John and Alyssa Webster 14: Is It Time to Say the Family Is Complete?

[Melissa1977]

Poor Alyssa. I know she is vain and has hateful beliefs, but I have a soft spot for her. I tend to feel sorry for introverted fundie children who had to survive the chaos. She broke some Bates rules after she married and showed a bit of personality. I think that John was a good partner for her then... but she was 19 and now she is almost 30. While not a deep thinker, she has probably matured. I can't say John has matured. On the contrary, he seems more and more childish (a way to get more attention than the kids? Some people react like that when having kids). So they were a cute young couple with similar interests, but I'm not sure it's working the same way now. 

I don't see them divorcing. They are probably still fine. And if they (or Alyssa) are not fine, they are raised to shut up and overcome it. In addition, divorcing with 5 kids and no job is extremely hard. 

I doubt they will put the girls at school, but one can hope they go more often to the co-op. I do think Rhett will eventually go to a private school. In 10 years Daniel Webster won't keep his power against it. 

[gobucks]

It is so disgusting that a college educated man (Taliban Dan) exerts his control over his children by downplaying education. He received a very tough engineering degree from a reputable school to start his business yet finds no value in his children obtaining any education for themselves or even for the betterment of the family business. 

[Giraffe]

25 minutes ago, gobucks said:

It is so disgusting that a college educated man (Taliban Dan) exerts his control over his children by downplaying education. He received a very tough engineering degree from a reputable school to start his business yet finds no value in his children obtaining any education for themselves or even for the betterment of the family business. 

I was thinking about this yesterday. It's so bizarre to me how many fundy parents have college degrees and yet academically tie their children's hands behind their backs. (I know Alyssa didn't attend college. But Gil & Kelly did)

Edited July 30 by Giraffe

[Melissa1977]

6 hours ago, Giraffe said:

I was thinking about this yesterday. It's so bizarre to me how many fundy parents have college degrees and yet academically tie their children's hands behind their backs. (I know Alyssa didn't attend college. But Gil & Kelly did)

They think that girls don't need college, they will be wives and mothers after all. Regarding the boys, I'm sure most fundies are so entitled that they think their homeshooling is better than accredited schools and that their boys a) won't need college or b)will be able to pursue a college degree because they are well prepared. I have no doubt that many upper/middle class fundies have regretted homeschooling and have faced the truth: their sons cannot be engineers, doctors, architects, lawyers, bank workers, etc like dad is. It's easier when families have a business to employ sons, but with several boys, there's no job for eveybody. So well paid doctors have sons with low income jobs, because their awful academic level. And while it's possible to study later in life, for many people it's too difficult or don't have money/time.

 

[Giraffe]

24 minutes ago, Melissa1977 said:

They think that girls don't need college, they will be wives and mothers after all.

You're right. I know this and yet it still makes me furious. 

[dawbs]

It's also the trap of not knowing what you don't know. 

When i come across a kid who struggles with something education related at work, i don't always know what the challenge is. So i talk to my well educated colleagues and teachers and drill down to what to do. 

But since in these worlds, everyone is an educator, and parentage competence is judged by it,  there's shame in saying "little johnny is struggling with math".

And if parents are highly educated they're probably going to be more shame as WELL AS being people who are really bright... and as a mature adult i realize (except when i arrogantly forget)  that being bright in one area doesn't make me bright in all areas. Which is SUCH a hard thing to learn. Which means you arent trained to see that kids who are "teaching themselves"out of workbooks are neurodivergent or just looking upthe answers or whatever

 

[Mrs. Kravitz]

14 hours ago, dawbs said:

It's also the trap of not knowing what you don't know. 

When i come across a kid who struggles with something education related at work, i don't always know what the challenge is. So i talk to my well educated colleagues and teachers and drill down to what to do. 

But since in these worlds, everyone is an educator, and parentage competence is judged by it,  there's shame in saying "little johnny is struggling with math".

And if parents are highly educated they're probably going to be more shame as WELL AS being people who are really bright... and as a mature adult i realize (except when i arrogantly forget)  that being bright in one area doesn't make me bright in all areas. Which is SUCH a hard thing to learn. Which means you arent trained to see that kids who are "teaching themselves"out of workbooks are neurodivergent or just looking upthe answers or whatever

 

I agree. You can also be the most educated person in the world but still be the lousiest teacher that ever lived. Teaching others is such a special skill and not everyone has it.

Personality is also another factor. My daughter, for example, is extremely stubborn and independent to the point that she gets extremely frustrated when she can't understand/master something right away (mom and dad do it easily, so why can't I do it?!). At school, however, where she sees other kids struggling with the same things, she is much more patient with the teacher helping and correcting her than she would ever be with me.  Homeschooling her would be a nightmare. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

You know what I just realized? John’s latest video with Alyssa reminds me of The interview with Ballerina Farm and her husband. And now I can’t unsee it.

[GreenBeans]

3 hours ago, Mrs. Kravitz said:

I agree. You can also be the most educated person in the world but still be the lousiest teacher that ever lived. Teaching others is such a special skill and not everyone has it.

This. Being educated and intelligent yourself does not make you a good teacher. There’s a reason it’s a university degree and not self taught. And there’s a reason teachers usually specialize in one or two subjects.

Would you let a self taught surgeon without a university degree operate on you or let a self taught lawyer without a bar exam represent you in court? Would you let a dentist remove your appendix? No? Then why do you think you’re a qualified teacher for all the subjects without any specialized degree?

[nolongerIFBx]

22 hours ago, Melissa1977 said:

They think that girls don't need college, they will be wives and mothers after all. Regarding the boys, I'm sure most fundies are so entitled that they think their homeshooling is better than accredited schools and that their boys a) won't need college or b)will be able to pursue a college degree because they are well prepared. I have no doubt that many upper/middle class fundies have regretted homeschooling and have faced the truth: their sons cannot be engineers, doctors, architects, lawyers, bank workers, etc like dad is. It's easier when families have a business to employ sons, but with several boys, there's no job for eveybody. So well paid doctors have sons with low income jobs, because their awful academic level. And while it's possible to study later in life, for many people it's too difficult or don't have money/time.

 

My homeschooled nibling is an engineer. . .

 

[Melissa1977]

37 minutes ago, nolongerIFBx said:

My homeschooled nibling is an engineer. . .

 

I didn't mean homeschooling can't lead to college. But huge fundie families seem to fail. Bible studies in a non accredited college is one thing, an accredited degree is another.

[gobucks]

"Science class" at the Creation Museum is a far cry from what a LOT of non-fundamental homeschoolers teach. It is the constant lack of substance outside the Bible. 

[JDuggs]

In her IG stories today Alyssa talked about how she likes to do her unboxing videos basically because she likes it when different companies send her free shit. Sometimes companies just send her stuff and sometimes she contacts them and asks for stuff. She was essentially saying “FU, haters. I do what I want. Don’t watch if you don’t like it.” However, she said she’s being helpful to her viewers by exposing them to new brands. She’s so generous.

[gobucks]

The YouTube video this week was super cute with the girls doing fun gymnastics Olympics day with shirts and paper medals. Very cute activity. The entire comment section is FILLED with people saying they should have boycotted the Olympics because of the "disgusting" opening ceremonies. For those outside the US, a lot of fundamental Christians here thought that the opening sequence with the feast of Dionysus was mocking The Last Supper. One commenter mentioned that one of Alyssa's brothers said to boycott the Olympics. Does anyone know if that is true and which brother?

[marmalade]

Probably Trace. He's woefully ignorant. 

[CaptainFunderpants]

On 7/31/2024 at 9:39 AM, GreenBeans said:

This. Being educated and intelligent yourself does not make you a good teacher. There’s a reason it’s a university degree and not self taught. And there’s a reason teachers usually specialize in one or two subjects.

Would you let a self taught surgeon without a university degree operate on you or let a self taught lawyer without a bar exam represent you in court? Would you let a dentist remove your appendix? No? Then why do you think you’re a qualified teacher for all the subjects without any specialized degree?

In Germany, professors are looked more highly upon than doctors. We have some family friends that moved here from Germany, and the man was not happy when he found he's considered a step below his wife.

[Mrs. Kravitz]

2 hours ago, CaptainFunderpants said:

In Germany, professors are looked more highly upon than doctors. We have some family friends that moved here from Germany, and the man was not happy when he found he's considered a step below his wife.

My dad knew a German doctor who came to the US. When he then became a professor, he was upset that no one except his assistant would address him as "Professor Doctor ______."

[xenobia]

Mr Xenobia is a professor. He uses his title for mainly two things: When he publishes scientific papers, and when he's booking flights/hotel rooms for travelling. It turns out that Professor X with wife usually get better seats/rooms than Mr X with wife....

[JDuggs]

9 hours ago, marmalade said:

Probably Trace. He's woefully ignorant. 

My guess would be Jackson. I didn’t see anything on social media, but I remember he jumped on the Target boycott and they removed their Target wedding registry in protest. Since Alyssa and Jackson seem to travel in the same circles in Florida, maybe he just said something to a mutual acquaintance.

[rebeccawriter01]

I find her selections of curriculum for her daughters disturbing. Science, math, and history taught through fundamentalism is clearly not going to provide anything of value. However, I did laugh and laugh at the idea of Alyssa being the one to teach cultures and history in the co-op. Poor children. But I'd kill to sit in and heckle her. 

[marmalade]

I'm surprised that the co-op lets her "teach" anything. But cultures and history? Just no. 

[rebeccawriter01]

1 hour ago, marmalade said:

I'm surprised that the co-op lets her "teach" anything. But cultures and history? Just no. 

The co-op is made up of other parents who teach what the other parents don't want to teach. Alyssa said she and a friend are teaching the children in the co-op the Story of the World curriculum and that Allie (maybe Lexie?) are in the class. I hate to think what the other classes would look like.

As most would expect, it is a Christian curriculum that teaches world history and culture on a very white/eurocentric and American (US) viewpoint. The reviews claim a lot of inaccuracies. 

"For Macbeth it states: 'Queen Elizabeth probably enjoyed this play...' She died 1603, Macbeth first performed 1606, but the dead Queen enjoyed it!"

Some claimed in the reviews that it wasn't religious or Biblical enough. For example, there is a chapter on primitive man that apparently seems less creation story than they would have liked. People wanted the books to start with Adam and Eve. 

 

[marmalade]

This is not surprising. I assumed it was Abeka. 

[FluffySnowball]

On 8/3/2024 at 12:51 PM, CaptainFunderpants said:

In Germany, professors are looked more highly upon than doctors. We have some family friends that moved here from Germany, and the man was not happy when he found he's considered a step below his wife.

As a German, I can tell you that that’s not actually necessarily true and depends on individual opinion. Both professions/fields of work are highly respected and very reputable and the blanket statement doesn’t hold true. 

[CaptainFunderpants]

2 hours ago, FluffySnowball said:

As a German, I can tell you that that’s not actually necessarily true and depends on individual opinion. Both professions/fields of work are highly respected and very reputable and the blanket statement doesn’t hold true. 

Interesting! I should have asked you or one of our other German FJ'ers if it was actually true; I was just repeating what a different prof had told me and a few friends about the German prof.