Education; When is Enough?

Our community here in my small town is largely Mennonite. There are a couple different groups of Mennonite that are fairly segregated; the Holdermans and the Germans. The Holdermans have been here for many generations and run a private school for their children. The Germans have only been here for less than two generations and many came from Mexico. In fact, my neighbor who is about my age, lived in Mexico until she was twelve. The German Mennonites attend public school. Both groups only send their kids to school to about the 8th grade. I don't believe all Mennonite communities are like this.


I have no problem with Mennonite customs, religious beliefs or lifestyle...until it comes to education. I can't agree that only educating a child to the age of 14 or 15 is beneficial to them or the Mennonite community. It's not as though these kids don't want to go to school either. There are some, if given the choice, would finish high school and continue on to college.


We are all citizens of a community, a town, a country, and a world. There are very few of us in this life that are so isolated that we aren't affected by others or influence the life of someone else. Therefore as a citizen of humanity isn't it our obligation to educate ourselves as fully as possible (not everyone is PhD material) for the benefit of not only our lives but of the lives around us as well?


My dad has told the story he heard of an Amish farmer. After the nuclear accident at Chernobyl in 1986 the Amish man was asked how he thought it would effect him and marketing his crop. He had no clue about anything that had happened in Chernobyl. The Amish man was furious that his religion so isolated them that he wouldn't be informed of something that could effect his livelihood so drastically that he left the church.


I'm not advocating the break up of the Mennonite church. It just really bothers me that education, what I consider a right, is denied to someone who wants to pursue it. And it bugs me that other people (church elders, etc.) decide what is the 'right' amount of education for someone who isn't even their child.

I've been substitute teaching recently at the local preschool. It really bothers me to see some of the very brightest boys and girls working so hard and to realize that they probably only have nine or ten more years, at the most, of schooling ahead of them. I'm all for the first amendment and the freedom of religion but where is the guarantee of freedom to pursue an education?

9 kids; 3 languages

Over the weekend I had nine kids, including my own, playing at my house. What a crowd! We played ball, rode bikes, drew with sidewalk chalk and ate cookies. Yes, I played too! What a ball it was to have all these kids ranging in age from 1 to 10 playing together.

Only later did it dawn on me just how diverse these kids were apart from their ages. Of the nine kids at my house there were three different languages represented. All the kids spoke English; English is my poor uneducated kids only language.

On one side of our house live these two sisters; ages 8 and 2. Their cousin was over playing too. Although the girls' parents speak Spanish with limited English, the girls speak English very well. I know they can understand Spanish but I'm not sure if they speak it. 

On the other side of our house is a German Mennonite family, not to be confused with Mennonites. I'm not sure what the difference is yet but one of these days I'll figure it out. 

The blonde girl drawing above is 10 and is the aunt of the two blonde boys below.

This little guy is 5.

And this is his little brother who is 3 going on 21. I swear this little dude doesn't think there is anything he can't or doesn't have the right to do! He is 200% wild boy; thank goodness he's not mine.

The little blond boys mother speaks fluent English and German and I hear her speaking German to her boys all the time. Now if you know how an average 3 yr. old speaks you know sometimes it can be difficult to understand their pronunciation of words. The funny thing about this little guy is not only does he speak like an average 3 yr. old but he mixes English and German words together when he talks to me. Then he looks at me like I'm an idiot because I don't understand him. Give me a break kid, I'm still learnin'.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think rural Kansas would hold such diversity.

There are many aspects within these three little families on our block that creates diversity other than just our languages. Whereas I'm still trying to come with terms of the various cultures, religions, lifestyles and languages represented between us, all 9 of these children seem to accept it without question. Even my boys, who've rarely been around people who weren't Caucasian English speakers, have no questions or qualms about accepting and playing with kids from other cultures.

For me, it was captivating to watch all these kids play together uninhibited. The only problems these 9 kids had was sharing the 5 pieces of chalk.

Funny, isn't it that kids can get along so well together in this world when adults can't? What is it about childhood that makes it so easy to get along with others but so difficult in adulthood to accept people's differences?

Thanks for teaching me something today kids!

Mennonite....what does that mean?

When our family began the process of moving to SW Kansas we learned our new community was largely Mennonite. Now I grew up in northern Indiana and had plenty of experience with the Amish but Mennonite was a different story. Were Mennonite and Amish the same? I knew Mennonites drove cars and Amish didn't but what other differences are there? The sort of dressed the same...sometimes.

As we settled into our new home I tended to have some of my questions answered but I finally did a little Internet research to learn more about Mennonites.

The Mennonites broke away from the state church (Catholic or Lutheran) in Europe during the 16th century. About 150 years later the Amish broke away from the Mennonites. Mennonites, Amish and German Baptist (there is a small community of GB's here as well) are all peace churches which means they refuse to join the military but live a life of peace without conflict. Briefly Mennonite beliefs are based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, particularly the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters 5-7). The importance of discipleship is of special emphasis in Mennonite life; community, nonresistance, mission and service.

Here in Montezuma the Mennonite community runs a mission supply office and has built a very nice retirement community/nursing home. Mennonite women are routinely employed at community businesses; the bank, grocery store, pharmacy, etc. Everyone of the Mennonites I have encountered have been extremely warm and friendly, which I can't say for my experiences with Amish. In fact, the Mennonite woman who works at the deli counter went out of her way to show my boys how the meat slicer worked one day!

Where the Amish still live without electricity, cars and other modern conveniences the Mennonites are not nearly as strict in appearance and lifestyle. I was surprised to learn in fact that it would be difficult to identify the majority of Mennonites from most people in the larger society. That isn't the case for Montezuma, KS however. Montezuma is still a very conservative Mennonite community.

Although the above shows a group of Mennonite women, I didn't take this photograph. I found it on the Internet. I felt weird trying to discreetly take pictures of the local Mennonites. But the Mennonite women here look very much like those in the photo. They wear homemade, long dresses and cover their heads with black caps and wear simple shoes.

I haven't noticed many Mennonite men who wear hats nor do they wear handmade clothes. Apart from DR's mustache, he could pass for a Mennonite man. Mustaches are a symbol of the military to many conservative Mennonites. The Mennonite community here drives cars, uses cell phones and has electricity. The Mennonites do not use the town pool or go to public school. I'm not sure if they watch television or go to the movies; I think it may be a personal preference. They do have their own school on the outside of town near their church.

Although many of the Mennonites here are farmers I never understood why so many of them settled in Kansas rather than better farmland in the Midwest for example. I found the answer to that question too. The first century of Mennonite history is marked by great persecution; imprisonment and torture. Therefore, many groups stayed on the move in Europe and later in North America seeking religious freedom. The first permanent settlement in North America was in Pennsylvania.

One large community of Mennonites had established themselves in southern Russia (Ukraine) by invitation of Catherine the Great in 1800. By 1870, much of their religious freedom was gone however and many wanted to emigrate to North America. The 1870's and 80's saw tens of thousands of Russian Mennonites arrive in the Great Plains and western Canada, where the railroads were eager to have these people noted for their excellent farming practices settle the land. One such group brought their seed wheat, the "hard" winter wheat that would transform wheat farming in North America. In fact I bought a 25 lb. back of whole wheat flour at the local grocery that was grown and milled right here in Montezuma by a Mennonite family.

In a short time I have come to love living here in Montezuma and I think that a lot of that has to do with the Mennonite community. They have been welcoming and warm and always with a smile on their faces. Their sense of community doesn't set boundaries to their own kind but welcomes all people and that has been very comforting as we settle in.

Note: I found most of my information on the Mennonites from these websites;

http://www.bethelks.edu/bc/aboutbc/mennonites.php and http://www.thirdway.com/