Funny you should mention Bob Jones University. The pastor of the church of my ACE school has his doctorate degree from Bob Jones University. And as previously mentioned in other postings, I was a member of the ACE school for 9 years. I do agree with your point that the curriculum does not allow for person-to-person interaction between students and teachers. (But then again, there were no teachers; only a supervisor and monitors)

Concerning recycling of PACEs, we were never sure what happened to them. We were told that when we were finished with them, they were then shipped to missionaries Who had ACE schools in other parts of the world, where those students could use them and "read them in their own languages." That never really made sense to me because most places where missionaries work do not speak English. But once my brother was assigned a detail of erasing PACEs before they passed out of our hands. As we, the ACE school students, had to do on numerous occasions, we were occasionally assigned details around the "church-school." Many of these details supported other ministries of the church. And some were able to use that as their Christian service when applying for "E Privilege." And some of us found a box of used PACEs from years ago. They were just sitting in some storage shed. And during that clean-up detail, I think those wound up in the dumpster. I finished the year with three outstanding PACEs. It was my last year there. My brother and I totally desecrated them. One of them was a Word Building pace. (By the way, Word Building in the higher levels was a total waste of time. Nothing but busy work.) One was a Math PACE. One was a Social Studies PACE. On the Math PACE, Ace was holding up something. My brother made it look like Ace was holding up his middle finger. And on others, we drew pentagrams on the foreheads of the people and the "F" word on the covers. I know that was bad but we really hated it there.

That was really rude of your pastor to sell used PACEs. I hope they gave some kind of discount.

Many ACE students never finished high school. Only a few of us went to college. And out of the few of us that did, many of us wound up going to fundamentalist schools like Bob Jones University and currently subscribe to the "independent, fundamental" school of religious thought. I had adjusting to a public high school. And later I had trouble even at community college. I served five years in the Air Force. And it was only after that, that I felt ready for college. Nevertheless, I graduated from St. Leo University (Go Lions!) with a 3.5 GPA. That's not really setting the world on fire by some standards. But heck, I survived ACE with half a brain.

The corporal punishment was freely wielded against my posterior. In previous postings I believe I mentioned enduring eight paddlings within about six weeks.

My ACE school also had many children of dysfunctional families. But it seems as if they didn't last long. Some were removed within a few weeks.

I consider myself an opponent of ACE. My plan is to write my story and perhaps have it published. I gravely doubt any Christian publishing house will even think about touching it. And since my targeted audience will be parents, pastors, and school administrators, I have doubts any mainstream publishing house will be interested. I welcome any input you have on any potential publishers.

I have much more to say about my experience during my enrollment as well as the 20-year aftermath. I plan on writing a book on the whole ordeal with hopes of publication. I doubt any Christian publisher will touch it. And since my intended audience will be parents, pastors, and Christian school administrators, I doubt any mainstream publisher will touch it. I do welcome any suggestions you care to make.

I can sum up my whole experience with ACE by a reference to Matthew 23:4. Jesus Christ addresses the crowds, concerning the Pharassees. "For they bond heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers." I felt like we were under the same pressure. We had to teach ourselves while scoring our own work. And on top of that, we had to remember to adhere to the rules of the learning center. That's too much for a child to bear. That's no way to "train up a child..."




quote 93sportster]I stumbled across this thread while looking for Bob Jones University stuff. I have one post on the subject, but wanted to see if there were any more. Nevertheless, I was intrigued at what I found concerning the ACE schools. I served at a church that sponsored an ACE school. In fact, I was on the board of that school. When I confronted the pastor's wife about some of the issues, she said they'd have to change the constitution to remove me.

Anyway, I thought I'd offer my "two cents" to the topic. To begin with, I observed the same issues mentioned by many. The lack of teachers and/or helpers was a major problem. In fact, the school almost lost a student when she had a diabetic attack and couldn't raise her little flag. When another student left her seat to render assistance and get help, she was disciplined. I'm all for discipline, but the type of discipline exercised through the ACE program is senseless. It is an asinine control method that teaches the children nothing. They spend more time waiting for someone to answer their little flag than they do actual work.

Then there is the issue of PACE's. The pastor and his wife would charge the parents for each PACE used, but the students were not allowed to keep the PACE booklets. They'd retrieve them, erase the markings, and "resell" the PACE booklets to the next unsuspecting parents. I always had a serious problem with that practice. In fact, they'd take students out of class to do the erasing. Sometimes it was as punishment, or other times it was for "extra credit."

Another problem with the ACE schooling (at least the one I was involved with) is that the students found it difficult, or almost impossible to be accepted by most colleges. One of our students was turned down by several colleges because she had an ACE high school diploma. By the way, but it was generated off the computer using a certificate template. I was appalled at that. The girl spent twelve years in that school, so the least they could have done is have a diploma professionally made. What she got was a PrintShop creation, and not even on card stock!!!

Enforcement of "the rules" was very lopsided and corporal punishment was meted out without consistency. Many of the children came from seriously dysfunctional homes where physical (and other forms) abuse was the norm, so "paddling" was not an effective means of correction. That was proven when I visited that church a few years ago and saw what the end result was of some of the students that I knew.

As far as I'm concerned, based on what I experienced, I would NOT put my children in an ACE school. Furthermore, the practices of the school I was involved with merit serious scrutiny. It seems to me that it's a means to "make a buck" and satisfy a controlling personality, which the pastor and his wife both had.

Selah!!!![/quote]

OMG- You went to St. Leo? As in San Antonio, FL St. Leo?

Quote
Godisgoodtoall
OMG- You went to St. Leo? As in San Antonio, FL St. Leo?

That's right, St Leo! Go Lions!

Here is a link to a master's degree thesis by Lisa J. L. Kelley that compares ACT scores of ACE students with ACT scores of conventional students.

[www.marshall.edu]

Kelley covers other issues as well, and provides healthy support to my objections against the curriculum.

"Accelerated Christian Education is not accredited by the Association of Christian Schools International, nor is it accredited by any government organization, nor are ACE schools accredited by the states in which they are located (Mayes, 1992)." (Kelley, p. 24)

"ACE places all responsibility of learning on the shoulders of the students..." (Kelley, p.35) I agree with this wholeheartedly. In order to learn, the student must read the information from the PACEs, complete the exercises in the PACEs, grade their own PACEs (while withstanding the temptation to cheat the system by scamming answers off the scoring station,) and keep their work completely free of any scoring errors, while simultaneously dealing with the wrath of a series of principals who had absolutely no business working around children. This takes me back to the Gospel according to Saint Matthew, Chapter 23. Christ really lays the smack down on the Pharasses. He starts by describing them to the crowd. And one thing that sticks out in my mind is when He says, "They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them." (v. 4) And then he starts with his Seven Woes. "...You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to." (vv. 13,14) He sums up this famous discourse by the following summary, "You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you expect to escape from being condemned to hell?" (v. 33) Pretty serious. ACE administrators know God. ACE administrators are the direct representatives of God. That is what we were taught. But sometimes I wonder how many ACE administrators will burning in hell right beside Adolph Hitler, Alister Crowley, and Saddam Hussein.

Anyway, here's another link to an article by DAVID C. BERLINER that really struck a chord with me:

[courses.ed.asu.edu]

Berliner quotes: "Students are not supposed to communicate with other students, get up, or turn around without obtaining permission from a supervisor. Students who are having difficulty are expected to raise a small American or Christian flag signaling that they need help. In many of the Christian Right schools interaction between students has been cut off and intellectual activities in groups rarely occur because group work is not valued. Cooperative learning, which invests some power in and attributes some wisdom to the group, is seen to undermine the relationship of subservience of children to adults and to God. Cooperative learning is considered bad learning."

If cooperative learning is bad learning, then how will a student learn to interact with other students, and creating adults that are terrible at collaborating on group projects in their careers? Take me, for instance. I was always the worst with group projects in high school and my early days of college as well. Things didn't improve until I did some hard soul searching and identified the problem within myself. My problem: when working in a group I felt like my opinion was the only one that mattered, and I took great offense at differing opinions. Once I realized there was a problem, it was easy to examine the feelings I felt in when experiencing conflict in group projects. As soon as I learned to deal with conflict, I welcomed the conflict! In fact, I found myself facilitating the conflict. Of course, I still feel an aura of uneasiness when conflict arises unexpectedly. But I think I handle it pretty good.

Anyway, enjoy the links. I hope and pray I documented them correctly. Perhaps there is something in these papers you can identify with.

databass2001

This all sounds so familiar!

Where are they now? The pastors? The teachers? The students? The church? The church-school?

Let's start out with the pastors. The pastor who had the dream of L-------- Christian School was called to another church. And to plant another "church-school" Rumor has it he was also invited to work with a U.S. congressman on some kind of business deal. I won't divulge the congressman's name but I will tell you he was one of the congressmen who was busted in that ABSCAM* operation. Integrity got the best of the pastor and he cut ties with that congressman. The pastor continues to pastor a church in a different part of the country. The assistant pastor under him picked up where he left off and serves the church today.

It's hard to say what happened to the teachers.
- The principal from year one** (1978-1979) was dismissed before the end of the school year. My sources told me he was a closet drinker, which was strictly forbidden.
- The second principal (year two and year three) went on to pastor an independent baptist church and serve as teacher in their "church-school." That's the last i heard about him.
- The third principal (year four to year nine) (who also served as assistant pastor) was eventually replaced one year after i left. And that was the last year the school used the ACE curriculum. He went on to be removed as assistant pastor. Soon afterwards, his wife left him. My parents occasionally see him in church. My brother occasionally sees him at the bar. I ran into his ex-wife in wal-mart a couple years ago. No wedding ring. And no aura of her former austerity. She addressed me by my former nickname and said, "Remember me? It's R-----!" Apparently she is free of the hold that, in a way, ACE had on her.
- Between year six and year eight (1983-1986) the school brought in a junior high and senior high teacher and opened a new learning center**** specifically for junior high and senior high aged students. Year six I saw approximately eight paddlings under the direction of this teacher. I think it was eight. I stopped counting after seven. My relationship with him did not stop at school. During year eight, he recruited me to be a "Leader In Training" under his AWANA "Pals" club****. During the summer of 1986 I was told that teacher would not be coming back. I believe he also gave up his AWANA leadership position. While in high school a friend of mine told me the teacher came out of the closet. At the time I didn't really believe it. In approximately the year 2000 (or year twenty by my calendar! HA HA!), I read in an online arrest inquiry report***** from a nearby county that a man with the same name and age was arrested for "lewd and lascivious behavior" in the summer of 1986. It makes me really sick to think I was under the care of (and on many occasions, alone with) an alleged gay pervert for three years of my life. I'm sorry to sound so politically incorrect on that. But a teacher doesn't order a student to be paddled so many times unless he is getting some form of gratification over it. I know he had to get something. Because he ordered me paddled for highly questionable reasons. Where is he now? God only knows. Rumor has it he lives an openly homosexual lifestyle. Some of my friends (also alumni of the "church-school") have seen him at local bars. Other than that, God only knows what happened.
- His replacement was an ex-marine who checked his heart and brain at the door to the Kingdom of Heaven. He came in part time and supervised junior high and senior high school students. And, to tell you the truth, most people didn't like him. He was a bad instructor. And his gift of admonition to a 14-year-old (me) involved the words, "You're being a jerk." I was glad to see him go. And where is he now? Somewhere up north. I heard his son hates him. And his daughter died in a double suicide with her boyfriend. That's all I know. My anger against him melts into pity.

The students? I know almost none of them finished high school there. And many didn't even finish high school. I know none of them finished college at a secular 4-year university. And those that went to college attended private "fundamentalist" colleges with questionable accreditation. I'm the only one I know of that got a bachelors degree, and I got mine from a Catholic school! So I guess I know of no one who who attended the school went on to get a degree from a non-religious institution! Of the students I still have knowledge of their whereabouts, I can say with a great degree of certainty they do not have a desire for education. It seems as if the ACE system milked them of that.

But what about the church? The church still exists, with membership growing exponentially. My parents continue to remain active members. Even though I can ever be a member there for reasons that will open up a whole different can of worms if mentioned in this posting, I still consider half of them to be loving people who fear God and keep his commandments.

And last, what happened to L--------- Christian School? The school is still there. Enrollment has approximately 170 students. It appears as if all trappings of ACE have been removed. But the ghosts remain. I know they remain. I remember stepping into the sanctuary in 2004 to stand as best man for my brother's wedding. The sanctuary was painted differently. But I could clearly see the ghosts from year one to year nine. I was sucked back to a time I would be wearing a white shirt and ACE clip-on tie. I remember seeing the ghosts of the students devoured by a poor education. I wondered to myself how many other adults out there are still haunted by those memories that afflict Outwardly, everything now appears to be in order with the school. But I could never send my children there. Because I know where it came from. And I know the price many children had to pay. It took our sacrifices of a quality education to build the L--------- Christian School we know of today

Footnotes:

* Undercover FBI (or maybe CIA) agents disguised themselves as Arabic oil tycoons and offered them bribes and some congressmen accepted them.

** I often refer to the years of my attendance this way because that is how I remembered it. Year one I would have been in the first grade if I attended a conventional school. Year one occurred in the 1978-1979 school year. Year nine occured in the 1986-1987 school year.

*** The learning center is a term that referred to the classroom itself.

**** AWANA Clubs is an organization that serves as a fundamentalist alternative to Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. Those organizations are sometimes considered unacceptable to fundamentalists. AWANA Club members wear scout-like uniforms but most outdoor activities are substituted with activities that circle around Scripture memory, church attendance, and other religious activity. The Pals club is the AWANA club established for 3rd grade and 4th grade boys. Since I was still in school, I was not eligible to be a true leader. I did many activities of a leader but always under the supervision of a true leader.

***** Some Sheriff's Departments make available online arrest inquiries to the public. More recent arrests post the suspect's picture, name, address, charges, arrest date, and arrest location.

I created a myspace to tell you my story of what happened from year to year in L--------- Christian School. The URL is as follows:

[www.myspace.com]

Feel free to check it out. This is where I spill my guts! By the way, the name i give on the account is NOT my real name. It's only a variation of our former anti-hero and propaganda puppet Ace Virtueson. Enjoy!

I am sorry you had a negative experience at a school using the curriculum and system offered by Accelerated Christian Education. I have no connection with the company except as a parent and school staff. But not the company.

I have been a teacher and administrator in Christian schools using Accelerated Christian Education and aBeka, and a teacher in a government school in California. I know many students who have had no problem getting into great government and private universities out of schools and home schooling using Accelerated Christian Education, aBeka, Bob Jones and miscellaneous curriculum. For the most part, universities look first at SAT/ ACT scores, then grades, then outside activities. Two of my three children are now working on Master's degrees. Both used Accelerated Christian Education through high school. We were able, with Accelerated Christian Education to fit the education to the needs of the child and help each progress effectively and efficiently. Each scored well on SAT.

Could it be that the school with which you were affiliated was not whole-heartedly following the process and procedures outlined by Accelerated Christian Education?

Question: What is the objective of an education system? Does that differ from the objectives of an education which is specifically Christian?

I wish you the best in your educational pursuits.

Steve Buerer

[Moderator note: Don't include contact information within posts on this message board, per the rules]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/11/2009 10:14PM by rrmoderator.

You asked the question, "What is the objective of an education system? Does that differ from the objectives of an education which is specifically Christian?"

You ask the wrong questions. You're question concerns a Christian education. The importance of a Christian education is paramount. And we can agree on that. My question to you: What is your definition of a Christian education? Is it solely the responsibility of the school to provide a Christian background, and alleviate the parents of rendering due diligence in that?

"Could it be that the school with which you were affiliated was not whole-heartedly following the process and procedures outlined by Accelerated Christian Education?" All I have to say about that: WTF, man? WTF? ACE had students sitting in their "offices" most of the day working out of PACEs with little to no interaction.

By the way, how were you raised? Did you have to endure nine years of that crap that warehouses kids and warps their minds, converting them into objects of abandonment and shame? Were you "monitored" by monitors who were not real teachers and supervisors who couldn't decipher basic algebra if their lives depended upon it? Were you paddled at least eight times over a six week interval for alleged cheating by a closet homosexual who was arrested for lewd and lacivious behavior during the summer of 1986? Did you have to take a field trip to a funeral home at 7 years old? Were you required to watch "Deceived" (a documentary of Jonestown) at 7 years old seeing all those dead bodies? Were you pulled into all that Lester Roloff letter writing campeign and told our parents might be put in jail if we didn't write enough letters at 7 years old?

One more question. Have you read the other posts from other people? We all can confirm that there is something terribly wrong with ACE. We all are living proof.

Looks like you failed that Self-Test. Now take your PACE back to the scoring table and see how many you got wrong. Don't forget to take you're flag down. Otherwise you'll get a demerit. You're dismissed.

I did NOT get a good education from the ACE school I was in-
it was actually abusive: [outofthesilverchair.blogspot.com]
ACE needs major repair and the school I attended needs to be shut down.