimum levels of competencies to prove that the kid is being properly taught. Was that not a thing where you were?

While it varies from state-to-state, broadly speaking your impression of things was correct 20 or 30 years ago. However Decades of political activism and legislative support (e.g. RFRA laws) has changed things to such an extent that these facilities very often operate with literally zero government oversight.

And I do mean literally zero, and that implies everything you think it does. There are literal child torture camps operating right now in the full light of day that the local authorities are unable to do anything about. In some states these child torture camps don't even need to register with local authorities. They exist solely to enable Psychopaths to live out their power fantasies by abusing children, and the products of these environments either become part of the system that created them or have almost no future to speak of. (Those who try to break away from this system have an incredibly high suicide and addiction rate, to say nothing of the fact that most of us have experienced homelessness at some point as well.)
This is an article about an Ace Facility who's abuses came to light in 2016-
The Daily Beast: Rapes, Daily Beatings, and No Escape: Christian School Was Hell For These Boys.

The Daily Beast posted:

Boys who acted out, or refused to obey, might have their heads shaved like Jacob. Attempts to run away were allegedly penalized with food: an all-bean or asparagus diet or being made to chug water then denied use of the bathroom. They were all allegedly beaten�with bare hands, paddles, and boards. Jacob�whose new guardian is now suing Thompson and Waldeck for the maltreatment the boy allegedly endured there� said he was thrown into a wall when he wouldn�t confess to breaking a bench.

�Mr. Thompson was very aggressive when it came to paddlings,� said one former student, reached through Facebook, who says he was sent to Blue Creek Academy for drinking and smoking pot. The boy, who asked not to be named because of his remaining ties to Blue Creek staff, said that he was hit nearly every day with Thompson's bare hands or a two-inch thick wood plank with holes they called �The Hillbilly Hot Seat� for lying, or cursing, even singing a secular song in the shower.

.......

Kanawha County Child Protective Services went out to investigate Jacob�s abuse allegations and interview the boys at Blue Creek. When they got past Thompson, who initially refused to let them in the door, they found seven boys who all disclosed allegations of abuse and neglect by Thompson. The caseworker wrote that, in her interviews, the children told her Thompson had left marks from beatings and his poor supervision allowed for the molestation of several children; guns, drugs, and alcohol were also being brought on campgrounds. The official finding was maltreatment.

�There was a lack of oversight,� said Troy Giatras, the attorney litigating a case for Jacob�s guardian against Thompson, Waldeck, and Blue Creek Academy. �The corporal punishment, the manual labor, the isolation, and the allegations of abuse that were never investigated? Other kids have reached out to us, so I know this isn�t an isolated incident.�

�You have a place that is operating without a good charter and not well supervised by the Department of Health and Human Resources, and parents with troubled kids who are expecting a religious school to help.�

........

While the children could be removed�because Blue Creek was unlicensed as a residential home�the Department of Children and Families had no power to shut the boarding school down. Like thousands of other religious private schools around the country�many of which become havens for abuse�Blue Creek Academy operated unlicensed, unregulated, and wholly unmonitored by the state. The only avenue for closure rested with the Board of Education, an entity that until then, had also had minimal interaction with the school.

As in many other states, religious private schools in West Virginia aren�t held to the same standards as their nonreligious counterparts. Though the ways in which they are exempt varies from state to state, for many schools that operate with a religious mission�80 percent of private schools nationwide�accreditation or licensing, the hiring of certified teachers or the approval of curriculum, or even simply notifying the state as to its existence is completely voluntary.

�It�s a little scary when you think about it,� Betty Jordan, executive assistant to West Virginia�s Education Superintendent told The Daily Beast, explaining Blue Creek�s �Exemption K status,� a category that simply requires any religious school to send a letter to the state of its intent to operate and file annual test scores.

"There is very very limited oversight. Actually there is no oversight. So basically if I wanted to tomorrow, I could write a letter to the state saying I want to open a school and I could open a school.�

There are 130 such schools in West Virginia. Jordan said the exemptions are �hardly ever� revoked.

Someday when A.C.E. is eventually brought down the amount of pedophiles that are operating within this system will make Hollywood seem well-behaved.

Prester Jane has issued a correction as of 20:20 on Apr 9, 2018

# ? Apr 9, 2018 18:16

get that OUT of my face: Feb 10, 2007

DreamShipWrecked posted:

I am a bit confused about how the education gets passed as actual teaching though. I was under the impression that homeschooling was under the yoke of a state-run testing system that required at least minimum levels of competencies to prove that the kid is being properly taught. Was that not a thing where you were?

If they're anything like ultra-Orthodox yeshivas in Brooklyn and Rockland County in New York, they've got friends to ensure that they keep their children ignorant.

# ? Apr 9, 2018 18:42

CuddleCryptid: Jan 11, 2013; Things could be going better

That is absolutely absurd and yet so not surprising. According to some light research, beating kids in school is illegal in 31 states (generally not the deep south, shockingly), and that only applies to actual schools. I can see them using legal loopholes to be "schools but not schools" as an excuse to beat the hell out of their "students".

What you describe really is, as you put it, a cult. Slavish obedience to a person of power within the group, strict controls on thought and action, lack of personal mobility, and utter prohibition of communication with the outside world at large. I am surprised that more of these groups don't evolve into full on death cult status, perhaps due to a lack of a more charismatic leader. God bless america.

# ? Apr 9, 2018 18:44

Paladin: Nov 26, 2004; You lost today, kid. But that doesn't mean you have to like it.

I saw an advertisement for an A.C.E. curriculum school in the Cook Islands the other week. The ad is gone now (it was on ESL Cafe), but it really bummed me out that they were able to export the curriculum to small countries like that and then bring in people from America to sign off on it/give it legitimacy.

# ? Apr 9, 2018 19:59

get that OUT of my face: Feb 10, 2007

Paladin posted:

I saw an advertisement for an A.C.E. curriculum school in the Cook Islands the other week. The ad is gone now (it was on ESL Cafe), but it really bummed me out that they were able to export the curriculum to small countries like that and then bring in people from America to sign off on it/give it legitimacy.

I'm not surprised. The American religious right is responsible for the rise of regressive evangelical Christianity across the world- Latin America and the developing world in particular. Their political power is on the rise in Brazil (a lot of evangelicals are in Temer's cabinet and they're a big support bloc for legitimate fascist Bolsonaro), in Costa Rica (one of them ran for president based on opposition to same-sex marriage and lost, but he won in the first round to cause a runoff election), and in Uganda (which made homosexuality illegal). It's not quite an apples-to-apples comparison with the Saudi monarchy and its promotion of Wahhabism, but they both promote hatred-based religious sects.

# ? Apr 9, 2018 20:30

Prester Jane: Nov 4, 2008; by Hand Knit

get that OUT of my face posted:

I'm not surprised. The American religious right is responsible for the rise of regressive evangelical Christianity across the world- Latin America and the developing world in particular. Their political power is on the rise in Brazil (a lot of evangelicals are in Temer's cabinet and they're a big support bloc for legitimate fascist Bolsonaro), in Costa Rica (one of them ran for president based on opposition to same-sex marriage and lost, but he won in the first round to cause a runoff election), and in Uganda (which made homosexuality illegal). It's not quite an apples-to-apples comparison with the Saudi monarchy and its promotion of Wahhabism, but they both promote hatred-based religious sects.

Not to go all "well actually" here, but well actually:

The Nation. posted:

For years now, evangelical activists from the United States have been injecting themselves into African politics, speaking out against homosexuality and cheering on antigay legislation on the continent. The influence of these groups has been well documented in Uganda. The now-defunct Exodus International, for example, sent Don Schmierer, a board member, to Uganda in 2009 to speak at a conference alongside Scott Lively, a pastor who was later sued by a Ugandan gay rights group for his role in promoting human rights violations against LGBTQ people. The two participated in a disturbing antigay conference, where speakers blamed homosexuals for the rise of Nazism and the Rwandan genocide, among other abhorrent acts. Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, a hard-right Christian group that is active in US politics as well, similarly supported antigay laws in Uganda. At the peak of the controversy over the �kill the gays� bill, Perkins praised the Ugandan president for �leading his nation to repentance.�

But such groups aren�t just active in Uganda. They have promoted antigay legislation in Kenya, Nigeria and Zimbabwe, just to name a few other places. The support ranges from popular agitation and sideline cheerleading to outright intervention.

In 2010, for example, when Zimbabwe began the process of drafting a new constitution, the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), a Christian law firm founded by evangelist Pat Robertson, launched a Zimbabwean counterpart called the African Centre for Law and Justice. The outpost trained lawyers for the express purpose of putting a Christian stamp on the draft of the new constitution.

The African Centre joined forces with the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe (EFZ), an indigenous organization, to promote constitutional language affirming that Zimbabwe is a Christian nation and ensuring that homosexuality remained illegal. These and other hardline views are outlined in a pamphlet distributed by the EFZ and ACLJ. Jordan Sekulow, the executive director of ACLJ, announced that his organization would lobby for Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe in political and religious circles in the event of any controversy over the provisions, despite the fact that Mugabe has been sanctioned by the United States and the European Union for violating human rights. Last year, Zimbabwe�s new constitution, which includes a ban on gay marriage, was approved by an overwhelming popular vote.

ACLJ�s Kenya-based offshoot, the East African Center for Law and Justice (EACLJ), lobbied against Kenya�s progressive new constitution as well. In April 2010, a report on the group�s website called homosexuality �unacceptable� and �foreign� and called for the Kenyan constitution to clearly define marriage as between a man and a woman, thus closing the door on future laws that could attempt to legalize same-sex marriage. In this case the EACLJ was unsuccessful, and the new constitution was approved without any language regarding same-sex marriage.

Pat Robertson�s entanglements in Africa go well beyond Zimbabwe and Kenya.

In 1960, Robertson created the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), which broadcasts through cable and satellite to over 200 countries. Robertson is a co-host on the 700 Club, arguably CBN�s most popular show. From his perch on the show, Robertson has made a seemingly endless variety of inflammatory remarks about LGBTQ people and just about everyone else that does not fall in line with his own religious thinking.

In the United States, Robertson�s vitriol can be brushed aside as the antiquated ravings of a fringe figure. Not so in much of Africa. A survey conducted in 2010 found that 74 million people in Nigeria, Africa�s most populous country, had watched at least one CBN show in the previous year. That�s a remarkable reach, considering Nigeria is home to about 80 million Christians in all.

Robertson�s influence plays into an increasingly hostile political climate for gays in the country. Last January, President Goodluck Jonathan signed into law the Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act, which provides punishments of up to fourteen years' imprisonment for a gay marriage and up to ten years for membership in or encouragement of gay clubs and organizations. The enactment of the law was followed by a wave of arrests of gay men�and widespread denunciation from the international community.

The religious right, however, doesn�t see Nigerian laws regarding homosexuality as a gross violation of human rights but rather as protection of �traditional marriage.� In 2011, on the heels of the Nigerian Senate passing an earlier version of the antigay law, President Obama announced that the United States would officially promote LGBTQ rights abroad as part of its development framework. In response, the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute denounced the administration�s directive for putting �U.S. foreign policy on a collision course with religious freedom.�

MassResistance, a Massachusetts-based organization that bills itself as a �pro-family� activist group, praised Nigeria when the Nigerian House passed an earlier version of the bill that President Jonathan signed into law on January 7. In a statement, the group said that African nations are �feeling the brunt� of the gay rights movement, claiming that the �huge spread of AIDS� and the �breakdown in society caused by the homosexual movement seems to bring more general social destruction in African cultures than in the West.� Antigay laws in Nigeria have enjoyed unequivocal support from some hardline evangelical groups in the United States, with some going so far as to travel to Nigeria to spread antigay sentiment

# ? Apr 9, 2018 20:40

PT6A: Jan 5, 2006; Public school teachers are callous dictators who won't lift a finger to stop children from peeing in my plane

Prester Jane posted:

This is an article about an Ace Facility who's abuses came to light in 2016-
The Daily Beast: Rapes, Daily Beatings, and No Escape: Christian School Was Hell For These Boys.

Someday when A.C.E. is eventually brought down the amount of pedophiles that are operating within this system will make Hollywood seem well-behaved.

This sick poo poo sounds more like some deranged pedophile sadist's sexual fantasies, more than a place that actually exists where children have been sent and then horribly abused. gently caress these people so much. And gently caress the governments that enable them by not requiring oversight of such "schools." Who the gently caress thinks that's a good idea???

# ? Apr 10, 2018 03:13

Dapper_Swindler: Feb 14, 2012; Im glad my instant dislike in you has been validated again and again.

loved the thread in GBS. i am glad its back.

Prester Jane posted:

Not to go all "well actually" here, but well actually:

yeah its loving awful what this fuckheads are doing. exporting their backward reactionary bullshit. i know the evangelical right got deep in bed with the russians during the obama years. it wouldnt surprise me if thats how the russians wormed their way into the GOP as deep as they did.

# ? Apr 10, 2018 03:39

Prester Jane: Nov 4, 2008; by Hand Knit

PT6A posted:

This sick poo poo sounds more like some deranged pedophile sadist's sexual fantasies, more than a place that actually exists where children have been sent and then horribly abused. gently caress these people so much. And gently caress the governments that enable them by not requiring oversight of such "schools." Who the gently caress thinks that's a good idea???

I mean A.C.E. was literally created by a pedophile- Donald Howard was run out of School of Tomorrow (by his own inner circle) because his habit of having sex with the students at his school became basically an open secret (he wasn't exactly discreet about his proclivities). (A number of important figures with A.C.E. were also prolific pedophiles- Lester Roloff effectively traveled the country with his hand-picked harem of women he had abused at his facilities.) I believe that once you understand that although A.C.E. receives political support from movement conservatism (which it absolutely depends upon for its continued survival), at its root it's a system designed by a prolific abuser to enable his prolific abuse- all other concerns are secondary to that primary goal.

In modern times plenty of other abusers have figured out the game and figured out what A.C.E. is really for and are more than happy to pretend to believe whatever they have to in order to maintain their ability to have absolute power over children. Vice: How Christian Reform Schools Get Away with Brutal Child Abuse

Vice posted:

In 2010, Clayton �Buddy� Maynard�s Heritage Boys Academy in Panama City, Florida, closed following allegations of racial discrimination and severe corporal punishment. When the prosecution lost witnesses in 2011, a criminal case against Maynard was dropped; in 2012, the Tampa Bay Times reported that Maynard was once again housing children at Truth Baptist Church in Panama City. This past May, a GoFoundMe page raised $500 in support of Maynard and the �Maynard Family Children's Home.� Currently, he appears to operate the Truth Baptist Church in Panama City and, according to his Facebook profile, a �Truth for Troubled Youth Ministries.� (VICE was unable to reach Maynard for comment for this story.)

The same whack-a-mole pattern of scattershot oversight can be found across much of the country. Bobby Wills�s Bethesda Home for Girls in Mississippi closed in the 1980s following allegations of beatings with wooden boards, with operators moving on to the now closed Mountain Park Baptist Boarding Academy in Missouri. Alabama�s Reclamation Ranch was raided a decade ago following allegations of torture, yet founder Jack Patterson�who, according to his Facebook page, is a proud disciple of Roloff�continues to run an addiction-focused rehabilitation facility under the same name, now associated with Lighthouse Baptist Church. (Patterson has denied allegations of abuse at his facilities.) Yet another Baptist pastor, Michael Palmer, battled legal oversight over multiple decades and across multiple state and country-wide jurisdictions: In 1991, Palmer closed Victory Christian Academy after the state of California pushed for licensure.

# ? Apr 10, 2018 03:50

Terrorforge: Dec 22, 2013; More of a furnace, really

What's a Star Chart? I'm assuming it's not an astronomical tool.

# ? Apr 12, 2018 14:42

TheGreyGhost: Feb 14, 2012; �Go win the Heimlich Trophy!�

CommieGIR posted:

Have we brought up the trash that is Abeka and their horrible Home School book series yet?

Contains such wonders as this:

I think some of the Abeka series pushes Geocentrism as well.

RationalWiki's list of Fundie Schools is useful as well:
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Fundie_school

Hi, I was homeschooled under Abeka for 9 years until high school sports became a powerful enough reason to talk my parents into letting me go to public school. Then I somehow wandered into a liberal arts college and a business school and came out on the other end weirdly well-adjusted.

That's like, about a 4 out of 10 on some of the things Abeka pushes. You're talking about the people who make that math books that argue Set theory isn't real because it's vague and not absolute (which...yeah there's a lot of issues there). Fortunately, they don't really ramp up the crazy until 7th or 8th grade, so I got out before they were able to ruin my ability to learn science completely. Here are some of the greatest hits off the top of my head:

- The Tower of Babel originated Native Americans and most of the "godless heathen" type groups of people that fundies love to proselytize to. They fell from grace because of the Tower and need to be converted.

- The Trail of Tears was a way of bringing Native Americans back to Christ.

- The Great Depression was mostly propaganda from people like John Steinbeck and actually didn't put many people out of work or foreclose houses. (This one is insane to me given that I had grandparents who were poor as poo poo directly because of the depression)

- Roe is worse than Dred Scott because it made fetuses property.

- Globalization will actually lead to the Left Behind style rapture.

- Critical Thinking should follow the following process (I had to look this one up)

Determine your Choices
Inquire of God through Prayer
Search the Scriptures
Consider Godly counsel
Eliminate worldly thinking
Recognize God's leading
Never compromise the truth

Which, you'll notice never actually has a part where you come to a conclusion or do anything but bootlick the pastor/teacher/whoever.

Basically, for all the press Bob Jones gets, A.C.E. and A Beka might actually be worse, considering a lot of evangelicals consider them the "light" alternative to Bob Jones, when they're anything but.

# ? Apr 12, 2018 15:32

General Dog: Apr 26, 2008; Everybody's working for the weekend

TheGreyGhost posted:

- Roe is worse than Dred Scott because it made fetuses property.

Powerful take

# ? Apr 12, 2018 16:07

Brain Curry: Feb 15, 2007; People think that I'm lazy
People think that I'm this fool because
I give a fuck about the government
I didn't graduate from high school

Terrorforge posted:

What's a Star Chart? I'm assuming it's not an astronomical tool.

It's the ACE Student Progress Chart. You fill it in with stars.

# ? Apr 12, 2018 16:13

Prester Jane: Nov 4, 2008; by Hand Knit

TheGreyGhost posted:

Basically, for all the press Bob Jones gets, A.C.E. and A Beka might actually be worse, considering a lot of evangelicals consider them the "light" alternative to Bob Jones, when they're anything but.

Both Abeka and A.C.E. were created by alumnus / professors at Bob Jones University. A.C.E. was the first to be released and was very much the prototype for this kind of curriculum system, A Beka was created a few years later with the direct intention to improve upon the perceived flaws in A.C.E. (its reliance on the operant conditioning theory was controversial even within the religious right), and Bob Jones's own K thru 12 curriculum system was created to be an improvement upon both A.C.E. and Abeka.

All of them essentially come from the same racist Theocratic/Dominionist roots, but there are varying degrees of exactly how nasty they are to their students. A.C.E. is probably the most physically and mentally abusive, but Abeka and Bob Jones are a bit more subtle and more sinister in their approach.

All of them should have their hands broken with sledgehammers.

Prester Jane has issued a correction as of 18:58 on Apr 12, 2018

# ? Apr 12, 2018 16:27

Prester Jane: Nov 4, 2008; by Hand Knit

Brain Curry posted:

It's the ACE Student Progress Chart. You fill it in with stars.

When you complete a PACE you get a star to put on your star chart. The idea behind the star chart is it shows the student a steady read out of their progress through PACE's during the course of the school year. The more stars on your chart, the more PACE's you have completed and the better a student that you are. There are a few minor variations depending upon the color scheme of the Stars use, sometimes the Stars indicate completing a particular subject, but in my case the stars were used to indicate the grade you had received on a given PACE. Red was the lowest passing grade, and gold was the highest great achievable.

I personally loathe the star charts because in my case they were a significant tool of bullying. Whereas the kids of the Elders got to fill up their star charts with tons of gold stars (because they only actually had to do a fraction of the work that regular students like me had to do, as well as never having to wait to get their flag answered because they permanently had "E-level" priveleges) my star chart was often spares and filled with red and blue stars as a result of poor grades.

More than once I was forced to stay in class during a break and my supervisor would make me go look at the star charts of the church Elders kids and tell me that my star chart would look the same if I just applied myself like those kids did. (Why no, I'm not still bitter about this. What would ever give you that impression?)

# ? Apr 12, 2018 16:34

Brain Curry: Feb 15, 2007; People think that I'm lazy
People think that I'm this fool because
I give a fuck about the government
I didn't graduate from high school

Prester Jane posted:

I personally loathe the star charts because in my case they were a significant tool of bullying. Whereas the kids of the Elders got to fill up their star charts with tons of gold stars (because they only actually had to do a fraction of the work that regular students like me had to do, as well as never having to wait to get their flag answered because they permanently had "E-level" priveleges)

I was only in an ACE school for 6th grade. My clearest memory of that year was constantly waiting for my flag to be answered. I'd already been auditing summer classes at a community classes, and been in academic competitions, so I could rip through a PACE in no time, but I was never allowed to check my own scores. My mom didn't go to that church, so I was always treated as lesser.

That wasn't my first religious school so the spankings were nothing new, but I don't remember learning a single thing besides growing plants in CO2 rich air vs normal air.

I also had to repeat 6th grade when I transferred to public school the next year, and your threads have helped me understand why.

# ? Apr 12, 2018 16:57

General Dog: Apr 26, 2008; Everybody's working for the weekend

My pastor and his wife met at Bob Jones and seem like pretty normal people. I think that was after Bob Jones had had a bit of an image makeover following the whole interracial dating ban kerfuffle.

# ? Apr 12, 2018 18:02

Fat-Lip-Sum-41.mp3: Nov 15, 2003

Naerasa posted:

Technically, if childbirth goes wrong you can tear your vagina into your anus, so it's quite possible that there are girls of all colors who are 'butthole girls'.

Still, they wouldn't emerge from the anus, but rather slide down anal tissue on the way out.

Butthole surfers, if you will.

# ? Apr 12, 2018 18:32

PT6A: Jan 5, 2006; Public school teachers are callous dictators who won't lift a finger to stop children from peeing in my plane

Prester Jane posted:

All of them should have their hands broken with sledgehammers.

loving A. One finger at a time, first.

Every time you post something about these psychopaths, it's shockingly awful, and even though I should learn to expect that, each new level of horror surprises me anew.

I think you're doing a really important thing by collecting these stories all in one place, so "outsiders" get a picture of what's going on.

# ? Apr 12, 2018 18:53

Prester Jane: Nov 4, 2008; by Hand Knit

PT6A posted:

I think you're doing a really important thing by collecting these stories all in one place, so "outsiders" get a picture of what's going on.

Thank you, I am doing what I can to try and bring more awareness to all this. It's such a soul-crushing topic that I've literally decided to never speak publicly of A.C.E. again at least a half-dozen times over the past few years- but I always keep coming back because the nightmares/flashbacks don't stop (they have become less frequent with loads of CBT, but at this point I'm trying to make my peace with the fact that I will probably have these for the rest of my life) and I just cannot live with myself knowing that this is happening to other children and I'm not doing whatever I can to stop it.

Jonny Scaramanga (the activist whose videos appear in this thread) was by far the most well-known and effective Crusader against A.C.E. until his recent retirement a couple months ago. (He basically realized just how deeply racism penetrated both A.C.E. in the American political establishment and decided that this fight was not ending anytime soon/ was destroying his ability to enjoy life in any capacity, so he has walked away from it all.) I don't blame him the tiniest bit and him immensely glad for the contributions he has made over the years.

I've also advertised this thread on the Facebook page for A.C.E. survivors that Johnny started, and hopefully that will draw some more people in here to share their own stories and experiences.

Prester Jane has issued a correction as of 19:18 on Apr 12, 2018

# ? Apr 12, 2018 19:09

A Gnarlacious Bro: Apr 25, 2007; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Prester Jane you are on the side of good thank you

# ? Apr 12, 2018 19:14

get that OUT of my face: Feb 10, 2007

TheGreyGhost posted:

- The Great Depression was mostly propaganda from people like John Steinbeck and actually didn't put many people out of work or foreclose houses. (This one is insane to me given that I had grandparents who were poor as poo poo directly because of the depression)

See this right here? This is why I hold the evangelical Christianity movement with nothing but contempt. Religious fundamentalism of all stripes has this terrifying train of thought that if you're materially poor, it's because of a moral failing. There is no religion that has this view written down, but when you reach a certain point in any of them, it manifests itself in this and other ways. This line of thinking is why Americans who follow this school of Christianity are the biggest supporters of a president who doesn't even pretend to give a poo poo about religion. At their core, piety is second to spite.

You can also see this with Israel (which has staggeringly high income inequality in addition to its colonial policies) and India (where the BJP government mixes Islamophobic Hindutva with neoliberalism), but as an American this obviously hits closer to home.

Thanks for the thread, Prester Jane.

# ? Apr 13, 2018 03:06

BONGHITZ: Jan 1, 1970

Thanks for doing this, it is a good thing.

# ? Apr 13, 2018 17:15

lollontee: Nov 4, 2014; Can't post for 10 years!

oh and thanks for those old dnd threads, they were eye-opening for me. Why'd you change your nick to Prester Jane tho?

# ? Apr 13, 2018 17:41

Darth Walrus: Feb 13, 2012

lollontee posted:

oh and thanks for those old dnd threads, they were eye-opening for me. Why'd you change your nick to Prester Jane tho?

For the reason people usually change their name from John to Jane.

# ? Apr 13, 2018 18:00

lollontee: Nov 4, 2014; Can't post for 10 years!

figured as much, just wanted to check

# ? Apr 13, 2018 18:00

Prester Jane: Nov 4, 2008; by Hand Knit

Darth Walrus posted:

For the reason people usually change their name from John to Jane.

I miss having functional pockets as a standard feature in my clothing- but other than that I have zero regrets :love:

# ? Apr 13, 2018 19:01

nashona: May 8, 2014; Though she be but little, she is fierce

Prester Jane posted:

I miss having functional pockets as a standard feature in my clothing- but other than that I have zero regrets

Look at eshakti if you haven't already. Can change items to your personal specs, decent prices, and POCKETS.

Anyway, thanks for doing this thread. It's been enlightening for sure. I'm sorry you had to go through this experience.

# ? Apr 14, 2018 05:02