In many ways, Amish youth do not have a real choice because theirKraybill is spot on in his assessment that Amish kids don't really have an option in whether they join the church or not. But it's where he goes with it from there, that's the problem. How he can (in good conscience) put a positive spin on, what would normally be referred to as deception and manipulation is beyond me. Considering he's a social scientist, Kraybill's failure to recognize, that what he is describing is a social time bomb, has to be a dereliction of his duty to science.
upbringing and all the social forces around them funnel them toward church
membership.
for the majority who do join, the illusion of a choice
serves a critical function in adult life. Thinking they had a choice, adults are
more likely to comply with the demands of the Ordnung later in life.
Without the perception of choice- the opportunity to sow wild
oats- adult members might be less willing to comply with church rules, and in
the long run this would weaken the community's ability to exercise social
control. Many rowdy youth are "reaped" later by the church in the form of
obedient adults who willingly comply with the Ordnung because they believe they had a choice. Thus,
the wild oats tradition yields a rich harvest for the church- a cornerstone in
the group's ability to develop compliant adults.
And yet, none of this takes into account the historic importance of "choosing membership" in the founding principles of Anabaptist doctrine. The real story is; how did a sacred component of Amish faith become an empty farce? Nothing more than the crass machinations to be expected from a "run of the mill" dictatorship.
And why is it that the Amish (being the good people, a lot of us know them to be) haven't been able, through reform, to address this issue?
Shame on you Kraybill, for portraying vitality where there's only empty decay!
1 comment:
In this segment of writing, I have to disagree. I don't see Dr. Kraybill as making a statement about whether this is a good thing or a bad thing - he seems to be pointing to the reason, he believes, the Amish successfully reap "compliant (read submissive) adults".
It feels to me that much of your feelings and thoughts surrounding the Amish - English relationship are black or white without any shades of gray.
Do you really believe that police didn't begin to search for your wife's father because he was Amish until a non-Amish friend spoke up?Do you really believe that ANYONE views the lives of the Amish girls killed in the Nickel Mines tragedy less important than those of the VA tech tragedy.
I simply don't see Amish as being victims of the same prejudicial circumstances as say, African Americans or Gay and Lesbians.
In many ways, the Amish message is that we (amish) ARE different and don't want to assimilate in many ways yet as life becomes more technilogically driven and the traditional Amish life becomes threatened we all (amish and english alike) need to find ways to peacefully co-exist. I don't see agencies being unwilling to help the Amish (in circumstances of rape or abuse) and do believe that SILENCE is deadly. But rather than pointing fingers at people who speculate about the situation and simply shake our heads - we need to figure a way to intigrate without immersing each other. This culture within our culture is one that is as foreign to some of us as tribes in Ethiopia are.
And how can we help those who choose to leave the Amish culture assimilate into English life?
I don't think there are clear cut answers. Name calling is not helpful, suggestions and communication are.
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