Questionable Catholic Identity Of Seton Home Study School

[PaxCordisJesu]

On 12/22/2013 at 12:10 AM, dells_of_bittersweet said:

Is anyone here familiar with the national Catholic home schooling group Seton Home Study School? I regret to say that I am a graduate. Academically, it is overall quite good (although I think they make some very poor choices in how they teach certain material-but that's another discussion). However, in some regards their high school curriculum reflects the opinions of the people who run the school rather than actual church teaching. For example:

 

1. Use of science textbooks printed by Abeka Books, printed by hardcore protestant fundamentalists. These state that evolution is a heresy and that all good Christians must believe in 6 day creationism. Furthermore, they are quite adamant that "theistic evolution" is unbiblical.

 

2. Use of economics and government textbooks printed by the same crazy people at Abeka. The economics textbook denies Catholic social teaching all over the place, and the lesson plans ignore the theological problems in it. The economics book has a libertarian outlook to it. The government text even has a big smiling picture of J. Strom Thurmond. 

 

3. Every single religion text was originally written prior to Vatican II. Purposefully ignoring a major church council should set off alarm bells. 

 

4. Several books expressly deny Vatican II's declaration on religious freedom. 

 

5. The religion text for senior year is written by someone without any formal theological training or credentials. 

As a (soon!) to be Seton graduate, I'll try answering from a student's perspective. Note: I have not read this entire thread, so I apologize if I repeat what others have already said.

1. Seton no longer uses Abeka books for science (at least I've never seen them). They now produce their own Catholic science textbooks. It's better to use Protestant science textbooks than secular surely? Anyway, in their lesson plans they include supplementary readings, which clarify, correct, or further look into certain topics. This is probably what they did when they used these books.

2. They now have their own Economics class, but their Government is still Abeka. Have yet to start it, so I can't really answer this. However, if it teaches anything that goes against Catholic teaching, then you can be sure that it will be addressed in the lesson plans.

3. Well, firstly, almost all the good religion books I've ever come across are pre-Vatican II, they're the only ones that actually teach anything! They just need to be slightly updated (change the dates of the feast days mentioned, fix the section that says cremation isn't allowed, etc.) Secondly, they're not ignoring Vatican II. Vatican II did not change dogmas, and since that's what religion books teach, what's the problem? And finally, Seton does use recently published religion books, including an excellent one on moral theology.

4. I don't know what books you're talking about, but in all the Seton books I've ever used anti-religious freedom is not an issue. In fact, I remember very clearly in my American History and American Literature classes that one of the reasons America became a refuge for Catholics was because of religious freedom, and that those same Catholics fought for religious freedom. It was from these two courses that I came to realize the importance of religious freedom. Trust me, any kid who goes through Seton will learn the same!

5. Seton has multiple religious courses to choose from, but all the ones I've used were either written by a priest (and I think all priests have degrees in theology, yes?) or by someone with a Ph.D in theology. And they all have the Imprimatur and Nihil Obstat.